In celebration of National Volunteer Week, The Sunshine Foundation of Canada is honoured to announce that Dr. Michelle McNeill of London, ON, has been selected as the recipient of the 2017 Wayne C. Dunn Spirit of Service Award in recognition of her contributions to help fulfill Sunshine Dreams for children across Canada living with severe physical disabilities or life-threatening illnesses.
Over the past 16 years, Dr. McNeill has actively and passionately supported The Sunshine Foundation of Canada in a variety of roles. As a Developmental Pediatrician, Dr. McNeill has played an integral role on The Sunshine Foundation of Canada’s Medical Advisory Team (MAT) since 2002. As part of her role on the MAT, Dr. McNeill dedicates her time to reviewing hundreds of Sunshine Dream applications and ensuring standard and fair approval processes for all Sunshine Dreamers across Canada.
Dr. McNeill has also volunteered her time on three separate Sunshine DreamLifts, and will be volunteering on the upcoming DreamLift out of London taking place on April 24, 2018. She has volunteered on DreamLift both as the lead of the Medical Support Team as well as being matched with children who are medically complex. Dr. McNeill also serves Sunshine as a referral partner within the London healthcare community at Children’s Hospital of London and as an integral home office resource providing training to Sunshine staff on conditions that our Sunshine Dreamers live with. Throughout her years of service, she has continuously dedicated her time, knowledge and skill to help make Sunshine Dreams come true. As a wife, mother of four, and busy professional, Dr. McNeill certainly has a full plate but always has time to support the Sunshine team.
"Dr. McNeill is an outstanding volunteer,” says Nancy Sutherland, CEO for Sunshine. “Her continual passion and dedication to serving our children are vital to a volunteer driven organization like Sunshine in achieving our mission. I want to thank her for her significant contributions over the years.”
The Wayne C. Dunn Spirit of Service Award recognizes and honours an individual who has contributed to the mission of The Sunshine Foundation of Canada through his or her extraordinary, personal service over an extended period of time.
The award is named after its inaugural recipient, prominent London, Ontario business leader, Wayne Dunn who was a guiding light, a dedicated leader and a passionate advocate for The Sunshine Foundation of Canada for two decades. Wayne was instrumental in the growth of The Sunshine Golf Classic – an event that would become Sunshine’s largest single fundraiser over his 13 years at the helm – and for leaving behind an ongoing legacy, the County Heritage/Stevenson & Hunt Endowment Fund which supports dreams in perpetuity.
Dr. Michelle McNeill will be officially presented with the Spirit of Service Award, an etched glass obelisk – a symbolic representation of a permanent ray of sunshine – at the 2017 Sunshine Annual General Meeting taking place on May 24th at Highland Country Club.
