Maisie, Andrew, and Jory: Spark Outstanding Pro Bono Award nominees!

Students Andrew, Maisie, and Jory at Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre

Every year Spark presents the Spark Outstanding Pro Bono Award at the Volunteer Manitoba Volunteer Awards Gala. We look forward to this day every year because it gives us a chance to recognize some of our volunteers and the impact their pro bono work has on the community, as well as celebrate volunteerism in Manitoba.

From now until awards night, we are celebrating the nominees for the Spark Outstanding Pro Bono Award, and their contributions to their community through a series of volunteer profiles. 

Today we are profiling Award nominees Maisie, Andrew, and Jory of the University of Manitoba’s Indigenous Design and Planning Students Association!

Maisie, Andrew, and Jory are nominated for their interior design planning with Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre.

Ma Mawi Chi Itata Centre is a strength based and value-based family resource organization delivering community-based programs and services within the philosophy embodied in [their] name. Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre believes in accountability, transparency, and effective use of resources. For [them], this means working together with families, partners, funders, and governments to create community based solutions that build local capacity for self-care.

Last year Ma Mawi reached out to Spark because the organization wanted to redesign their Gathering Place for Truth and Reconciliation office space. Specifically, they “were looking to bring in natural elements and Indigenous concepts” into their training rooms and event hall. Maisie and the team of students at the Indigenous Design and Planning Students Association were the perfect fit.

The students met at the Ma Mawi offices a few times to take pictures, measure the spaces, and get to know the space. Then they got to work on developing a design brief that included renderings of what the space could look like.

Ma Mawi was thrilled with the process and results, noting that “ through the entire design phase the team came to our location, listened to our vision for the space and brought that to life through their work. Maisie used design technology so we could see what it could look like and created a document that outlined paint colours, mural ideas, and lighting.” 

At the end of the match Ma Mawi gave us an update on the project: “excitingly enough, funding was approved for the [design] project Maisie and her team presented and we will be hosting a launch for the community in early Fall 2025.” 

Thank you for your amazing design work Maisie, Andrew, and Jory!