This year's recipient is Donna Buchan
Mike Toombs presents the plaque to Donna
Donna’s vocation is to provide caring, which she has done throughout her life – in her choice of nursing as a career, her work at Lutherwood, becoming involved as a volunteer with Hospice Wellington and her leadership roles within Rotary.
In her 20 year career in nursing, first at the Hospital for Sick Children, then at the Wellington Dufferin Guelph Health Unit and lastly at Grand River Hospital, her focus was on quality care, and building strong relationships – with patients and parents. When she taught nursing at the University of Toronto, she was equally invested in making sure that the nurses under her tutelage graduated with a strong sense of empathy for families.
Later she transferred those caring and leadership skills to her work at Lutherwood , a multi-faceted social service agency that works in the areas of children’s mental health, employment, housing and residential services for seniors. Because she passionately believed in what the agency was doing, she was able to build strong relationships with the donors, which helped her and her team to raise over a million dollars every year.
And that is what Donna does. She puts the interests of others front and centre, takes time to build a relationship and mentors them to achieve their best. She continues to mentor her team, providing her leadership and advice when needed.
Donna created and led a group of Philanthropy Leaders of mid-sized charities in Waterloo Region which meets regularly to provide support, mentorship and leadership. Donna has provided educational sessions for smaller charities and college students on Philanthropy.
She is often the first to get involved when Rotary needs drivers or volunteers to help in the community and frequently is the one to organize and schedule others.
For the past 19 years she has been a volunteer for Hospice Wellington and for six years sat on the board of directors.
Donna believes that it’s all about getting to know people, recognizing and drawing on their interests and expertise, because then people feel involved and part of the community – be it Rotary, Lutherwood or the community at large.