Quite the recognition for a Windsor man.
Make-A-Wish Canada, in celebration of last week's National Volunteer Week, announced that four exceptional individuals across Canada have been selected as Volunteers of the Year.
The national winner was Jim Scott of Windsor, who for over 20 years has been a passionate advocate for their mission and a great believer in giving back to his community.
Established in 2023, the award honours volunteers who have made a significant impact through their selfless dedication and commitment to serving children with critical illness.
Scott, who is the president of Ground Effects Ltd, has granted 60 wishes, raised millions of dollars and helped establish a satellite office for Make-A-Wish in the Windsor area over the years.
He's led a dedicated group of volunteers in the community to raise funds and grant wishes, and his annual golf tournament will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year by exceeding $2 million dollars raised.
Scott says despite his history with Make-A-Wish he was still shocked and overwhelmed to get the call, but also very grateful.
"I've had such a close relationship with Make-A-Wish for I think 23 years now. And so we've done a lot of pretty cool things together, granted a lot of real neat wishes for local children in Windsor-Essex County. So this acknowledgment was really, really neat," he said.
He says supporting Make-A-Wish and being able to interact with so many amazing kids with big smiles on their faces despite their circumstances is special.
"When you see a wish that really alters not only the wish child but the wish child's family, it really is overwhelming. We've had a wish program with Ground Effects where we basically match our employees payroll deductions, and I believe, the number was 224 wishes that employees and our corporation have raised money enough to make those happen."
Scott says the summer golf tournament has not only seen growth and support over the years, but many of their sponsors have been around since the beginning.
He says they're expecting to hit a serious milestone this year.
"We've been able to raise $1,986,000 in the first 19 years, so we'll obviously blow by $2 million in year 20. Just amazing support from our community. The tournament is held at Kingsville Golf and Country Club, we've always had it there, and I think we sold out February 3 or February 4 this year with 230 golfers coming out," he said.
Scott says he, along with the team at Ground Effects, will continue to do what they can for kids having to live through terrible circumstances.