Kornelson honoured for decades of MCC service

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This article was published 28/03/2019 (2581 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Gordon Kornelson had a few good reasons he wanted to get involved with the Steinbach MCC Thrift Shop when he first joined the board back in 1974.

“I was always interested in what they were doing, specifically the fact they were recycling,” Kornelson said.

“That was a large part of it, plus all the funds that they were raising and giving back to and into the community.

“I just thought they were doing important work right from the get-go.”

When he first joined, two years after the organization’s establishment, he recalls it ran much differently than it does today.

“In the beginning there was a men’s board and a women’s board, and the women’s board did the day-to-day operations and the men’s board was there to help the ladies if they needed something extra like repairs or renovations,” Kornelson said.

Those two boards merged, with Kornelson a constant presence at the board table until last week. He officially stepped down from the board at the MCC Steinbach annual general meeting last Thursday.

Now at age 74, Kornelson will not sit on the board for the first time since he was just 29 years old.

Kornelson said he was surprised to be honoured for his 45 years of service with a public presentation.

“I didn’t do any of this for accolades but it was very nice,” he said.

“It’s time to slow down,” Kornelson said with a laugh.

Kornelson said he believes one of his and the board’s biggest achievements was getting MCC Steinbach into bigger and more adequate buildings when they outgrew their existing buildings, and eventually getting them to where they are now on Main Street in Steinbach.

“I saw them through a number of moves and different buildings and locations, and it was always exciting work,” Kornelson said. “It certainly was a big part of what I did, and it was a big thing because we had to change with the times, and grow with the times.”

Throughout it all, Kornelson said there is one large group of people that has kept Steinbach MCC going strong for more than four decades.

“This could never have been done without the volunteers. It’s all because of the volunteers we’ve had over those years,” he said.

Steinbach MCC store manager Jason Hiebert said it was Kornelson’s leadership style that allowed him to get so much done for MCC over the years.

“Gordon has a very gentle but firm way of leadership,” Hiebert said, “He has that strong business knowledge, but he also always shows he appreciates all the people that go into running the operation.

“Gordon has always recognized that the volunteers are a big part of this and he often verbalizes that and is quick to give credit to our volunteers.”