NONPROFIT LEADER SNAGS BIG HONOR
Contra Costa's 'Woman of the Year'
Talk about out of nowhere. Much to Elizabeth Hoffman’s eye-bulging surprise, she answered her cell phone about a month ago and it was U.S. Rep.
Mike Thompson.
While Hoffman fell short of thinking it was a friend playing a practical joke, it’s not like she chats with the District 5 congressman every day.
“I didn’t think he had my cell number,” laughed Hoffman.
As surprising as Thompson’s call was, Hoffman was even more stunned when Thompson said she was selected as his district’s 2021 Woman of Year in Contra Costa County.
“I was very shocked and very honored,” Hoffman said.
Though, as the executive director of Rebuilding Together Solano County, Hoffman is mostly anchored here, the nonprofit has worked over the bridge, especially during COVID-19 with the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano.
Thompson “has mentioned that he was very impressed that we sort of pivoted from what had been our traditional services of doing the home rehabs
and community volunteer workdays since we couldn’t do that safely” during the pandemic, Hoffman said.
Thompson had visited Rebuilding Together’s food pantry distribution at a Vallejo mobile home park, attended several Martin Luther King Jr. Day workdays, and several veterans’ events, Hoffman said.
The congressman praised Hoffman in a proclamation for the Congressional Record, reading the Woman of the Year announcement on the floor of the Capitol for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Thompson emphasized that the RTSC leader “has worked diligently to improve the lives of low-income families, veterans, seniors, and disabled members of our community.”
Thompson spotlighted Hoffman’s credentials, including the supervision and participation in renovating 40 homes of low-income owners and 52 community centers while coordinating 12,000 volunteers.
“Her exceptional commitment to our community has not gone unrecognized,” Thompson said.
While renovating veterans’ homes has been put on hold, RTSC has managed to arrive with food boxes to the low-income residents, including mobile home parks.
“We would pull up and it’s almost like Christmas,” said Hoffman. “We’d be there for about 20 minutes and, all of a sudden, the line is down the street” with RTSC distributing fresh produce, meat and cheese.
“It’s really heart-warming,” said Hoffman, accumulating numerous memorable stories, especially of veterans who often get emotional.
“Some can’t believe complete strangers will help them,” Hoffman said, adding that “You can feel you’re a little bit of a lifeline.”
The organization continues to support veterans, even during the virus, Hoffman noted.
“We have board members once a week deliver vets food boxes and check in on them,” she said. “We’ve done that since COVID started. We’ve built sort of a support structure for our veteran homeowners. They know they’re part of our community.”
Veterans advocate and RTSC volunteer Ret. Col. Nestor Aliga said Hoffman undoubtedly deserved the “Woman of the Year” honor.
“RTSC volunteers and our beloved community are grateful for Elizabeth and her endless and inspiring passion to continuously make a difference and uplift the lives of low-income families, veterans, seniors, and disabled members of our community,” Aliga said.
It was Hoffman’s mother, Sarah Johnson, and a handful of peers at the Wayside United Methodist Church in Vallejo that started Rebuilding Together Solano County in 2009.
“They were looking for a hands-on project,” said Hoffman, a bank employee at the time who had volunteered with Oakland’s Rebuilding Together.
“I fell in love with how you can bring organizational skills and fund-raising skills toward changing the lives of seniors,” Hoffman said. “And how you can bring that community spirit in helping someone stay in their home for another 10, 15 years.”
Hoffman, her mother and a few church members started calling some community activists and Rebuilding Together Solano County was born.
For two years, Hoffman volunteered as the nonprofit’s executive director before “deciding to make a go of it; if I could raise the money, I could pay myself. I thought I could do it. And 12 years later …” she’s still at it.
Oh, there are times she’d rather stay in bed, for sure, rather than be at a renovation.
“Some days, you’re tired. It takes a lot for me to go out there,” Hoffman said. “Then I think, ‘If they don’t get this food’ or ‘If we don’t give them smoke alarms,’ it could change their lives. What motivates me are those we help and my volunteers.”
Yes, “it’s nice to be recognized” for her work, Hoffman said. “But I don’t do it for that at all. I’m just as fine going ahead without it.”
But when she got that call from Thompson, “it felt like the biggest hug or pat on the back that I could have gotten.”
An award, reiterated Aliga, that Hoffman surely deserved.
“I’m sure that God has reserved space for her in heaven,” Aliga said.