HUMBOLDT — A Humboldt resident is getting a medal from the Lieutenant Governor to recognize his decades of volunteerism.
Al Hingley will receive the Saskatchewan Volunteer Medal along with 14 others at a ceremony in Regina on April 9, during national volunteer week.
“It is a high honour,” the retired United Church reverend said. “I’m very much aware and appreciative of those who appreciated what I tried to do in volunteering and also for my nominators who took the effort to nominate me.”
Some of Al’s volunteer efforts include being the curator of the Benson-Hingley Military Museum in the basement of the Humboldt Legion, being a founding committee member of the Humboldt Good Neighbour Store, and being a member of the Original Humboldt Committee.
Much of Al’s volunteering focuses on history, which is something he's not only passionate about, but has a master’s degree in.
“I’ve never found volunteering laborious. I always found it fun,” he said. “You have the chance to work away at something and see the results of it.”
When he found out he was going to receive the medal, Al said what came to his mind was how the community accepted what he was trying to do with his volunteer efforts.
“You do your volunteering within a context,” he said. “The context is of your community where you happen to be living at the time, the great people you meet and co-operate with to arrive at an accomplishment. That’s satisfaction enough.”
Because the community went the extra mile of nominating him for the volunteer medal, Al said he feels what he did was acceptable to – and accepted by – the community.
Al has lived in Humboldt since 1990.
“The other thing I was thinking about was it [the medal] was an honour not only for myself but also for our beloved Humboldt community, who, for the last year, have been carrying a heavy weight of loss and grief,” he said. “Now something like this has happened, which is positive for the community.”
Al said what gave him the drive to volunteer came from two events in his youth. The first was some advice from his Newfoundland fisherman grandfather, who told Al that he should wear out his body, not let it rust out – in short, to keep active. His grandfather was in his nineties when he said that.
The other event came when Al was in training for his career.
“The principal of my theological college in a practical theology class said, ‘gentlemen, your people will forgive you for being incomprehensible on Sunday but never for being invisible during the week. Now get out there.’”
This is not the first time Al has been recognized for his volunteer work. He has received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee medal, the Saskatchewan Centennial medal, the Knights of Columbus veteran of the year award and the 2011 Humboldt citizen of the year award.
