Arthritis Society Canada’s Mary Pack Volunteer Awards

Purpose

The Mary Pack Volunteer Awards publicly recognizes our most dedicated and inspirational volunteers and honor the contributions they have made to Arthritis Society Canada and those affected by arthritis. These national awards aim to celebrate the selfless dedication and accomplishments of our outstanding volunteers and serve as an example that all community members can aspire to.

Criteria

This award is the pinnacle of recognition for volunteers with Arthritis Society Canada. They are designed to annually recognize volunteers who are true ambassadors of Arthritis Society Canada’s vision, mission and core values:

Vision: We will extinguish arthritis.

Mission: To fight the fire of arthritis with research, advocacy, innovation, information and support.

Values:

• United: We are stronger together.
• Impactful: We fearlessly work to achieve greatness.
• Transformative: We will create a bold future.

These national awards are given to either individuals or committees, who are nominated by Arthritis Society Canada staff or volunteers. The awards aim to recognize and represent volunteers from across the country that embody and consistently demonstrate one or more of our core values.

Eligibility

Eligibility will be based on the following criteria:

• Individual nominees must have been actively volunteering for Arthritis Society Canada for minimum of two full years to be considered OR have contributed a minimum of 50 hours between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026.
• Volunteers will be chosen based on the award criteria.
• Volunteers can be nominated as individuals or as a member of a committee
• Nominees must be registered, approved and classified as a volunteer with Arthritis Society Canada and must have provided their time or talents without compensation (excluding tokens of thanks and gifts)
• Previous nominee recipients of the Mary Pack Awards can be nominated, but are ineligible to receive the awards again for a minimum period of three (3) years. This policy aims to allow other nominees who have not yet been recognized to receive the award.

Nomination & Selection Process

Any Arthritis Society Canada staff member or volunteer can submit a nomination form and may nominate either a volunteer or whole volunteer committee. Volunteers may not nominate themselves. Award recipients will represent the vast nature of the Arthritis Society Canada volunteer roles and will consider nationwide geographical representation. A maximum of 8 volunteer awards will be given out each year to accommodate widespread geographical representation (BC, Prairies, Ontario, Quebec, Atlantic Canada).

Nominations must be received within the three-week nomination window from March 2 until March 16, 2026.

Those wishing to nominate a volunteer must submit a nomination form.

All eligible nominations will be forwarded to the selection committee, who will review the nominees and make final recommendations to the Senior Director, Mission.

Selection Committee

The selection committee will be made up of two (2) volunteer leads (program coordinators who manage volunteers for their program) from across the country as well as two (2) existing volunteers. During the selection process, the Specialist, Volunteer will facilitate the committee work.

Should a volunteer on the selection committee be nominated for an award, they will excuse themselves from the review process. Should the selection committee be deadlocked in their decision making, the Senior Director, Mission will act as the tie-breaking vote.

Communication Process

The award winners will be announced during National Volunteer Week (April 19-25, 2026). An announcement will be made by a communication process and/or a small award event, which will be planned for the recipients with the support of regional and nominating staff.

A nationwide communication process will be planned during National Volunteer Week to announce and celebrate the award recipients.