NEWS AND EVENTS
2024-2025 Community Grant Recipients
In January 2025, the Perth and District Community Foundation awarded a record 29 grants with a total value of $314,530 to community organizations. That’s more than twice the amount of money granted last year! This is the first time that PDCF awarded both one- and two-year grants. Organizations without charitable status applied in partnership with a qualified donee.
The number of applications we received speak to the great need for community support.
If you would like to help community organizations and projects like the ones below, please click the button below to donate to the PDCF Community Granting Fund.
Scroll down to see a full list of 2024-2025 grant recipients. Click on an organization’s name to read about their work.
One-Year Grant Recipients
ConnectWell Diners Club, in partnership with Community Home Support Lanark County will be providing hot meals and friendly conversation twice monthly to a group of 14 older adults and seniors who may be living on their own, living on low incomes, feeling socially isolated, having a persistent health condition, and/or experiencing food precarity. Social time after lunch will include a range of guest speakers, live music or social activities.
Every year, ConnectWell’s Community Volunteer Income Tax Program helps isolated seniors, people facing literacy difficulties, or mental health challenges, or those who have not filed an income tax return for many years maximize their returns through the support of trained CRA Income Tax volunteers. This grant will pay for a dedicated receptionist to support the expected 2,400+ callers and free up time for the Income Tax volunteers to assist clients.
The YWOW (Youth Wellness on Wheels) initiative aims to enhance access to health and social services for rural youth experiencing or at risk of homelessness in Lanark County. Complementing Cornerstone Landing’s housing first program, this mobile service delivery project will involve regular visits to local schools and outreach at tent encampments. It will increase awareness and understanding of youth homelessness and providing essential resources and support directly to youth in need. The program will include a Youth Wellness Subsidy of up to $400 per youth, which can be used for food, mental health services, and job readiness programs.
Dalhousie Library and Museum, founded in 1828, will engage a professional to restore a minimum of 10 of its collection of books which date back to the 1700s so that they can be displayed to visitors. The historic books provide insight into the life and cultural environment of the Scottish settlers in the Watson’s Corners area in the early 1800s.
FireDawgs will offer free opportunities for area children and youth to participate in swimming, skating, ball hockey and recreational hockey. These programs foster inclusivity, teamwork, leadership, and physical activity in a fun structured environment.
Guatemala Stove Project received a grant to build efficient masonry cookstoves for 10 impoverished Maya families in the highlands of western Guatemala who currently cook over traditional three stone fires which are inefficient and create debilitating indoor air pollution. This project is funded through the Gordon Jackson Fund, the guidelines for which include international development.
Lanark Basic Income Network will continue to raise awareness and garner support from individuals and decision-makers for the principles of basic income as critical to addressing poverty / financial instability and its resultant impact on physical and mental health and homelessness.
Lanark County Interval House will use its grant to fund the Perseverance Pantry initiative which began in 2022, with help from PDCF. The program provides women in transition from situations of domestic violence access to groceries, toiletries and household items as well as a place to meet in discussion groups. The groups help the women, and their children, break the cycle of violence, promote healing and build life skills.
Lanark Highlands Public Library will use its PDCF Community Grant to purchase 80 books of contemporary fiction that appeals to their growing readership of young adults between the ages of 18-35. The library reports that a record number of people are creating and joining book clubs, no doubt craving social interaction after the pandemic. Half of the funding will be used to retrospectively purchase series titles so that the library can maintain a book series moving forward.
Linden Housing Co-operative will towards the development of the project already underway. The ability to carry on necessary studies and evaluations of the planned co-op will allow Linden to apply for additional capital funding.
The McDonald’s Corners Agricultural Society will renovate the bathroom and install a hood range in the kitchen in order for the hall to be designated an official emergency shelter. The hall was built in 1853 by founding members of the community. The Society hosts community dinners, games nights, dances and special events. It also provides free or low cost courses on food preservation, gardening for low income families, cooking on a dime, etc., as well as free support groups such as grief support, living with a chronic illness, and LGBTQ+ Life in Lanark Highlands.
The Middleville and District Museum will display at least two wedding dresses from each decade between the 1880’s and 1960’s that showcase local fashion trends through time. The Museum will encourage descendants of the families connected to these dresses to visit the exhibit and have generational photographs taken with the dresses. The exhibit will inspire families to gather, record and preserve their personal family history. The Museum will build the profiles of local families connected to the wedding dresses and include these in its Lanark Family Trees in Ancestry. In addition, the Museum will purchase appropriate archival storage materials for the dresses in the Museum’s Collection.
The Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust will produce a compelling 15 minute video that clearly demonstrates the multiple mental, physical and emotional benefits that result from direct engagement with the natural world. It will show captivating visuals of individuals/families of different ages and backgrounds engaged in natural settings in Perth and nearby rural areas guided by narration by passionate and credible champions. Viewers will see themselves similarly engaging with nature, and want to get out to enjoy the same experiences and benefits. The short to medium term goal is the provision of the video as a practical tool to the broadest possible range of community organizations and institutions, medical practitioners, educational bodies etc. to support their programs and activities.
PEP Seniors Therapeutic Centre will provide physiotherapy and/or kinesiology services to PEP clients twice per month. During these visits, the professional will assess clients and develop individualized exercise plans tailored to their needs. PEP staff will support clients by helping them complete their prescribed exercises during daily programming – with a combination of existing and newly purchased equipment. The goal of this project is to improve our client’s function or to maintain their current function and prevent decline.
The Perth & District Union Public Library in partnership with the Almonte Readers & Writers Organization will present the inaugural Lanark Lit Festival of Writing over three months in Spring 2025 to audiences in Perth and Almonte. This community-focused literary arts celebration will present local artists alongside visiting creators, and will include a variety of literary genres and styles: from fiction to non-fiction, the festival will highlight storytelling, poetry, autobiography/memoir, critical essay writing, romance, fantasy, children’s books and more!
Perth Curling Club, whose members are primarily from Perth, Drummond North Elmsley, Lanark Highlands, and Tay Valley, will use a variety of print media to communicate the historic 150th Anniversary of the Perth Curling Club – one of the oldest curling clubs in the Ottawa Valley.
Perth Dog Park will use the grant to build a shade shelter, provide a pet waste bin, and rent a portable washroom for the off-leash dog park which will be located at Darou Farm.
Rideau Search and Rescue will purchase 10 GPS (Global Positioning System) units for use in training as well as in search and rescue missions. Rideau Search and Rescue provides support to police and government agencies in the form of trained search and rescue volunteers to help find people who are lost or missing. The volunteer team covers a large portion of Eastern Ontario outside of Ottawa, including Perth and surrounding communities.
Stewart Park Festival will use its grant to help promote the festival, pay for sound technicians and tents required for the festival weekend, and scale up health and safety measures ensuring highly qualified and equipped first aid responders are available in case of emergency.
Watson’s Corners Community Hall will install noise-reducing blackout blinds to enhance the enjoyment of programs and workshops offered at the hall. The hall has been a community centrepiece for over 77 years, offering a place for everyone to gather. The hall is extremely active with over 100 people passing through her doors weekly for various events and programs.
YAK Youth Services will use its grant to offset part of the salary of the Executive Director in order to free her up to lead the development, strategic operations, and expansion of the Youth Services Hub. This investment will ensure the sustainability of both the Perth Youth Centre and the Perth Community Services Hub.
Two-Year Grant Recipients
In 2023, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lanark County served 323 children and youth in Lanark County. In 2024, that number was 512. However, in the Perth area 75 kids were served in 2023; this year: 26. Big Brothers Big Sisters will undertake a multi-pronged, concerted effort over the next two years to recruit volunteers in the Perth area where the number of children served is declining. The strategy includes a radio campaign, media interviews, building more and deeper relationships with service clubs and other groups, and hosting the annual volunteer appreciation event in Perth to garner attention for the work of the agency.
Climate Network Lanark is at a turning point. To continue, to develop and grow, and to take on more of the needs expressed by our community to address local climate issues, they must develop their capacity and financial support. With their grant, CNL will undertake a two-year project to investigate, evaluate, and develop a growth plan and implement it. Entitled: CNL Building Impact and Sustainability, their project will focus on strategies and approaches to funding, with emphasis on individual donor funding.
Following the guidelines of Ontario’s Journey to Belonging, ConnectWell Community Health Therapeutic Riding Program will expand the Horse Buddies Program, which showcases resilience by bringing marginalized, low-income disabled folks to the farm for empowerment, fresh air, exercise, and a can-do approach to healthy outdoor time. This program was piloted in conjunction with Lanark County Mental Health in 2020 and had terrific results.
The Hospice Hub and PEP Seniors Therapeutic Centre will design and deliver a Day Hospice Program that will be offered on a weekly basis to individuals with a life limiting illness and their family/caregivers. Activities will be designed to improve quality of life, support mental health and wellness, decrease isolation, and increase social connection while providing respite to family/caregivers.
Over the next two years, Lanark County Community Justice will train group facilitators and offer several in-person and on-line Triple P Parenting of teens and pre-teens education sessions for parents, caregivers and legal guardians who are struggling to support the teenagers in their lives. These sessions help parents and caregivers reduce family conflict, learn new skills to improve their relationships, and help teens cope with the long-term impact of COVID-19, including anxiety and other mental health challenges. LCCJ will also provide referrals to other programs and services as needed.
Lanark Highlands Youth Centre will offer several learning opportunities over two years to youth aged 15 and older. These learning opportunities will help them develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to navigate their adult lives.
In our rural and small town of Perth we are experiencing changing demographics with exposure to new cultures. The Table Community Food Centre will promote awareness, connection, and understanding of diverse cultures through monthly food-centered celebrations and a Cultural Food Fair. At the monthly celebrations menus will be planned with local representatives of the culture. Information sheets, decorations, recipes, and presentations will further enhance the learning and celebration. In response to community interest, the Cultural Food Fair will be coordinated by a committee including representatives from the Town of Perth, Local Immigration Partnership, and Lanark County.