Kelsey (left) and Kelly at their match meeting
Every year Spark presents the Spark Outstanding Pro Bono Award at the Volunteer Manitoba Volunteer Awards Gala. We look forward to this day every year because it gives us a chance to recognize some of our volunteers and the impact their pro bono work has on the community, as well as celebrate volunteerism in Manitoba.
From now until awards night, we are celebrating the nominees for the Spark Outstanding Pro Bono Award, and their contributions to their community through a series of volunteer profiles.
Today we are profiling award winner Kelly Thibodeau!
Kelly is nominated for her mentorship work with Heartwood healing Centre.
Heartwood Healing Centre is is a not-for-profit organization that provides free therapy and support services to Manitobans 16 and over who have experienced childhood sexual abuse.
Last year Kelsey Guyot, Operations and Communications Manager of Heartwood Healing Centre, approached Spark with a mentorship request. Kelsey was in charge of the organization’s social media and identified a few things, including accessibility, that she would like deeper assistance with.
Kelly Thibodeau is a longtime Spark volunteer and has worked on numerous social media projects. In addition to helping organizations increase their awareness and presence online, Kelly is also an experienced online accessibility consultant. With her skills and knowledge we knew she would be a great mentor for Kelsey.
For over six months the pair met monthly to discuss all things social media and accessibility.
Kelsey reported that because of the mentorship with Kelly, “Heartwood Healing Centre was able to collect information and tools for making our online content more accessible and start implementing change. We updated pieces of our website to be more inclusive, such as changing colour mixtures to be more reader-friendly. We also do social media differently now, such as making sure to include picture descriptions on posts so those with visual impairments have access to our images.”
In the end, “without Kelly’s guidance, accessibility in the online world would have been much more difficult and daunting.”
Her impact will be felt by the organization and community at large. “By having accessible online content, more folks seeking services and support with healing from experiences of childhood sexual abuse, can find us and feel safe connecting with us.”
Thank you Kelly for your amazing mentorship and congratulations on winning the Spark Outstanding Pro Bono Award!
Check out other award nominees and their stories here! Maisie, Andrew, and Jory and Kalyn Murdock!
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