For the second time in their history the Rose Garden Hospice has been named the Non-Profit Organization of the Year at the Prince Albert Chamber of Commerce Samuel McLeod Business Awards.
The Hospice placed first in the category on Friday night at Plaza 88.
Ian Dickson, the Community Engagement and Philanthropy Coordinator for the Rose Garden Hospice, said that the recognition shows the impact that the Hospice has made in under three years in operation.
“It’s incredibly important to us to get that kind of recognition. This is the second time that we’ve won that category. And I think it just speaks to the impact that the organization is having on this whole community and the North as well,” Dickson said.
“We’re becoming more and more of a household name, more and more people are using our services. So this will go a long way to help us even more, get more credibility in the community for what we’re offering, ”Dickson said.
The Hospice previously won the award in 2024, one year after opening and Dickson said to win again shows the imp going to be educational and community engagement opportunities as well. The Hospice annual fundraisers like Brunch with Santa and Run for Rose are always popular events as well.
“I mean, it’s all tied together the events that we use as primarily as fundraisers are also always going to be educational and community engagement opportunities as well. We’ll always get some new people coming out,” Dickson said.
Before the Rose Garden Hospice opened in 2023 fundraisers were a common event and that impact has carried over according to Dickson.
“Fundraising started many, many years ago in this community. So many people attended small fundraisers, large fundraisers over the years. without really knowing what the hospice was for,” he explained.
Now that the Hospice is established that impact is growing even more.
“But now that we’ve been open for two and a half years, we’ve had over 375 people come through the hospice. That’s just thousands of people that have been directly impacted now. It’s just helping us even get a better stature in the community for,” Dickson said.
Dickson saluted the competition in the category which included the River Valley Resilience Retreat and the Mann Art Gallery.
“While it was certainly hard competition to be up against those other two organizations, there’s a lot of so many worthwhile nonprofits in Prince Albert,” Dickson said. Victoria Elliott-Erickson, board Secretary for the Hospice accepted the award on behalf of the organization.
He also credited the staff in all parts of the Hospice for their work.
“From my perspective, the staff that we have at the Rose Garden Hospice, like particularly in the healthcare side and the hospitality side, they do so much hard work,” Dickson said.
“This was really important for them to get that recognition of all that hard work because this nature of work can be, it can carry a lot of weight with it for people off hours as well. So to kind of have something like this, to get that nod from the community, I think goes a really long way to helping the staff,” Dickson said.
He credited all of the volunteers and people who helped to make the Hospice an important part of Prince Albert for their work.
“It’s been so many years of hard work from many, many, many volunteers as well, board members, committee members, people organizing their own fundraisers and contributing towards the hospice. It’s been so many small parts that make something so great. We’re very grateful to the community for that recognition and for that continued support,” Dickson said.
