CRYSTAL LEWIS-WILTON

“I am most proud of the awareness and interest that had been built in Habitat for Humanity Wood Buffalo.”

NSUUR was put together as a home restoration program in the aftermath of the fire. Its task is in the title: NGOs Supporting Uninsured and Underinsured Residents. As a home restoration program, it made sense for the executive director of the local Habitat for Humanity to be involved. Crystal is proud of the work she and all the other NGO reps did on NSUUR, but it’s only a part of who she is and what she does.

Crystal sees opportunities to help more than most. She parlayed her skills learned at a transportation company into a company, Transportation Sense, that provides transportation and capacity building to bus companies. Building capacity is also a large part of her job at Habitat for Humanity, which is an extraordinary social profit. They take a very proactive approach to housing shortages by building homes for people in need.

Crystal has been in YMM for 14 years. As the Executive Director at Habitat for Humanity, she manages the daily operations, oversees multiple volunteer committees to ensure homes get built, manages fundraising, and engages with community volunteers in meaningful ways. She also sets and manages the budget, fundraising targets and the operational plan and ensures the strategic directives of the Board of Directors are carried out. Her career, like many in the community, has been offset by opportunity. Prior to her work with HFH, she studied archaeology, then worked for a time as a bus driver. She volunteered, as an alumnus, with Leadership Wood Buffalo and is also the Community Events Officer of 868 YMM Rotary Northstar Air Cadet Squadron. Like many on this list, her set of accomplishments and continued volunteer work seems enormous. And like them all, she gets it done.