July 8,2010/-KINGSTON, ON – At a recent community celebration, the Board of Directors of the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation (UHKF) announced the establishment of the Ian Wilson Award for Volunteerism in Fundraising.

This award will be granted annually by University Hospitals Kingston Foundation on behalf of all three of Kingston’s hospital foundations to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding volunteer efforts in the solicitation of donations benefitting the Kingston hospitals.  

The recipients of the award will be selected based on their alignment with the character and qualities demonstrated by Ian Wilson in his volunteer role as Chair of the $70 million Together We Can campaign. 

Past Board Chair, Peter Merkley, said, “For the past two years, Ian has been an outstanding volunteer leader for the campaign.  Our records show that Ian has driven nearly 12,000 kilometers on our behalf, meeting with services clubs, community groups, municipal politicians, and individual donors. It’s a rare week that Ian isn’t in our office at least two or three times, hand signing thousands of letters of thanks each year, and personalizing many of them. Every time we have a celebration of a gift, or a launch, or a milestone of significance, Ian is there. I have no doubt that, without Ian Wilson, we would simply not be at the $65 million mark in our campaign.”
 
The board defined the selection criteria for award recipients based on Mr. Wilson’s qualities as a volunteer, which include:
- An unwavering positive attitude
- A clear commitment to representing our three hospitals as a united cause
- Tangible positive results of volunteer efforts
- Good humored determination
- Open-mindedness
- An ability to convey empathy and compassion for patients and their families
- A shameless ability to ask
- Pride in affiliation with hospitals
- An above and beyond attitude and commitment

A call for nominations will be issued each year in May, and any volunteer, hospital staff member, hospital board or committee member, or third party event organizer may be nominated. 

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For more information contact: 

Mary Crawford, Marketing and Communications
University Hospitals Kingston Foundation
Phone: (613) 549-5452, ext. 5908
Email: mary.crawford@uhkf.ca