If you walk through the twinkling lights around Lafarge Lake this holiday season, hop on the Evergreen Extension at Lafarge Lake-Douglas, get care at Eagle Ridge Hospital or have a student at Douglas College, you will have been touched in some way by the work of Hazel Postma.
The longtime Tri-City resident is retiring from her post as associate vice-president of advancement and external relations at Douglas College but, in that and previous jobs, has left behind a legacy that extends into many realms.
But for Postma, her paid career in the Tri-Cities, which ends with her retirement today (Nov. 30) from the college is not about the legacy but about the people she has helped and worked with over the years.
"I will miss the people. When you come right down to it, it's all about the people," Postma says over a cup of coffee.
While she has been a familiar face representing the Douglas College Foundation at Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce meetings, fundraisers and in the community, many people may not know that she got her start as a newspaper reporter in 1983.At the time, raising three sons with husband Ron, Postma was working freelance for the now-long gone Coquitlam Herald newspaper. It was during her newspapering days at three newspapers that the young mother got a taste for public service.
"Where else can give voice to people who do not have one?" asks Postma, recalling her early days working for the now-defunct Coquitlam Now.
With her hard-work and dedication, she earned opportunities to travel to Africa, working as a reporter for the Masvingo Star in Zimbabwe when the AIDS crisis was just getting its start. Later, she travelled to Hong Kong to write articles for her hometown paper about people living in the city who might move to the Tri-Cities during the so-called Hong Kong handover, when the island's sovereignty was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China.
What she learned in those experiences was that people are the same no matter where they live, with similar hopes and dreams, Postma said, but people living in developing countries face greater challenges in achieving their goals.
The experience abroad inspired Postma to get involved with the Kariba Society, which raises funds for health and education opportunities in Zimbabwe, and Amnesty International, and she plans to remain involved in both groups along with possibly joining CUSO International, an agency that enables skilled volunteers to work with partners on development projects.
'MORE YOU PUT IN, MORE YOU GET OUT'
From journalism, Postma became the executive director of the Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation, where she worked for 11 years, helping raise funds for medical equipment and to build a family room for the intensive care unit, among other projects.
Then, after completing her masters degree, she was tapped to run the Douglas College Foundation, a job that continued to fuel Postma's enthusiasm for helping others — this time students who need financial help to complete college.
"At the college, I got to be around young people who were excited and nervous and starting out in life."
The college under Postma's leadership also started the Light the Lake event, which raised more than $100,000 for student aid, and is now operated by the city of Coquitlam, as well as a number of other fundraisers, tripling investments to the Douglas College Foundation.
Among her successes was the Envision Financial Capacity Building Project that gives students life experience working for non-profits on everything from communications to marketing. "Students need experience, we can get them theoretical experience but we also need to offer them something different."
Postma is also credited with successfully lobbying to have the Evergreen Extension's final stop named after the college, reflecting, no doubt, the benefit of the SkyTrain line opening Friday to the college's 15,500 students.
But don't ask Postma to brag about her accomplishments. Instead, she wonders what more she can do as she moves on to the next phase of her life.
As she puts it: "The more you put into life, the more you get out — and you're happier when you do something for others."
And — in typical Postma fashion — she's asking that donations be made to the Douglas College Foundation instead of retirement gifts. To donate online visit www.douglascollege.ca.
