News Archives: GPRC Instructor honoured for Volunteerism
Friday, October 18th, 2019
GPRC Welding Instructor, Fred Walkley posing in the welding shop on GPRC's Fairview campus.
GPRC Welding Instructor Fred Walkley is getting national recognition for his international philanthropic work that’s helping to create access to health care and bring a world of experiences back to the welding lab on the College’s Fairview Campus.
Walkley received the CWB Association’s Wilfred I. Vella Memorial Award that recognizes its members’ volunteer and humanitarian work at the Annual Canweld Conference in Halifax on October 9.
As an instructor, he finds creative new ways to engage his students in the Trade with innovative projects and the use of technology. As a volunteer, he’s used his welding skills with the Mercy Ships International Global Charity.
Mercy Ships provide free surgeries to residents of African countries who otherwise wouldn’t be able to access the health care they need. The global charity is invited by a host country and dock for 10 months at a time to perform surgeries and build its medical and dental infrastructure in the local community to leave a lasting legacy.
When the ship is not providing health care it is docked for repairs and upgrades in preparation for the next mission. That’s where Walkley came in for more than two weeks in the spring of 2018. Covering his own travel and living expenses he went to Spain to work on the ships welding on everything from hospital beds, ship doors to the ship’s actual structure.
“I worked with welders from Australia, New Zealand and was able to see how it was the same but different. It was neat to see how the standards work over there,” said Walkley.
Working on a ship exposed Walkley to a whole new range of experiences in terms of projects, safety protocols and techniques that he’s been able to bring back to GPRC students.
He first heard about Mercy Ships from his daughter, Esther, a registered nurse, who volunteered on one of the ships. She saw they were looking for welders and encourage her Dad to get involved.
Now his wife Ruth, also a registered nurse, is volunteering on a mercy ship in January and February of 2020 and he plans to return in July of 2020.
“It was interesting to see the level of appreciation we were shown. I’d have the captain on the ship stopping by to say “thank you” and see what we were doing. Everyone was there with the same goal,” he said.
Since having the experience he’s presented to his fellow faculty about what he learned and has done presentations a local churches and services clubs in Fairview.
He also spoke of his experiences during the CWB Educators Conference in May 2019 and it was there that he was nominated, and then selected by a selection committee for the award
“It’s very humbling. I was just kind of doing what I’ve always done and there are a lot of other people doing the exact same thing, so it’s very humbling,” he said.
