AEBC Volunteer of the Year Award 2023

AEBC's Volunteer of the Year Award for 2023 goes to Linda Bartram!

Linda Bartram has been a steady presence on the National Board since she joined it in 2020, but in the last year she has shown her true prowess--as a creative project producer. In early 2022, we were made aware of available funds from the Disability Confidence In Finance project. Linda came up with an idea for podcasts and videos relating to blind people and their interactions with finance-related systems, and it gained AEBC a grant of $20,000. This project is almost complete and it has produced five videos and an excellent podcast.

Last March, as well, the federal government launched a call for proposals for operational funding, and it was Linda who, once again, led the repurposing of our 2018 project. In January of this year, we learned that our proposal had been accepted! Linda worked with me throughout the three months which led to our actually signing the contract, making most of the revisions requested to our original proposal.

Finally, she was the creative lead on the grant proposal which garnered over $27,000 towards a project which will result in emergency preparedness information for blind, deafblind and partially sighted British Columbians.

In the middle of all this project work, Linda created a Board Operational Plan, which will form the basis for our upcoming strategic planning work.

What can I say? She has been busy! She deserves to receive our highest honour for the work she has done and continues to do.