With the example of her father and grandfather looming large, Samantha “Sam” Wilkins, chief operating officer of External Affairs Medical Spas in Edmonton, St. Albert, and Kelowna, took the initiative to make the spa’s client appreciation event in October a fundraiser for MANS and its partner venture adjacent to Samson Cree Nation territory, the Mamawi Atosketan Centre (MAC)). All ticket sales went to benefit MANS and MAC.
Sam, who has accompanied her father at every major MANS event in the past eight years, brings the same passion to her work and her relationship with MANS and MAC that attracted the attention of the Governor General of Canada and earned Larry the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers, awarded at Government House in Edmonton in 2019.
The CBC interview “Larry Wilkins Volunteers to Change Lives” aired on Daybreak Alberta with Russell Bowers on Nov. 8, 2019, the day before he received the Sovereign’s Medal, which recognizes the extraordinary dedication of a select few Canadians to causes that makes Canada a better place.
An Indigenous Family and Entrepreneurial Affair—The Wilkins family of Indigenous entrepreneurs has supported MANS for more than a decade. Larry acted as honorary chair of the Bridge Campaign to build the high school and was top donor to the campaign. L-R: Samantha (Sam) Wilkins (daughter of Larry), patriarch Roger and wife Marie Wilkins, Larry Wilkins, Gary Smith and Jamie Smith (daughter of Larry’s deceased brother). Not pictured: Danny Chase, founder and owner of Chase Office Interiors, Vancouver, BC.
