(Submitted/ Mont St. Joseph Foundation)

By Logan Lehmann

Big boost

Mont St. Joseph Foundation receives $200K donation for dining experience upgrades

Feb 11, 2025 | 9:10 AM

The Mont St. Joesph (MSJ) Foundation received a massive donation this past weekend.

Friends and family of the Home were gathered at the Prince Albert Golf and Curling Centre on Saturday for the 26th annual Monty Mixed Curling Funspiel, where the Estate of Neils Thomsen made a whopping donation of $200,627.82 to the Foundation.

Executor for Thomsen’s Estate Tom Tilford said he and Niels were friends and neighbours for 30 years before he passed away at 98 in 2022, and added that he was a big supporter of the Home and Foundation. Neils’ wife Emily was admitted to Mont St. Joseph after he could no longer take care of her and spent countless hours with her at the Home until her passing in 2007.

In the years following, he became a volunteer at the Home and received numerous Volunteer Appreciation Certificates from the Foundation for his dedication to the cause. Now three years after his passing, he’s continuing to support Mont St. Joseph posthumously.

“It was listed right in his will that they would be the residual beneficiary,” Tilford explained. “He said to me at one point that he wanted, if he could, to see [the money] used at Mont St. Joseph Home to improve the dining experience for the residents.”

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And that’s exactly where the funds will go.

According to Wayne Nogier, the Chief Executive Officer for the Mont St. Joesph Home and Foundation, the donation will help MSJ remodel into more of a home-like environment for its residents.

“Our building is now 27 years old and it’s been exceptionally well maintained, but it’s time for us to renew some of those spaces. We have 12 living areas that coincide with each one of our residence areas and we’re going to start picking away at them one by one and really make them a new space for our residents to live.”

“I like to use the example of: you get home from work and supper is not quite ready, and so you go to the pantry and pull a granola bar out and have that while you’re waiting to eat. Our residents currently don’t have that ability, but they will when we redesign this space, bringing more of a home like environment into everyday living at Mont St. Joe’s.”

He continued that although massive donations don’t come in that often, they are a blessing when they do, and that the act reassures their relationship with Prince Albert and the surrounding community.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

On Bluesky: @loganlehmann.bsky.social