MEANS & MEANING
“Third Angel” of MAN 2020 Appeal Takes S After 5 years of involvement, retired Enbridge CFO Richard Bird finds a lot to love about Mamawi Atosketan
BY LYNN McDOWELL
R
ichard Bird is the first to admit that he's had advantages. He grew up as part of Bird Construction, the Canadian construction company established by his grandfather, which recently acquired Stuart Olson for $96.5 million. He graduated from good schools, including the University of Toronto and the University of Manitoba. His distinguished career included a long tenure as CFO of energy giant Enbridge, from which he retired in 2015. Bird knows he's fortunate, and "leveling the playing field" by investing in schools and other institutions that focus on disadvantaged groups — especially youth — Is a long-standing family value. A Monitoring Eye As one might expect, Bird keeps
an eye on his investments. He likes Mamawi Atosketan Native School (MANS) — enough to step into the financial gap created this year by COVID and federal policy on Indigenous education, making the largest of three five-digit contributions to the 2020 yearend appeal for student aid. Why would an astute businessman named by his peers as Canada's Top CFO in 2010 for his vision as well as professional expertise take note of a church-run Indigenous Kindergarten-Grade 12 school in Central Alberta? "We know we can't give everyone all the advantages we have," says Bird, "but we can at least give some children and youth a hand up along the way." The family's Ptarmigan Foundation has established many institutions around the
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world, including orphanages, schools, and children's hospital programs. "But as we got some distance down the path," says Bird, "we realized that we have a pretty significant segment of disadvantaged youth right here in our own backyard in Canada — and that's among Indigenous people." The Bridge Campaign: Connecting with Values When a letter arrived on his desk in 2016 regarding MANS' campaign to build a high school, Bird responded with some key questions drawn from his previous experience with Indigenous education. The Ptarmigan Foundation supports several other primary, secondary,
We know we can't give everyone all the advantages we have, but we can at least give some children and youth a hand up along the way." 54
Alberta Adventist News
JUNE 2021
