The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame (SSHF) has won the Canadian Association for Sport Heritage’s CASH Award of Excellence for a second straight year.
This year, the SSHF was honoured for their Never Give Up education program at the Canadian Association for Sport Heritage (CASH) Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, June 1.
Never Give Up is an education program targeting at-risk students in Grades 4-8 which focuses on answering the question: what makes a person a “hero”? By discussing the concept of a hero, Never Give Up allows the students to understand that heroes are different for everyone and often they take the form of positive role models throughout each person’s community. Never Give Up is administered virtually and involves SSHF inductees who have overcome obstacles and hardships in order to achieve their own personal goals in sport and life. The students benefitting from this program represent a range of diverse life experiences and thus, so too do the presenters who currently include war refugees, amputees, and Paralympians.
Never Give Up really hit its stride in 2021 when Covid-19 required that all education programming be conducted virtually. Over the course of 24 sessions (six weeks in May/June and six weeks in October/November), the program reached 35 different communities and a total of 2,047 participants. The SSHF is grateful to have sponsorship support from SaskTel in order to make this program possible.
Inductees Arnold Boldt, Lisa Franks, and Ted Jaleta, along with Colette Bourgonje – who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this fall as a member of the Class of 2021 – shared their inspiring stories with students across the province.
Colette Bourgonje delivers a Never Give Up presentation to a class in 2021.
In 2021, the SSHF won the inaugural CASH Award of Excellence for their exhibit Prairie Pride: A History of Saskatchewan Football.
The CASH Award of Excellence was created to recognize and celebrate the achievements of CASH members. Projects were eligible to be nominated from four categories: museum, events, communication and collection.
The CASH Award of Excellence was evaluated by the Awards Selection Committee using a point system.
CASH is comprised of 70 members and is a national association of institutions, organizations, and individuals dedicated to the preservation of Canada’s rich sports heritage.