Food bank founder continues to serve the community

Karen Nordgaard helped create the Calgary Drop-In Centre and Calgary Food Bank

Since arriving in Calgary in 1950 from her native Denmark, Karen Nordgaard has been instrumental in the creation of organizations which have grown to become the present day Calgary Drop-In & Rehab Centre and the Calgary Inter-Faith Food Bank.

Karen was a founding board member of the Calgary Welcome and Recreation Centre which led to the creation of the Calgary Drop-In Centre.

“There were elderly gentlemen that had worked on farms or had been working on oil rigs and they couldn't work anymore,” explains Karen. “So they came to town and they didn’t have the resources to look after themselves.”

During the organization’s early days, at their busiest times, 20 men would turn to the agency for help. A miniscule amount compared to Calgary’s current homeless population which numbers in the thousands.

With the Calgary Welcome and Recreation Centre up-and-running, Karen expanded her scope to help feed the hungry. In 1980, Karen started Inter-Faith Youth and Family Support Services after noticing glaring holes in the province’s support system.

“While I was working with families that were referred to social services,” recalls Karen, “I realized that when people came from out of town, if they came from out of town and they were hungry, if they happened to contact social services on a Thursday, they'd be very lucky if they had food vouchers the next week.”

At the age of 85, Karen, now a resident of Bragg Creek, continues to serve the community. Alongside friend Sharon Bayer, the pair has worked on a seniors housing initiative and the ‘Snowbirds’, a seniors group which hosts activities at a local chalet.

Sharon says Karen has been a great mentor to her.

“She's the good cop, I'm the bad cop,” laugh Sharon. “Coming out of the corporate world, I'm kind of an ‘in your face and get it done’ and ‘What's the holdup/problem?’, but Karen's very strategic.”

“Together, we're a pretty good team.”

For all she's done for people in need, Karen Nordgaard, the recipient of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Governor General's Caring Canadian award, is this week’s Inspiring Albertan.

With files from CTV's Darrel Janz