The Thousand Islands Watershed Land Trust (TIWLT) is pleased to announce that it is the recipient of $100,000 from the Community Services Recovery Fund. The Community Services Recovery Fund is a one-time $400 million investment from the Government of Canada to support community service organizations, including charities, non-profits, and Indigenous governing bodies, as they adapt and modernize their organizations. TIWLT thanks the Canadian Red Cross, Community Foundations of Canada and United Way Centraide Canada, who were selected as the National Funders to deliver funding. We’re very grateful to the Brockville Community Foundation (BCF), through which this funding is delivered.
The funds will be directed at rebuilding and expanding TIWLT’s marketing and communications infrastructure that was simply devastated by the COVID closures. Workshops, science talks, group hikes and meetings with interested landowners all suffered greatly for 2 years.
Fortunately, during this period, our Board of Directors, Community Volunteers, partner conservation groups and local skilled trades, worked within the health protocols to restore and renovate the historically significant 1838 farm gifted to TIWLT, the Glen Elbe Learning Centre. This funding allows TIWLT to develop effective communications for community and educators on how to mitigate effects of climate change locally, and reverse local losses of biodiversity.
Cameron Jones (Principal of Student Success and Real-World Learning from Upper Canada District School Board) said “Glen Elbe Learning Centre provides a living, outdoor learning lab for students to engage with nature alongside real-world professionals, while working on the goal of UCDSB Grows for students to learn into being stewards of the earth in our communities and beyond”.
Lauren Levac (UCDSB Student Success Learning Partner) adds; “At a time of devastating climate change and global initiatives like 30% of land being protected by 2030, The Learning Centre and TIWLT will be instrumental in educating not just students … but everyone who lives in and loves this area”.
Jenna Sudds, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development says, “Community service organizations are at the heart of communities like Lansdowne, creating a sense of belonging from coast to coast to coast. The Community Services Recovery Fund will enable organizations like the Thousand Islands Watershed Land Trust that serve our diverse communities to adapt and modernize their programs and services and to invest in the future of their organizations, staff and volunteers. Together, we can rebuild from the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic and build a more just and equitable future for those in the Thousand Islands.”
Thank you from all of us at TIWLT.
Don Ross, President of Thousand Islands Watershed Land Trust accepting cheque from Erik Wang, Interim Executive Director of Brockville and Area Community Foundation
Don Ross, President TIWLT, Erik Wang, Interim Executive Director of Brockville and Area Community Foundation, Marnie Ross, Director TIWLT, Brent Brown, Principal, Athens District High School UCDSB, John McAllister, Trustee of UCDSB, Cameron Jones, Principal of Student Success and Real-World Learning UCDSB, Lauren Levac, UCDSB Student Success Learning Partner, Ron Ferguson, Director of Education of UCDSB
Cameron Jones, Principal of Student Success and Real-World Learning UCDSB, addressing audience at Glen Elbe Learning Centre
