Growing Local Impact: Four Years of the WoodLot Fund

We love when we can bring together people who care with causes that matter in our community and learn about the growing impact of their gifts.

On August 4th, alongside donors Julie and Steve Wood, we presented $5,250 in grants from the WoodLot Fund to four local organizations that are doing important work in Dufferin County: Pine River Institute, Dufferin Child and Family Services (DCAFS), Streams Community Hub, and the Orangeville Food Bank.

The grants mark the fourth year of a five-year commitment to these charities from the WoodLot Fund – the Wood family’s donor-advised fund at Dufferin Community Foundation. 

“Choosing where to direct our donations is not easy as there are so many diverse needs in the community,” said Julie. “We chose these organizations because they support some of the most essential elements of a healthy life: food, mental health and creative expression.”

The WoodLot’s multi-year funding provides something valuable for these charities – stability. It allows them to plan ahead, develop programs, and respond to changing needs with the confidence that the funding is in place.

Following the official grant presentation, we gathered together for coffee and a meaningful conversation about the work of each organization, community needs, and the impact of the WoodLot Fund’s grants. 

Pine River Institute is Helping Families Access Treatment

Pine River Institute provides live-in treatment to youth struggling with addictive behaviours and other mental health challenges, and also supports their families. While the core treatment program is covered by the Ministry of Health, parents are still required to pay $325/month for their child’s live-in treatment in addition to travel costs for the parents to attend family therapy, workshops, and visits with their child.

The WoodLot Fund grant provides bursaries for three to five families each year to help them cover these costs. 

As one Pine River parent said, “This support has made it possible for me to enroll my child in Pine River; I would not have been able to cover the monthly fee and significant travel costs without this bursary. Thank you for making this possible.”

Streams Community Hub is Creating Opportunities for Local Kids

The multi-year grant has helped Streams in its growth from a small, part-time effort into a full-time creative hub for kids across Dufferin County. It means they can say yes to families who need scholarships or subsidies so that their children can participate in the multi-disciplinary arts programs and camps, knowing the cost is covered rather than turning anyone away.

“Knowing the WoodLot Fund is behind us for the long haul means that when a family asks for a scholarship, we can say yes without hesitation. That kind of trust is what lets a small organization show up for kids consistently, year after year,” said Juli-Anne James, Streams Community Hub’s Executive Director.

DCAFS is Making Mental Health Support More Accessible

Four years ago, DCAFS was working hard to respond to the evolving mental health needs of local youth and families through its Talk-In Clinic, weekly clinics, pop-up clinics, and school partnerships. 

While they were committed to being responsive and flexible, maintaining this level of service was challenging within the limitations of their core funding. The support of Dufferin Community Foundation and the WoodLot Fund has been truly transformative for DCAFS. The grants helped them develop a comprehensive internship program, increasing access to the Talk-In Clinic and creating greater flexibility in how and where services are delivered.

“Thanks to the WoodLot Fund’s generous support, we have been able to increase the number of youth we serve each year while responding to increasingly complex needs within our community. This grant has been instrumental in helping us provide meaningful, effective care,” said Jennifer Moore, CEO at DCAFS. 

“An additional benefit has been the opportunity to train and mentor future mental health professionals, many of whom have gone on to join our team and continue giving back to the communities they serve.”

Orangeville Food Bank is Responding to Growing Food insecurity

Food insecurity has grown significantly over the past four years. Across Ontario, food bank usage has increased by 86% since pre-pandemic levels, a trend that the Orangeville Food Bank (OFB) has seen reflected locally.

Last year, OFB distributed 769,000 pounds of food. As community donations declined by 10%, the food bank increased its food purchasing by 50,000 pounds to help meet demand. Support from the WoodLot Fund has helped provide the flexibility needed to make those purchases and ensure families continue to receive the support they need. 

As Heather Hayes, Executive Director of Orangeville Food Bank and Dufferin Food Share, explained, “When families are facing impossible choices between housing, transportation, and groceries, reliable community partnerships matter more than ever. The WoodLot Fund grant helps to provide the stability we need to keep our shelves stocked and ensure that no one in our community is turned away when they need help.”

This year’s grant will help purchase food, with a focus on non-perishable items. The funding will help OFB continue providing reliable, high-quality food supports to individuals and families across Dufferin County.

For those unaware, the Orangeville Food Bank has several initiatives and programs, including:

• A Community Vending Machine, which provided 11,700 meals for emergency and after-hours food access in 2025.
• A community garden that produced 650 lbs. of fresh produce last year.
• Three community Produce Markets and Seniors Markets that welcome more than 2,400 visits annually.
• Their Grand Valley location, which operates as both a shopping-model food bank and community hub for partner organizations.

Supporting a Community, Takes a Community

“Our annual coffee date with leaders of these organizations always illustrates how well integrated they are and how they work in unison and cooperation to maximize the impact of their work,” said Julie Wood. “Dufferin is a community of collaborators.”

Dufferin is indeed a community of collaborators. Over the past four years, we’ve had the opportunity to see what that collaboration and long-term support can accomplish. It’s incredible, inspirational, comforting, and reassuring.

You can make a difference too! If you’re looking for ways to support these organizations, they each have some wonderful events coming up: 

• Pine River is celebrating its 20th anniversary with The Masks We Wear: Healing Through Art, an art-based fundraising event taking place on October 22nd at Avant Garde Gallery. They hope you will join them for a fun and creative evening. Learn more about The Masks We Wear
• Streams is celebrating its 10th anniversary with The Good Old Fashioned Telethon on October 6, 2026, from 6-9pm streamshub.org/telethon. It will be live on Rogers Dufferin and streamed across their social media channels. They’d love for the community to tune in, cheer them on, and consider donating as they celebrate ten years of arts programming for local kids. (You can support their “Forever Fund” too by giving at https://dufferincommunityfoundation.ca/streams-creative-futures-fund/.) 
• The DCAFS Youth Wellness Hub and Mobile Mental Health Clinic will open this fall. These exciting new initiatives represent important steps toward ensuring young people can access support in the ways that work best for them, as informed by them. Follow the progress on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZvT5u7ERox/ 
• There are many ways for the community to support the work of the Orangeville Food Bank, including Hunger Action Month activities, the Orangeville Bike Nights Fundraiser, and the 2026 Dufferin Farm Tour on October 3rd. Learn more about events: https://www.orangevillefoodbank.org/news-and-events. 

Thank you to Steve and Julie Wood and their family for establishing the WoodLot Fund at Dufferin Community Foundation and being so committed to our community. It’s amazing to see what can happen when people who care come together to support organizations that are making a local difference.