CENTURY 21 Canada agent receives House of Commons honour for decades of volunteer work

Kelowna, BC (November, 2022) – A CENTURY 21 Canada agent was recently honoured by the House of Commons as recognition for his nearly twenty years of volunteer work, primarily helping men living with addiction.  Since 2006, Helmut Hubert from CENTURY 21 Assurance in Kelowna, BC, has balanced being one-third of a thriving real estate team with his work as Chairman of the Board and Director of the non-profit organization, Freedom’s Door.

“I started at Freedom’s Door because members of my rotary club asked me to be on the board, and I had no idea who they were or what they did. Now eighteen years later we’ve helped between 5000 to 6000 men recovering from addiction and we’ve grown to nine-properties in the Kelowna area,” Helmut explains. “Four buildings are recovery homes, and five are ‘next-steps’ campuses where our residents can focus on getting their education and going back to school. We’re able to give them a sense of community and support, which is so helpful for them when they’re trying to rebuild their lives.”

As a real estate agent since 2003, Helmut is in a unique position to know the best ways to leverage properties for the non-profit’s use. “The most important factor for a recovering addict is safe, affordable housing, and it actually turns out to be cheaper to purchase smaller properties like three-plexes and four-plexes, rather than big buildings. It keeps our residents from being isolated in their own units and it’s helpful considering how much prices have risen in the area.”

The recent real estate boom throughout Canadian markets has kept Helmut and his fellow team members busy in the Okanagan region, and their success has earned them Team CENTURION status within the CENTURY 21 Canada system several times. “Things have slowed down from the height of the past few years, but prices are high. We’re hoping to keep expanding Freedom’s Door by building eight-town houses near our current campuses and tearing down older properties to build new ones so that we can house sixty people all in that one area.”

On being recognized for his many years of service, Helmut was completely blindsided. His wife Ellen was honoured alongside him for her volunteer work as a Freedom’s Door counsellor, and they got the surprise at a fundraiser dinner. “We had no idea it was happening, we were blown away,” says Helmut, who received the commendation from MP Tracy Gray via pre-recorded video. “We’re thoroughly humbled to be worthy of that kind of thing, it’s nice to be recognized.”