SESLOC Credit Union is proud to honor Colleen Stefanek as a SESLOC Young Change Maker. Colleen earned the award in August 2025 for her commitment to community through Habitat for Humanity San Luis Obispo County and volunteering with numerous causes throughout the region.
The SESLOC Young Change Maker Award is given monthly to a young person or young professional under 40 doing significant work to benefit their community. Anyone can nominate a young person for the SESLOC Young Change Maker award on the Wild 106 website.
Colleen gained an appreciation for community work and volunteering early in life, when she joined a friend at 11 years old to volunteer at a homeless shelter serving dinner and handing out blankets and sleeping bags to those in need. The experience left a lasting impression, making her realize that she wanted to dedicate her life to helping people.
Today, as the Program Manager for Habitat for Humanity San Luis Obispo County, she wears many different hats on a day-to-day basis. In addition to coordinating over 600 volunteers for over 6,000 hours of work in 2024, she’s also involved in fundraising activities, and running marketing and programs including the two Restore shops in San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles. In April 2025 alone, she assisted the Habitat for Humanity team in raising over $90,000 to support local affordable homeownership.
She’s also served on the Lumina Alliance’s event committee. Her work helped to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the non-profit, with the goal of empowering survivors of sexual violence through advocacy, healing and prevention.
When not working with Habitat for Humanity or volunteering in other projects, Colleen keeps busy coaching youth sports and serving on volunteer committees. She’s coached Five Cities Youth Basketball, and this year will be coaching in the Atascadero Soccer League. Her goal is to create positive experiences for the community’s youth through sports.
Colleen says it’s an honor to be a SESLOC Young Change Maker Award recipient. She says her work is all about serving others, not bringing attention to herself.
“Nobody that volunteers or spends their time doing this stuff does it to get an award,” she said. “It’s very humbling when you’re awarded for something you don’t do for the accolades.”
Habitat for Humanity San Luis Obispo County is continually looking for volunteers. Anyone who wants to get involved in the community or needs community service hours for school are welcome to participate. Beyond building houses, the Habitat for Humanity team constantly needs volunteers for their Restore stores and the home preservation program for elderly citizens in the community. To find out more, visit HabitatSLO.org.