A Collingwood leader of charitable giving says she feels ‘overwhelmed’ by her recent international award win.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we spoke with Jory Pritchard-Kerr, 63, president and chief executive officer of the Collingwood General and Marine Hospital Foundation.
Q: Have you always lived in Collingwood?
A: No. I moved here in 1982 to be with my boyfriend at the time when I was finishing university.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I grew up in Mississauga.
I went to the University of Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier, getting a degree in recreation administration with a minor in business.
I met my husband through one of my high school friends who grew up in Collingwood. We had come up here camping and she introduced me to my husband.
I came up here all through university and I knew this was where I wanted to live.
Besides, my husband didn’t want to move anywhere else. (laughs) He’s part of a shipbuilding family and they all worked at the shipyards.
Q: Can you take me through your career as it evolved after you moved to Collingwood?
A: I started as the recreation director out in Cranberry Village in 1982.
I then became the program director for the YMCA before they had a building. When I first went there we were offering programming out of churches and schools. We ran a capital campaign during that time to build a building, and I was part of that when we opened the building.
I left the Y in 1987 and I went to work with the Red Cross seniors home support services in the Georgian Triangle area.
After a year, I took this position at the hospital. When I first came here in 1988, I was responsible for fundraising and all hospital communications.
Q: Can you talk a bit about the hospital foundation and the role you play within it?
A: The foundation is a separately incorporated organization. We have our own board and staff that are employees of the foundation. We exist to fund capital needs of the hospital. Prior to COVID for the past 25 years, the government didn’t really give us any money for equipment. Anything the hospital needed had to be raised in the community. We have an extremely generous community. We’ve been really lucky.
There’s never been a time when the hospital really needed something and the community did not step up.
The hospital tells us what is needed and then we put a plan together to figure out how to raise the money.
Q: What impact has that work had on your life?
A: Every single day, I get to meet wonderful, generous people. I can’t think of a better job than this. We’re surrounded by medical professionals that are caring and compassionate. We can match them up with donors that really want to help.
It’s gratifying. It leaves me with the feeling that the world is a good place.
Our boards, over the years, have always understood that a community has to be strong together. We’re often seen as the giant that takes all the money. Our board has always said, what can we do to help other charities?
I’ve been allowed to work with and mentor others in the community so they can be successful. We’ve put together partnerships. Some of our endowment funding is actually put toward work outside of the hospital. For example, we were able to give some funding recently to the Collingwood Youth Centre for mental health.
Collingwood is a good place to live.
Q: You were chosen of the Harold J. (Si) Seymour Award. What is the award, and how did you feel when you found out you’d be this year’s recipient?
A: I was totally overwhelmed. This is an award that’s been given out for 50 years. I think I’m only the seventh or eighth Canadian to have been awarded it.
The Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) gives the award to someone whose careers reflect...leadership in health-care philanthropy.
It really is an international association that has given me tons of opportunities to learn and grow. I chaired the board for two years a few years ago.
Si Seymour was someone that, as health care professionals, we still look to for what is the best way to work with donors. He was seen as an outstanding leader. It’s basically a lifetime achievement award.
It’s generally something that goes to people in large systems, as opposed to someone at a tiny little hospital north of Toronto. (laughs)
Q: What do you like to do outside of work?
A: My work here keeps me really busy. There’s not a lot of time because we do a lot of things in the evenings and on weekends.
I have four fabulous grandchildren that I just love to spend time with. The joy of my life is my three sons who all live in the area. I can’t imagine not having them and their partners close by. When I have downtime, I like to spend it with them.
I also like to garden. I wouldn’t say I’m a good gardener. I’m an avid gardener.
My husband always says, “You’re never happy unless you’re cutting something down.”
Q: Is there anything else you’d like people in Collingwood to know about you?
A: It’s such an honour to have been in this role for 34 years and to meet the people I’ve been able to meet. We have an amazing board and group of volunteers. We have an amazing team of professionals.
I feel grateful for that.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we’ll be speaking with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way, letting them tell their own stories in their own words. This feature will run on CollingwoodToday every weekend. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
