Henk Hof, treasurer of the Medicine Hat and District Retired Teachers Association, holds his award for volunteer of the year.--NEWS PHOTO SAMANTHA JOHNSON
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
The Medicine Hat and District Retired Teachers Association has recognized Henk Hof as its 2023 volunteer of the year.
Not only is Hof the treasurer of the local RTA, he also delivers Meals on Wheels, is involved with Special Olympics, organizes bingos for the Knights of Columbus, organizes breakfasts, the annual picnic and the annual corn roast for the Holy Family Parish and organizes volunteers for Feed the Needy.
“Ask him to do anything and he is willing to do it. He keeps himself busy,” said local RTA president Mel Deydey.
“‘Surprise’ is the word for it,” stated Hof. “I don’t like being recognized in public. I’m a drone, I’m the worker. I like to do stuff behind the scenes. I’m an organizer, I like to get other people involved.”
Feed the Needy has been serving at the Salvation Army every Thursday for about the past 15 years. Hof sets the schedules for more than 15 teams made up of four or five volunteers each, who go in to help serve the food. The numbers of those needing to be fed have increased over the years, particularly recently.
“It started out many years ago with 25 to 30 people and sometimes now they have a hundred,” said Hof.
Four or five years ago Hof also took on organizing teams for feeding those in need at St. Barnabas Church every fourth or fifth Saturday each month. He organizes nine or 10 teams to prepare and serve the food and then do cleanup.
“The only thing I do there is set the schedules,” explained Hof. “About a 15-to-18-week schedule at the Salvation Army and a 10-month schedule at St. Barnabas. I’m just the organizer there.”
Hof taught for 33 years and was principal at McCoy High School for part of that time. After retiring he subbed for awhile, took on a few contracts and did lots of tutoring. “The rest of the time I made sure I stayed busy both in the community and with Ken Sauer and his organization.”
After attending university, Hof moved to Medicine Hat in 1967. He grew up in Grande Prairie but was born in Holland and his family moved to Canada when he was a young boy.
“I came to Medicine Hat by accident. I was going to stay three years and I’m still here. It’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Hof said he always wanted to be a teacher and was told growing up he would be good at it.
“Out of my 33 years teaching, I spent 17 in administration and 18 teaching. My last five years of being in the system, I went back to teaching from administration because that was my first love.”
In his spare time, Hof walks the dog and stays active. He and his wife Rita will be celebrating 55 years of marriage in 2023 and like to go for coffee together each morning. “I like to do sudoku. We have three children and do Wordle, which we share with them online.”
The local RTA is marking 50 years as a branch of the provincial Alberta Retired Teachers Association . They are having a 50th Anniversary celebration at the Medicine Hat Golf and Country Club on May 5. Provincial president Deb Gerow will attend the Medicine Hat celebration.
