The Redeemer Alumni Association is pleased to announce that Graham Cubitt ’01 has been chosen as the recipient of its inaugural Distinguished Alumni Award. The Distinguished Alumni Award is given annually to an alumnus who has excelled in his/her area of expertise and has made a significant impact on his/her community. That commitment can be seen in the many initiatives with which Graham has been active since graduating from Redeemer. As Director of Projects and Development at Homestead Christian Care, he has helped develop affordable and supported homes for over 220 households, including the Dr. John M. Perkins Centre. This project transformed a derelict nightclub into a community development centre with forty-six affordable apartments. The building also features a community kitchen and garden, church, teaching classrooms, and housed a bike co-op that employs at-risk youth. His current projects include developing an 80-unit supported housing complex in Woodstock, ON and building forty-seven apartments in east Hamilton. “Graham encompasses what we were looking for in a Distinguished Alumni Award winner,” says Miranda de Rooy 07, President of the Redeemer Alumni Association. “This award reflects what Redeemer prepared him to do after university and the talent of our alumni. I am delighted that he is this year’s recipient.” Graham himself was startled by the news. “I had no idea I was even nominated for this award,” he says, “but I’m honoured to be recognized by my fellow alumni. I’m reminded that my life and work are part of Jesus Christ’s renewing the world – a vision I embraced while studying at Redeemer. Like Wendell Berry says, it’s in our everyday actions that we practice resurrection, and I feel humbled that my life may be inspiring others to work in common cause towards a better world.” This commitment to community extends beyond Graham’s work at Homestead Christian Care. Shortly after moving to Hamilton, he joined and later served on the Board of the Durand Neighbourhood Association to better understand the neighbourhood and the needs it faces. He helped launch the Hill Street Community Garden and is a founder of The Mustard Seed Co-op, Hamilton’s only co-operative grocery store where he serves as President. Dr. Kevin Vander Meulen, Professor of Mathematics at Redeemer, nominated Graham for the award. As part of the nomination, he noted that “Graham is passionate about living out his faith and transforming his community. He is committed to seeing his community remain vital and diverse through co-operative action on issues including urban development, poverty relief and social involvement.” Those who work with him agree. “Graham has an amazing ability to recognize the community’s needs, even if they themselves do not,” says Dawn Graham, a fellow Board member at The Mustard Seed Co-op. Dawn first met Graham and his wife Emma ten years ago — at a neighbourhood litter clean-up that they had organized. “More importantly, he is willing to take the necessary steps to address those needs. His passion, beliefs, and vision for a better society are so inspirational that people can’t help but get swept up in the excitement he creates. We all benefit from the leadership and positive energy of Graham Cubitt.” The Distinguished Alumni Award was instituted this year as one way to formally recognize the achievements of Redeemer’s alumni in the broader community. “The Redeemer Alumni Association promotes and supports alumni so that they can advance Redeemer’s mission by working out God’s calling in their various communities,” notes Valerie Louter ’95, Redeemer’s Director of Alumni and Church Relations. “We’re so pleased to celebrate Graham’s accomplishments and his servant heart; he reminds each of us to play a part in building and nourishing true community.”