Awards honour top non-profit organizations
CAMBRIDGE, ON—Two Christian ministries, Listen Up TV and CAUSE Canada, walked away with $10,000 awards for innovation at the second annual R.L. Petersen Awards.
"I'm speechless," said Listen Up TV executive director Lorna Dueck at the April 19 ceremony, held at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Cambridge. Dueck received the award for moving the weekly newsmagazine program from the Crossroads Television System to Global. "Bridgeway gave us tremendous courage. We couldn't have done it without them."
The Bridgeway Foundation, a Cambridge-based organization that partners with Canadian non-profits to help stimulate creativity and innovation in the non-profit sector, founded the R.L. Petersen Awards. Award-winning organizations uphold high standards in six criteria: innovative approaches, solid leadership, strategic planning, risk-taking, new and fresh responses and realistic and feasible budgeting.
Many challenges
Prior to presenting the award to Dueck, selection committee member Ron Thompson cited the many challenges Dueck and her team faced in "stepping outside the box of CTS and into the mainstream broadcasting environment."
These included providing closed captioning, paying for broadcast facilities and creating a donor base. Challenges were met and the initial target of a 41,000 average-minute audience was exceeded when Listen Up reached a 54,200 average-minute audience in six weeks.
This year, Bridgeway partnered with 78 charities, providing 116 grants. From those organizations, 10 were chosen as nominees for the awards. This year's nominees also included: Arrow Leadership (Surrey, B.C.), Christian Association of Pregnancy Support Services (Kelowna, B.C.), Gateway Centre for New Canadians (Mississauga, Ontario), Haggai Institute (Winnipeg, Manitoba), International Justice Mission (London, Ontario), Kids Alive (Cambridge, Ontario) and Sunrise Therapeutic Riding and Learning Centre (Guelph, Ontario)
The awards comprise two $10,000 honourable mentions and the main award of $25,000—which was given to National Service Dogs of Canada. The organization, based in Cambridge, provides assistance dogs to families with autistic children, helping the social integration of both children and families.
CAUSE Canada—an acronym for Christian Aid for Under-assisted Societies Everywhere—received the night's second honourable mention. Selection committee member Sandra Manning said the Canmore, Alberta-based ministry has "now become synonymous in the [non-governmental organization] world with efficient, experienced and effective advocacy for the poor in West Africa and Central America."
CAUSE founders Paul and Bev Carrick were especially congratulated for their newest idea, the Women's Integral Empowerment Project in Guatemala.
"The concentric circles of influence and empowerment that emanate from a woman's home cannot be overestimated," said Manning. "To give skills, both income-producing skills and life-coping skills to the women of a community, is the single greatest multiplier of the 'good aid' possible."
Lorna Dueck, executive director and host of Listen Up TV, accepts an R.L. Petersen Award from the Bridgeway Foundation, a Cambridge-based organization encourages creativity and innovation in the non-profit sector. Photo
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