Nominations are being accepted until Friday, October 13th.

Initiated in 2012, the Community Foundation’s David Borges Outstanding Community Involvement Award is named in honour of David Borges, former Board Chair of the Community Foundation, who passed away suddenly in April 2011.  The award is presented annually to a business in Cambridge or North Dumfries that best exemplifies a spirit of corporate philanthropy through both financial support and acts of community service. 

Past recipients of the David Borges Award:
2016 – Josslin Insurance
2015 – Farm Mutual Reinsurance Plan Inc.
2014 – Challenger Motor Freight Inc.
2013 – DeZurik

Nomination Process:
1. Direct Application / Nomination– companies interested in nominating their business to receive the award can complete the application/nomination form themselves.
2. Community Group Nomination – non-profit organizations and local charities can nominate a business that has significantly impacted their work in the community.

For more details, please visit our website.

In collaboration with the Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation we will be celebrating Random Act of Kindness (RAK) Day by encouraging Cambridge & North Dumfries citizens and organizations to engage in acts of kindness throughout our community.  We’ll be making RAK Day materials available to local schools, businesses, neighbourhood associations, the City of Cambridge, the North Dumfries Township, and Idea Exchange’s three locations.

Have you decided what your Random Acts of Kindness will be this year?  We’ve created a brief list to inspire your creativity.  Many of these ideas are focused on seniors, but could apply to others too:

1. Buy some flowers for a senior who lives near you.
2. Buy a bag of groceries for the food bank, shelter, a newcomer family, or an elderly neighbour.
3. Offer to carry a neighbour’s garbage or recycling out for them.
4. Gather some friends to rake and bag a neighbour’s leaves.  Who wouldn’t appreciate that?
5. Help someone load groceries into their car and return the empty cart for them.
6. Give a close friend an hour’s break by offering to take their children to the park.
7. Gather up a group of friends and spend an afternoon or evening knitting mittens, hats & scarves for children at the local women’s shelter.  Your snowman can wait for a scarf, but needy children shouldn’t have to.
8. Collect pairs of new socks for the shelters. (See @ToastyToes_WR on Twitter)
9. Offer to walk your elderly neighbour’s dog.
10. Bake cookies or a cake for an elderly neighbour.

We’d love to add to this list, so don’t hesitate to let us know what you are planning!

To request a RAK Day package for your business or organization, click here or contact Cherylynn Lumasag at admin@cndcf.org.

We are seeking to fill the role of Chief Executive Office Volunteer!

If you are highly proficient in English (spoken and written), a very organized person, have great computer skills (MS Word, Excel, and email), experience with online databases (or an interest in learning about online databases), a fabulous telephone manner, and you're looking for a volunteer role to fill 2-6 hours per week, you could be our C.E.O.V.  You can assist us with data entry, reception, making follow-up calls, copy-typing, and an interesting assortment of other tasks. We are a great team to work with and would welcome your assistance. We require someone with excellent customer service skills, because you will deal directly with our stakeholders by phone, email and written correspondence.

The volunteer in this role will be an integral member of our small staff team. If you are looking to broaden your horizons, you love this community and would like to increase your community connections, plus you want to learn and share information about an outstanding charitable organization that supports community initiatives, then you should join our team!  This role may be of particular interest to a recent retiree.

The volunteer will be working at a desk and no heavy lifting is required. Our current office location does not meet accessibility standards and is not on a public transit route.

For more information, please contact Anne Lavender, Interim Executive Director at 519-624-8972.

Have you heard about the #ToastyToes2017 campaign?  Why not get involved in this easy and inspiring sock raiser!  

Since 2013, Sharon Gilroy-Dreher has challenged her colleagues, friends and family members to raise socks for individuals in need.  Why?  Because dry, warm feet are healthy feet. 

The first year of this “sock-raiser” campaign, 492 pairs of new socks were collected for local shelters.  In 2015 the number surpassed 1000 pairs, and in 2016 a staggering 12,000+ pairs of socks were collected for local organizations. 

In Cambridge, many dozens of pairs of socks were delivered to the Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank, Argus Residence for Young People and to The Bridges shelter.  There are many other organizations in Cambridge who could distribute new socks, and Sharon is working to increase donations this year.  So far, more than 30 businesses and individuals in the Waterloo Region have signed up to participate. 

Last year, a staff member at Cambridge Memorial Hospital joined the effort and collected 375 pairs, and Davlyn Financial raised 228 pairs.  Their target for this year is an ambitious 500 pairs!

If your business, work-group or family group would like to support this campaign that runs from October 10th (World Homeless Day) to November 10th, there are two drop-off locations in Cambridge:  The YMCA on Hespeler Road, and our office at 190 Turnbull Court, Unit 1B.

Let’s “Sock-it-to-Them” from Cambridge and North Dumfries! 

And, if you’d like to help get the word out, you can promote #ToastyToes2017 on Twitter.  If you need more detail about the campaign, or if you’d like to add your name to the growing list of supporters, you can contact Sharon directly at sdreher@on.aibn.com.

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