If you've ever met her, you'd know it's almost impossible to ever spot Donna Bishop without a smile. 

Bishop is the Team Lead of Connections and Homelessness Prevention at the Red Deer Native Friendship Society. More than that, she is called a friend, a leader, and a respected woman of action and strength in her community. 

During this year's 2020 Women of Excellence online gala, Bishop was honoured with the Inspiration Award for her outstanding dedication to community building, integrity and of course, inspiration. 

"I'm inspired by love and peace. That's it. Pretty easy," she said, laughing during an interview. 

"It's the people I work with here, and all of the agencies that have come together. We're in a world where, unfortunately, non-profits get competitive. But right now, [the pandemic] has pulled all of us together in a good way, and that's inspiring to me."

Bishop was previously recognized for her work with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders with Corrections Canada, having been presented the honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013. 

Her work with RDNFS goes back nearly 20 years when she began working in coordination with the Society during her time with Corrections Canada. She would bring inmates who were about to be released to the Friendship CEntre, where she would work with those individuals in a cultural and spiritual lens to help them find a new path for themselves upon release. 

She said the award and recognition of the Women of Excellence wasn't expected but is appreciated because it allows her to lift up those around her while humbly celebrating her own accomplishments.

"It’s just the way I’ve walked my life. It doesn’t feel like anything other than just breathing. It’s natural," she said.

Bishop said she's got a strong community of women who lift her up, and strong men to support them, too. Her connections and dedication to her peers and community are what have helped her to find her place in Red Deer's community.

Right now, Bishop said she's eagerly awaiting the continued changes she feels in the community - changes in the way people connect, changes in their values, and a return to more genuine interaction and appreciation for each other. She said this last couple of months have sent a signal to people to slow down, and appreciate what they have.

"I think this was Mama Earth’s way of flexing a bit and saying, ‘I need to rest’. And she did. I think for myself, in a humble opinion of mine, we’re moving towards waking up. To enlightenment. Come on, look around us - what’s important? The families! Look at all the people who were' go, go, go' and now they’re spending time with their kids. Now they’re getting creative - doing all the things we were doing in the 60s because we didn’t have the ‘Google machines’ and all those other things - we had to do things as a family," she said. 

"I’m seeing connectedness again with the community, and everybody working together really selflessly, doing really good things."

She said she sees women as the hearth keepers in society, saying women are strong and intelligent and even corporate giants or whatever they want to be, but the bottom line is they are "nurturing human beings who care about family, tradition, values, attitudes and beliefs."

"There’s a lot of females - and no slight against our men who hold us up, and that’s what they’re supposed to do and that’s good to see - but there’s a lot of feisty, good, from young to old females that have held together the glue and fabric of this community. And that’s what I’m most proud of, and I respect and love each and every one of them."

She continued, "Peace and love are going to lead the way, and I’m glad [people] have felt something, because that was an energetic shift. Our consciousness can feel it. When we look into our hearts, we’re going to feel that. And there was that shift."

“It was so incredibly inspiring to see that someone within our community used tradition and culture to create a program that supports rehabilitation and reintegration - not only within our district but across our entire nation,” Women of Excellence Committee Co-Chair Jodi Neufeld said. “Her work is woven into the fibre of every community from coast to coast. If that’s not inspiring, what is?”