Page 6 - The Brandon Sun - 2017 Community Leader Awards

6 • COMMUNITY LEADER AWARDS
» ABOVE AND BEYOND AWARD
Charity instilled in Krieser from young age
BY MICHAELA SOLOMON
Born and raised in Brandon, Jason Krieser has been dedicating
his time to the Keystone Centre for 34 years.
Acting as both sales manager and interim general manager,
Krieser doesn’t often find time for himself, but that doesn’t seem
to be a problem.
Krieser is this year’s recipient of the Community Leader
Award in the Above and Beyond category.
He sits on the United Way board of and heads the Brandon
First board. He says he finds happiness and self-fulfilment in
bringing the community together. As the Keystone Centre sales
manager, he gets to do just that.
“We try and attract concerts, trade shows, conventions, and
meetings,” Krieser said.
Getting to put his name on events like the 2010 MasterCard
Memorial Cup that bring the community together under one
roof is his passion.
“To this day I still can’t believe a community of our size was
able to host that event,” Krieser said.
Helping organize events like the Legion National Youth Track
and Field Championships, which will be held at the UCT
Stadium in August, and the annual Arabian and Half-Arabian
Canadian National Horse Show at the Keystone Centre is
gratifying for him, he says.
“The community has given me so much,” Krieser said. “So
trying to give back where I can is very important to me and my
family.”
Giving to others was instilled in him at a young age, when
Cristall’s desire and support sets him apart
BY MICHAELA SOLOMON
With years of volunteering, community, and mentoring
experience, Jeff Cristall’s words would be useful to anyone
considering going out and getting involved.
Over the years, he was able to familiarize himself with the
community, the regular volunteers, events and how to be a
successful community leader.
Cristall has been nominated for the Community Leader Award
in the Above and Beyond category.
Now semi-retired, Cristall jokes that he was the “managing
partner at MNP for the past 150 years.”
According to Cristall, there are four pillars of a successful
volunteer.
“You have to have desire and capability to do the job you’re
gonna do,” he said.
He stressed that those chairing organizations should be
experienced and organized. Those who are good at paying
attention to detail would ideally be given a task where they get to
pay attention to detail; just as someone who isn’t enthusiastic
shouldn’t be greeting folks at the entrance.
“Second, you’ve gotta be part of a good team,” Cristall said.
The support one receives from their team is a huge influence
on the organization's success and the individual success of the
volunteer.
The third aspect Cristall referenced was work environment.
Since not all volunteer endeavours take place outside work time,
many volunteers rely on time off from work to fulfil their duties
as a community leader.
Cristall recalled a significant story of a father-son duo who
volunteered together at a week-long event.
“They took the whole week off to come and help at the event,”
Cristall said. “They just loved what it is you do at these things.”
He said after the event, the men would have to return to their
jobs and catch up on a week’s worth of work.
Cristall cited that as an example of exemplary volunteerism.
“Lastly: home. They pay a price,” Cristall said. “You’ve got
chores and duties at home, and you don’t get them all done when
you take significant volunteer roles.”
Approval and support from both home and work are important
factors in being an effective volunteer.
Cristall said it’s pretty easy to get involved in activities in the
community, noting that websites have listings for any major event
looking for volunteers.
“Go find somewhere to volunteer that’s going to be short in
duration,” Cristall said.
He said for beginners, the beauty of volunteer events is that
THE BRANDON SUN • THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017
Jason Krieser is the sales
manager and interim general
manager of the Keystone
Centre. Krieser is this year’s
recipient of the Community
Leadership Award in the
Above and Beyond category.
(Michaela Solomon/
The Brandon Sun)
his family started taking in foster children. Helping others in Between the Keystone Centre, Brandon First and United Way,
need and welcoming them into his home at a young age helped Krieser says he tries to reserve Sundays to relax and spend time
Krieser grasp the concept of bringing folks together, and run with his family.
with it into adulthood.
“It is hard,” he admitted. “I have a very understanding family,
For the past two years Krieser has been the chair of Brandon and family is huge to me.”
First. The organization works to bring events such as conferences
and sporting events to Brandon. Krieser credits his co-workers, for his ability to be successful
in his many roles in the community.
When he reaches tenure at the end of June, Krieser will pass
the torch. He says he is confident that the organization will be “I have a great team around me all the time, whether it be at
left in capable hands, and that Brandon First has come leaps work at my day job, or at Brandon First where we have two
and bounds in the past two years. awesome staff members there. It’s having a good support system,
and surrounding yourself with those folks.”
Brandon First executive director Jackie Nichol has been an
instrumental player in the organization’s success, according to » The Brandon Sun
Krieser.
“Jackie has been that staff person who has taken it to another
level,” Krieser said.
Nichol nominated Krieser for the award. She said even when
his work at the Keystone Centre picks up, he always takes time
out of his day to reach out to her, and check in on operations
at Brandon First.
“He pours his heart and soul into the Keystone Centre,”
Nichol said. “But he never forgets about his other
responsibilities.”
One of the best things about the Brandon community is that,
events are never short of hands willing to help.
“Volunteers are huge,” Krieser said. “That doesn’t seem to
be an issue in our community. It doesn’t matter if it’s baseball,
hockey, curling, equine events, people are there, asking what
they can do to help.”
there’s an end date. Volunteers aren’t married to the position and Jeff Cristall has been instrumental in several large, national events
typically would have freedom to move about the organization Brandon has hosted, including the Memorial Cup. Cristall said there
doing an assortment of tasks if they wish, as opposed to board are four pillars that make successful volunteers. (File)
positions.
“Do something bite-sized. Something you can get your arms
around and that won’t take too long,” Cristall advised. “There’s
an unlimited number of things you can do to give back to this
community.”
Cristall shared a story that was a testament to the sense of
community in the city.
“During the week at this event we needed 10 volunteers, and
on the weekend, we only needed two or three,” Cristall said. “Well,
some of the volunteers got together and they came to us because
they wanted to make sure that the process we were using to
determine who gets to work is a fair, unbiased and random
process.”
Cristall said no volunteer was trying to make headway over
others, and that they all wanted to be sure everyone got to work
an equal amount of time.
“If you need help, and I can help, I will help,” Cristall said of
the community attitude found in the Wheat City.
Cristall spent time volunteering with Brandon University. During
this time, he recalled former prime minister Stephen Harper visiting
the school to announce funding for gym renovations.
“One of the things he said in his speech was that Brandon has
always punched above its weight,” Cristall said. “That’s a perfect,
perfect, line to describe what we do.”
According to a Fraser Institute report released in December,
Manitoba ranked highest in charitable donations in the country.
“If you have community, you understand that you all have to
chip in,” Cristall said “And we have community.”
» The Brandon Sun