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PLANTING SEEDS: HONOURING THE GIANTS IN OUR LIVES WITH GOOD
Richard’s “In Memory Gift” not only honours his compassionate and caring mother. It also advances the values she pointed him toward.
Georgenna Ferguson was a nurse who spent many years working at Baker Memorial Sanitarium in Calgary — a TB sanitarium. Most of the patients were First Nations, and it was at the sanitarium that Ed Dejarlais, a young Cree man, first encountered the Adventist message and made it his mission to establish a school and Adventist presence in Maskwacis (then known as Hobbema). It was the beginning of the Adventist Church’s biggest Indigenous outreach in North America, with 232 students now enrolled at MANS.
Georgenna and Ed may or may not have met, but Georgenna’s son Richard
Ferguson remembers his mother’s compassion for her First Nations patients. Her stories made them feel like familiar people rather than “outsiders” — a gift Richard still prizes.
Richard and his family have followed the news and videos about MANS for many years, and when Richard recently received his inheritance,* it didn’t take him long to forward a gift for MANS in his mother’s memory. “I really appreciate the culturally-sensitive attitude at MANS,” says Richard, who has followed and supported MANS since its years in a condemned school at Pigeon Lake, prior to the present location that opened in 2003. “It’s such a wonderful opportunity to bless a people group that has been very badly treated for many years.”
"Where Needed" and Family Flexibility
Because Richard has kept up with MANS’ developments through the Messenger, Alberta Adventist News and mans1. ca, he knows how the school is run, and had no hesitation in letting administration decide where his gift would best be used to benefit students. Richard is very comfortable with the choice, made in consultation with the principal, to use the gift to expand the school garden and gardening/agriculture program.
Richard and his wife, Laurie, recently completed a course on Indigenous history called “The Four Seasons of Reconciliation,” sponsored by the Royal Bank for free to any Canadian during the month of December.
While difficult to watch at times, Richard remembered what he’d observed about MANS’ work and the difference it is making, especially the opportunity for students to work together in industrial arts courses, and now in gardening class. When filling out the survey at the end of the Four Seasons course, Richard recommended adding a “good news” feature on Mamawi Atosketan Native School to the course —a ray of hope. “MANS teachers are such an inspiration,” says Richard. “They help their students see their possibilities. I really admire them— the quality of a person who chooses to go into that environment. They’re like stars to me.”
Twice the honour
So Richard’s “In Memory Gift” honours twice: The life of his compassionate mother, Georgenna, and the work of dedicated teachers at MANS, who share hope and help shape the future.
DID YOU KNOW?
“In Memory” and “In Honour Gifts” are one way of honouring the life of someone who had a positive impact. Such gifts are recognized by The Alberta Conference by stories, such as those in this issue about Richard Ferguson’s gift, and the Means & Meaning column in the AAN September 2021 issue about the anonymous gift given to remember the 215 unmarked graves of Indigenous children discovered near Kamloops, BC this summer.
FAMILY INPUT
In addition, the Planned Giving program provides a forum for the family of individuals who have left a gift to the Conference in their will to suggest a use that is dear to the family or that may have been important to the donor if no particular use is specified in the will. “Where most needed” designations in a gift by will or an “In Memory Gift,” such as Richard’s, allow flexibility for needs and uses that arise after a will is made or a gift is given to honour the life of a dear one.
By Lynn McDowell, JD, CSPG Director of Planned Giving | Philanthropy Alberta Conference (403) 342-5044, ext. 233
