Burlington volunteers: the superheroes of our great community

By Colleen Mulholland

With the recent marking of National Volunteer Week, I’ve been thinking a lot about how giving comes in many shapes and forms.

So often, people who volunteer for their community are the unsung heroes. They give of their personal time, they donate money, and they give through many other means. In my humble opinion, whether you give through volunteer work, a gift of money, or simply by pitching in where needed, you are a philanthropist at heart.

Volunteers are local heroes like Christine Kempe, a former Burlington Community Foundation employee who has been volunteering with us for the past seven years. Christine has been an enthusiastic member of our Grants Committee – helping to make inspired matches between donors and meaningful local causes each year.

Another person who springs to mind is Keith Munro, a retired local businessman who volunteered as a board member for five years and recently created a memorial fund in his late wife’s memory. As a volunteer member of our Investment Committee, Keith continues to provide the Foundation with invaluable professional knowledge.

Also giving financially and of his time, there is Brian Weatherdon, a local professional advisor who in 2010, together with his wife Virginia, established an endowed fund focused on early and lifelong nutrition. Brian volunteers with us as an active member of our Growth and Development Committee.

On behalf of the Foundation, our grantees, our donors and fundholders, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Christine, Keith, Brian and all of our champions and supporters for their volunteer contributions to our great community.

The Foundation is celebrating National Volunteer Week by sharing inspired stories on burlingtonfoundation.org about Burlingtonians who are touching lives through their volunteer activities.

Visit burlingtonfoundation.org and join the ranks of our 943+ loyal Twitter followers, who are connecting and building a vital, virtual community. You can follow us @BurlingtonFDN or connect with us on Facebook. Together, we’re working all for community.

Colleen Mulholland is Executive Director at Burlington Community Foundation. Follow her on Twitter @ColleenBCF.

CFC is in the game, thanks to True Sport Foundation

By Skana Gee

Community Foundations of Canada has partnered with True Sport Foundation and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) on a one-year pilot project helmed by four local Community Foundations, in Kitchener-Waterloo, Burlington, Winnipeg and Abbotsford.

“Our goal is to explore how sport can be used to strengthen local communities,” says Cindy Lindsay, CFC’s Director of Member Services.

TSF, which is committed to ensuring that sport makes a positive contribution to Canadian society – particularly its youth – has been working with the local Community Foundations since last August on an array of granting programs.

“We’re looking for the best projects, which will have the most impact and will mobilize the community,” notes Christina Parsons, Projects Manager with True Sport Foundation. “It’s asset-based community development, and each site has a strong element of community collaboration.”

Discussion topics have ranged from soccer and sailing for disabled people, to bullying, and after-school opportunities, with input from parents, youth, police, educators, municipal representatives and many more stakeholders.

While individually tailored, each site is seeking proposals from individuals, networks and organizations. Parsons expects grants from each site to be handed out in time to get projects and programs running this summer.

With help from the McConnell Foundation, True Sport is making $160,000 total available to the four pilot sites, for granting to community-based projects.

Parsons and colleague Karri Dawson will share thoughts and experiences from the TSF-CFC partnership at CFC 2011 Conference, during a concurrent session titled Ready, Set, Go: True Sport Pilot Project.

“It’s intended as a short-term spark. Initially we want to spread smaller grants to a lot of projects – hopefully they will gain momentum,” says Parsons. “It’s challenging all of us to think creatively.”

Skana Gee is Communications Coordinator for Community Foundations of Canada