2022 Joie Dery and Volunteer Award Winners

September 24, 2022

The Joie Dery and Volunteer Awards are presented annually at our AGM to recognize the tireless service of shelter staff and volunteers.

At the ACWS AGM in September 2022, we were pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Joie Dery and Volunteer Awards. Tracey Lamb from Waypoints Community Services Association is this year’s Joie Dery Award recipient, and Rehana Rafiq from the Canadian Pakistani Support Group Association is this year’s Volunteer Award recipient.

Joie Dery Award Winner: Tracey Lamb, Waypoints Community Services Association

Pictured: Jan Reimer (Executive Director, ACWS), Michele Taylor (Director of Waypoints), Tracey Lamb (Director of Program Development, Waypoints and Joie Dery Award winner), and Gaye Warthe (President of the Board, ACWS)

Michele Taylor, Director of Waypoints, had this to say about Tracey: “Tracey Lamb has worked for Waypoints for 15 years. She started out as a crisis intervention worker, then worked in the Sexual Assault Program, and then she moved back to the Emergency Women’s Shelter as Shelter Supervisor. She was promoted to Shelter Manager 9 years ago and then to the Director of Program Development 5 years ago. As Director of Program Development, Tracey oversees the managers of many programs and services:

• Unity House Emergency Shelter (45 bed)
• Wood Buffalo Second Stage Shelter (13 units)
• DV Outreach and FCSS Counselling Services -Opportunities for Change: Provincial Family Violence Treatment Program
• Sexual Assault Healing Centre
• The Child Centre for Children and Youth, Child and Youth Advocacy Centre (CYAC)

Tracey is a Waypoints’ powerhouse! From ensuring large scale construction and renovation projects included a trauma-informed approach to design, (including a new Emergency Shelter, Second Stage Shelter, Sexual Assault Healing Centre, CYAC and Outreach Landing (DV Outreach and FCSS Counselling Centre) to ensuring the clients in our region receive the help that they need with thoughtful and adaptable responsiveness and respect for each individual, she is always working to better the healing process for our clients. She helped to design over 100,000 sq ft and $35 million dollars of new or renovated space for programs and services delivery in the Wood Buffalo Region in the last 10 years. Tracey is always advocating for the needs of our clients both within our organization, in our region and province. She has been an active member of the ACWS Data Committee for many years and she has also become Waypoints’ Data and IT Specialist on staff, project managing all of our hardware and software development and maintenance.

Particularly impressive as she is self-taught! Recently, Tracey has overseen the development of a DART team for our region and is involved in the ACWS Centering Relationships Project with our local Friendship Centre. Tracey also recently completed the Selam Debs, Anti-Racism Course and has become a strong voice in creating change to de-colonize our workplace for staff and programs and services for our community members.

Tracey is a strong, passionate and relentless community advocate for the survivors of domestic and sexual violence, who is also a highly effective role model for all of Waypoints’ staff. She exudes positive energy, which is contagious! She is always seeking to increase and/or evolve her knowledge, skills and practices to help create a safer and more empowering community for everyone in our region. We are so fortunate to have Tracey on the Waypoints’ Leadership Team, and survivors in our region are fortunate to have such a strong, passionate voice advocating on their behalf.”

Volunteer Award Winner: Rehana Rafiq, Canadian Pakistani Support Group Association

Pictured: Jan Reimer (Executive Director, ACWS), Rehana Rafiq (Canadian Pakistani Support Group Association, Volunteer award winner), and Gaye Warthe (President of the Board, ACWS)

Out of all the people who volunteer to end violence against seniors, women and their children in Alberta, there are some who go above and beyond. This award is created to recognize these individuals.

Aneela Azeem, Director of CPSG, had this to say about Rehana: “Rehana Rafiq is a selfless volunteer who has played a key role in defining the processes and procedures for Maskan. Rehana has over 20 years of experience working in women’s shelters. She reached out to me via Social Media extending her full support for Maskan when I was developing the initial processes for Maskan. She volunteered extensively to develop processes, policies, and operational protocols and customized her knowledge to integrate cultural competence. She helped in staff hiring, interviewing, training, and performance reviews.

She has been training the staff on a voluntary basis. She has advocated for Maskan in Calgary during fundraisers and community engagement events. Recently, she strongly and actively advocated for the Maskan shelter in Edmonton. She is our Board Member for the past 2 years and supporting us as a selfless volunteer. I believe Rehana’s selfless and persistent efforts must be acknowledged.”

About Joie Dery

Joie Dery was an active contributor to the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters for more than 25 years, playing a key role in growing the association into what it is today. Joie worked for two decades at the Dr. Margaret Savage Crisis Centre in Cold Lake, helping women and children in that community escape and heal from domestic violence. She was a member of the Board of ACWS and President of the Council for a number of years. Under her leadership, the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters not only successfully advocated for increased salaries, benefits and training for shelter workers but also committed to the first-ever world conference of women’s shelters. Joie’s tireless commitment to social justice and to abused women is an example for us all. Joie Dery passed away in 2011.