Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers (2025) - Flipbook - Page 52
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CANADA'S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS (2025)
Volunteering is a key part of the Longboard culture
I
n July 2024, 26 employees of
Longboard Architectural
Products took a massive
leap of faith – as in, out of an
airplane from 10,000 feet above
ground.
The leaps were for an annual
tandem skydiving fundraiser
event for the Cyrus Centre
Ministries, a Fraser Valley organization that provides youth with
emergency shelter and support
services, which Longboard
sponsors. The company also
provides employees who sign up
to jump with $400 of the $800 in
donations they need to raise to
participate.
Tricia Harrison, community and
events coordinator, kept her feet
firmly on the ground this year
to assist with day-of event needs,
but says with a laugh that she’s
committed to taking the leap next
year. For Harrison, who joined
Longboard a year ago on a maternity leave contract and is moving
into a full-time position, the event
exemplifies what’s special about
the Abbotsford-based company.
“The company really wants
people to get involved, make a
difference, and ideally encourage
them to keep doing it,” she says.
A large portion of her role
is aimed at doing just that, by
promoting fundraising and
volunteering opportunities for
the non-profits and charities
Longboard supports and seeking
out new community partners. “My
biggest focus here is to make it
so that people can get out there
and feel what it feels like to make
an impact and how much a small
gesture really matters.”
Founded in 2005, Longboard
manufactures premium
woodgrain-patterned aluminum
products used for cladding, siding,
walls, ceilings and more. The
company’s first few years were a
“journey,” says owner and CEO
Mike Heppell, as the then-small
team figured out the market for its
products and then got walloped by
the 2008 recession.
When the company reached
profitability after those early
hard-scrabble years, Heppell
gathered employees to identify
the company’s core values. The
first one was that the people come
first. Another was a commitment
to “compassionate acts and human
flourishing.”
“We started identifying
organizations where we could
be involved with them and
volunteer our time and effort to
make life better for people in our
community,” says Heppell.
The company encourages volunteering by providing employees
up to two days of paid volunteer
time per year. Staff members have
spent that time in a variety of
ways, including donating plasma
with Canadian Blood Services;
building homes with Habitat
for Humanity; helping out at
Zajac Ranch, a summer camp for
children and adults with medical conditions and disabilities;
and packing up Starfish Packs,
a weekend’s worth of breakfasts,
lunches, dinners and snacks for
children in the Fraser Valley who
otherwise wouldn’t have enough
food at home.
As part of Longboard’s commitment to putting its people
first, it invests in professional
“MY BIGGEST FOCUS HERE IS TO MAKE IT SO THAT
PEOPLE CAN GET OUT THERE AND FEEL WHAT IT FEELS
LIKE TO MAKE AN IMPACT, AND HOW MUCH A SMALL
GESTURE REALLY MATTERS.”
— Tricia Harrison, Community and Events Coordinator
Mark Heppell, inside sales manager, Mabel Concepcion, lead CAD technician, and Ryan Carey, product
specialist, enjoy a team discussion at the Longboard office.
