15 October, 2016
When prominent Ottawa resident, Carol Campbell set out for the annual Jamaican Ottawa Association Heroes’ Awards Gala, she had no idea a surprise was waiting for her. It came in the form of a well deserved United Way Ottawa Community Builder award for outstanding volunteerism and community engagement.
Carol was nominated by two other renowned community volunteers, Sarah Onyango and Joanne Robinson.
Carol Campbell moved to Canada from Jamaica in 1983 to visit her aunt…and stayed after being offered a job. She has worked in various positions since. Currently, she works full-time at Canadian Blood Services and has worked part-time with the City of Ottawa for the last 13 years.
Carol is a hard-working and loyal community volunteer. After putting in 8 hours at her day job, she somehow manages to volunteer for Canadian Blood Services serving snacks to donors at its clinics!
Carol’s volunteer service in her Jamaican community spans over a decade. In 2000, she served as 2nd vice president for the Jamaican (Ottawa) Community Association (JOCA) and helped organize various youth-focused activities such as the talent show she hosted for young people that year to raise their profile in our Jamaican community. In 2001, as 3rd vice president for the same organization, she coordinated the youth committee as well as the entertainment segment for Jam Da; served on the organising committee for the annual Spring Brunch as well as on the open house/reconstructing committee and the Jamaica 50th Church Service committee in 2012; and acted as the liaison between churches and the community.
Carol is also actively involved in initiatives aimed at improving relations between the community and the police. She is a member of COMPAC committee, where she represents the Jamaican Community. She has served on the Community Engagement committee and has facilitated presentations on the Traffic Stops Data Collection Process. Carol is a member of the Champion Program and has actively encouraged youth to participate in the Youth in Policing Initiative (YIPI) created by the Ottawa Police Service.
Carol Campbell is a natural mentor with a passion to see children and youth in the community succeed. She is a Certified Girls Club Counsellor who led a weekly educational program, at Ottawa Church of God, targeting girls from pre-school to Grade 6. Every week, she fostered the children’s personal development through activities such as crafts, sewing, cooking, etiquette classes and occasional outings, such as skating, sleepovers, visits to museums and theatre performances. In 2005, during Black History Month, this club hosted “Love Fest”, a celebration which included church members from the Toronto area. Her stellar contribution to the event’s success was rewarded with a Girls Club Counsellor of the Year award! This was not her first accolade for her exemplary community service: in 2007, Carol received a Community Builder Award from Black History Ottawa for her work with children and youth.
Carol’s generosity and compassion has extended beyond the Ottawa region all the way to her native Jamaica. In 2008, as she was attending her nephew’s graduation in New Works Westmoreland, Jamaica, she noticed the absence of flushing toilets at his school. Upon her return to Canada she sprang into action raising funds to build 4 bathroom stalls for boys and girls to ship 4 barrels of school supplies and other items to the school. Most recently, noticing the desperate for hospital beds, she secured several donated by a nursing home, and, with the help of her husband and friends, raised the money to ship them from Toronto to the Black River hospital in St Elizabeth Parish and the Savanna-la-mar hospital in Westmoreland. To this day, Carol and her team continue to work on getting much-needed supplies to these hospitals.
