Day in the life: Lisa Church

Lisa Church feels incredibly fortunate to have an employer that supports her passion for building community spirit, both inside and outside Ring Road. Through her role as UVic's food retail outlets coordinator, Church devised an ingenious plan that both reduces waste and provides much-needed funds to local kids.

Thanks to Church's initiative, UVic's food services staff now separate all the paper, plastic, glass and food from customer trays and save the bottles for recycling.

Every month Church selects a local school or sports team from her list who are given the opportunity to pick up the bottles three times a week, take them to a bottle depot, and turn them into cash.

"Since the program first started in 2008 it's expanded to include 20 schools," says Church. "I'm really proud of University Food Services for making the decision to give this money to future generations instead of keeping the money for themselves."

Apart from her efforts aimed at helping those outside Ring Road, Church also spends a lot of time building community inside the university. She is responsible for the staffing and daily operation of food services in all seven of UVic's food outlets.

"I like to connect with every outlet on a daily basis, to get input from staff and customers, get a grasp of the challenges, and stay up to date with supervisors," says Church. "I've learned to keep my ears open because my staff have great ideas. I also know from personal experience how good it feels when you come up with an idea and your boss lets you run with it."

Despite her dedication to her job, Church also manages to maintain balance in her life. She describes herself as a wife, mother of two and friend to many. "Material things don't matter to me—what really matters is my family." She says it's sometimes hard to find the time, but she makes it a priority to stay involved with her kids' sports, which includes volunteering for Juan de Fuca hockey.

Church is also very grateful that since she started at UVic in 2007 her husband has been able to retire from the navy and spend more time at home with their family.

You'd think that with such a busy life, Church wouldn't have any energy left for additional projects, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. Her latest idea involves stirring up the Christmas spirit on campus with Santa and his horse-drawn carriage.

Finally, for those of you who remember the Christmas light display on Tattersall Drive that was locally known as Candy Cane Lane, Church and her family have resurrected this tradition on Flicker Lane in the western communities. Not surprising really, for an inspirational woman like Church, who is always finding ways to bring people together in the spirit of community.