Still plenty under this hood

When Dar Schwanbeck, managing director of the Northern Alberta Business Incubator (NABI), is faced with a business problem he can't solve, he picks up the phone and calls his chief maintenance officer.

But Gerry Hood is not your typical maintenance man. The 71-year-old St. Albert resident is an accomplished businessman and dedicated philanthropist who works at NABI just to help out.

"He's in the top 10 of the most interesting people I've met," said Schwanbeck. "I think it's a capacity to listen, to be very good at reflecting — not necessarily giving advice but just reflecting on what he thinks he's heard and offering ideas or alternatives."

A 47-year St. Albert, resident, Hood spent 25 years operating a peat moss plant on the city's perimeter. The plant harvested peat moss —"just good quality muskeg," Hood calls it —packaged it and shipped it all over Canada, the western United States and Japan. When Hood sold the plant in 1989, he was also serving as a volunteer with the Canadian Peat Moss Association. He was promptly made the full-time president, serving for 20 years in an office located at NABI.

But Hood believed business and philanthropy were intertwined. In the early 1980s, Hood served on the board of the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce, helping raise money for St. Albert Place.

"We met our goals," Hood said. "I was in charge of selling the seats for the theatre. If you look, you can still see some of the names on the seats."

Hood invited high-profile businessmen to the Arden Theatre and treated them to a 90-minute variety show. When the curtain fell, the audience was writing cheques.

"We sold in the 200 to 250 range that night. We only charged $250 for a seat, so it wasn't a lot."

Faith in others

Hood was drawn to other causes, specifically that of homelessness. He met for coffee with longtime friend Bill Shields, a former St. Albert city councillor, to discuss it. Shields suggested helping out with Catholic Social Services. The fact Hood wasn't Catholic didn't matter to anyone, least of all Hood.

"We service 60,000 people of all faiths, all cultures. We have Muslims who work there, Jewish people because it's such a great organization," Hood said.

Hood applied his talents to the Sign of Hope, which is the fundraising arm of Catholic Social Services. Their goal is to raise $2.55 million as seed money for programs that mostly deal with homelessness.

"Everyone there is absolutely incredible," Hood said. "I thought, 'This is terrific.'"

Under Hood's watch, funds have been fed into the La Salle program, which helps women and children fleeing domestic violence. But the culmination of his efforts came Oct. 18 when Catholic Social Services formally announced Valeda House, a program that takes in homeless pregnant women or homeless women with children. Once residents have been drug and alcohol free for six months, they move on to another program that offers counselling, resources to find work and classes.

"It brings tears to your eyes to see these women and how grateful they are," Hood said.

And for 2011, Hood is serving as chair of the Sign of Hope campaign — the first time a non-Catholic has held the position.

Maintenance man

Hood also served on the board of NABI as vice-president and the head of the building committee. Though he has technically retired, when NABI needed a chief maintenance officer, Hood put his name in for the job. When the snow falls, he and Schwanbeck race to work to be the first to shovel the sidewalks.

"We compete with each other to see who can be here first to shovel snow," said Schwanbeck. "Aside from being a tenant and trusted board member, he's a mentor to me."