David Hill is a retired business executive turned community-minded volunteer. After a career as a VP with State Farm Insurance, David brings a seasoned perspective on what it truly means for organizations to walk their talk. In retirement, he volunteers in the community with those experiencing chronic homelessness and food insecurity, and spends his time making music, cheering on his family, and practising the art of deep listening.
Q: What was the journey that brought you to Community Builders?
A: A couple of things come to mind. Several years ago, at an Artisan maker’s market hosted in the Community Builders and Fleurish workspaces, I read the Mission Vision and Values statements that speak of compassion for and action with anyone living with housing precarity, facing barriers to their employment, and the core belief in meeting people where they are with love and care – these things matter. My heart and soul are drawn to behaviour, wisdom or outcomes that value people that way. I’m interested in whether organizations actually walk the talk in the communities they serve and within their own workforce, vs. just displaying their aspirations on doors, walls and in pamphlets. Of course, CB isn’t perfect. No place is this side of eternity but doing the imperfect and necessary work of figuring out how to actually function with compassion and lasting meaning within the world we claim to serve – that is good trouble to chase after.
Through the kindness of a friend who’d been serving on the Board of CB since the beginning and Brandon Day, the CEO who invited me to come and listen to the Leaders and Board as they worked through their successes and failures, I went through a process to learn if I might be a fit for CB and vice versa. So I did, and here I am.
Q: What is your hope for the future of Community Builders?
A: That our employees and trainees, our community industry and government partners, our leaders and customers,…each person and organization who depends upon us or supports CB in this journey will experience our respect, support, love, belief in their intrinsic value and know that they have been heard, because of our shared responsibility to each other. I hope we will build trust in this way.
An interest of mine at this stage of my life is learning to listen, without judgment or fixing, for anything I can be or do that encourages or holds space for others. I know I’ll never “get there,” however, I am growing. In the context of CB, that means listening to and supporting the team, with the belief that the actions we undertake are as important to the common good of our society as those of any Canadian organization or institution deemed “too big to fail.”
Q: What do you bring to CB?
A: Hopefully, I’m mirroring the values of CB and some of my own life experience. During 35 years with State Farm Insurance Companies Canadian Operations purchased by Desjardins Financial Cooperative before I retired, I was given a front row seat as a VP for the better part of two decades to observe and participate in what corporate life does, both good and bad, when institutions are deemed “too big to fail” by regulators due to the scope of their financial operations within our economy. Of course, I learned sometimes we do fail; our customers, our employees and ourselves, making for a lifetime of humbling lessons.
I spend my time in retirement cheering on my family, making music with my friends, volunteering with vulnerable people and hoping one day to learn to listen deeply enough.
David is a volunteer at Lucy’s Place, an innovative building conversion that transformed an old motel into a Housing-First community for those experiencing chronic homelessness. In May 2018, Community Builders completed the hotel conversion while also providing over 200 hours of training to individuals to develop the vital skills that enabled them to enter the job market. In 2022, Community Builders completed Phase 2 of the project, working with the general contractor to construct 6 additional modular units for this housing-first initiative.
To learn more about David, read this article from Barrie Today: “Listening Post volunteer lends an ear to help people heal”
