“Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless.” - Sherry Anderson

The Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers is the highest honour for volunteer service an individual can receive in Canada. The winners of this prestigious award are a testament to their commitment and unwavering dedication to making a difference in our community. 

CUPS Board Chair Michael Lang has made a profound impact in our community and in March 2022, was officially recognized with the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers, presented by the Lieutenant Governor Salma Lakhani. 

Michael Lang has dedicated the last 20 years to helping vulnerable Calgarians facing the challenges of poverty and trauma and building resilient lives for themselves and their families. Through his unpaid role as Chair of the CUPS Board of Directors, Michael has been fearlessly steering the board to support an ambitious vision: to help the vulnerable population of Calgary manage adversity, reach their potential and end the cycle of poverty and trauma. 

Shifting the non-profit model

When people come to CUPS, they are often in various states of crisis, and require help immediately. While it is important to provide short-term support to these individuals, this approach does not address the root-causes of their challenges and as a result, they can fall back into crisis and the cycle of poverty continues. Michael realized that providing short-term solutions was not setting people up for long-term success.

Through relentless effort, unwavering commitment and determination, he led the Board and CUPS through uncharted waters, doing research, developing a plan and fearlessly shifting away from the traditional nonprofit operational model to becoming the first social service agency in Canada to apply an evidence-based, integrated care approach that was based on brain science. We now operate under a sophisticated business model and financial framework and can provide quantified results that form a strong basis for funding requests.

“Michael is a unique example of a leader who understands and can be empathetic to the human element of service work, but also has the strong business knowledge, network, experience and ability to be accountable to all stakeholders,” says Carlene Donnelly, Executive Director of CUPS. “He can — and does — seamlessly marry these concepts extremely well to the benefit of CUPS and the community at large.” 

Today, CUPS is leading the way in Alberta as a social agency that engages with the large, complex picture of human health, using brain science. Under Michael’s vision and leadership, CUPS isn’t simply solving problems, but is leading the way toward creating lasting, positive change for people in our community — and beyond.