Thompson resident Oswald Sawh represented Northern Manitoba in the nation’s capital Dec. 5, where he received a national award celebrating his many years of volunteer work.
The website for the 2018 Canada’s Volunteer Awards, which recognized 21 community leaders from across the country, singled out Sawh’s work with local groups like the Thompson Regional Humane Society and Men are Part of the Solution (MAPS).
“MAPS provides its Healthy Relations program to men with stress and anger issues in the City of Thompson and in Northern Manitoba,” the website says. “MAPS also operates a transitional housing service called the Phoenix House for homeless men fighting addictions. These initiatives have made a positive impact in Thompson and the surrounding communities with the vast majority of men serviced by the Phoenix Housing moving on to stable housing after.”
Sawh told the Thompson Citizen Jan. 3 that he was more than happy to be the “flag bearer” for Northern Manitoba volunteerism, but was much more concerned about raising the profile of these various local not-for-profits.
“It’s good to have the recognition of organizations like the humane society and MAPS for what they do,” he said. “It’s not as important who started it or who was the driver. It’s the message that these organizations are trying to deliver to the community as a whole.”
Sawh also said it didn’t hurt that this volunteer award came bundled with a $5,000 donation, which he plans to split evenly between the two groups.
Moving into 2019, Sawh is hoping to expand programming options for both MAPS and the humane society.
After completing extensive building renovations back in November, Sawh thinks the humane society can have an even bigger “regional impact” by working more directly with other animal rescues in Northern Manitoba.
As for MAPS, Sawh said he would like to provide additional counselling services beyond the Healthy Relationships program.
“A lot of the challenges that men face are not going to be taken away from just 12 weeks of counselling,” he said. “A lot of these behaviours, learned behaviours, have devolved over a number of years and it’s going to take a while to truly have them go on a path of having healthy relations with their families.”
At the provincial level, the 36th-annual Premier’s Volunteer Service Awards are being presented April 11.
Anyone interested in nominating someone for these upcoming awards can do so by visiting www.volunteermanitoba.ca/awards.php. The deadline for nominations is Feb. 8.
