SPOTLIGHT
Improving health and resilience through generosity
Byron Mack, MNP Regional Managing Partner for Northern Saskatchewan, and Trevor Friesen, MNP Partner in our Saskatoon Office, pose with MNP's logo on a STARS Air Ambulance.
MNP’s Saskatchewan partner group has developed a reputation in recent years for combining their charitable resources for maximum impact.
Over the previous five years, MNP Saskatchewan Partner's giving activities had collectively contributed to 28 charitable and community initiatives around Saskatchewan totalling over $900,000.
It shouldn’t be too surprising that this group came to the fore again in fiscal 2021 with a herculean charitable effort that rallied the entire firm behind them. As part of the more than one million dollars in donations made by the Saskatchewan partners across the province in the last year was a $500,000 commitment to a very special and unique project to raise funds for STARS Air Ambulance.
Pegasus takes flight
STARS Air Ambulance is a non-profit medical evacuation service that airlifts critically ill patients in predominantly rural and remote locations to hospital. Most STARS patients could or would not survive the time it would take a conventional ambulance to respond and transport to an appropriate medical centre.
However, despite its obvious importance, STARS ability to conduct these vital and lifesaving missions is never guaranteed. The costs of specially outfitted helicopters, fuel, maintenance, medical supplies, and trained personnel add up quickly and total many millions of dollars every year.
With less than 40 percent of operating expenses covered by various levels of government, STARS counts on private donors and initiatives like the Pegasus Project to stay in the air.
The Pegasus Project is the brainchild of several Saskatchewan-based car builders and enthusiasts who saw a unique opportunity to raise much-needed funds and awareness for STARS air ambulance. Their mission? To build a custom, one of a kind 1968 Ford Mustang and auction it at the world-famous Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Not surprisingly, the fundraising drive quickly caught the attention of several local MNP partners.
“There are a few things we typically look for in deciding where to donate every year,” says Regan Exner, MNP’s Regional Managing Partner for South Saskatchewan. “First is the scope of our potential impact. Next is the degree of need. And third is our ability to inspire other people to give as well. The Pegasus Project was an obvious winner on all counts."
Collectively, our Saskatchewan partners donated a grand total of $500,000 to the initiative.
“This group continually steps up for their community year after year,” says MNP CEO Jason Tuffs. “But they’re as humble as they are generous. If it weren’t for Communities Forward and other people celebrating their efforts, nobody in the firm would ever hear about it.”
In most years that would likely be true. But half a million dollars is difficult to slip under the radar, especially when the recipient organization has a Hollywood star — and local son — as it’s brand ambassador.
Kim Coates, who was born in Saskatchewan and starred in FX's Sons of Anarchy and Netflix's Bad Blood, graciously reached out to deliver a very heartfelt thank you and reinforce the impact of MNP’s donation.
Actor Kim Coates shares a video thanking MNP on behalf of STARS.