Meet Our Supporters

The Heartwood Fund is supported by a number of passionate and dedicated people. Their pledges and contributions ensure that the wild lands protected today, will be protected forever. Their support has a lasting impact on our landscape and environment.

This page is for their stories – reasons why they are personally connected to nature, reasons why nature is important locally and globally, reasons why they have chosen to pledge and how they pledged to the Heartwood Fund.

When it came time to have my will drafted up, I spent a lot of time thinking what I wanted it to include.  It was my first instinct to name my siblings and/or their children as beneficiaries.  Then one day I realized that this plan really didn’t feel right. 

Once I got my head around that concept, naming my beneficiary was a very easy decision.  I will leave my estate to an organization that really matters to me, an organization that works to conserve the land that I love. The Couchiching Conservancy isn a key contributor in protecting the Carden Alvar as well as educating people about this very special part of Ontario.  

By naming The Couchiching Conservancy as a beneficiary in my will, I hope to be able to contribute to the forever legacy of this outstanding organization.

Ginny Moore

The Couchiching Conservancy’s mission to preserve ecologically sensitive land for future generations is the major reason for our support for this grass roots land trust. We think that the goal of keeping land in its natural state for the long term is a gift that benefits everyone. The opportunity to be part of the Heartwood Fund and support this unique local organization is both gratifying and rewarding for us. Hopefully this support will help enhance a legacy that will be very viable long after we are gone. We have always had a quiet passion for the land and the environment in our area. Our involvement and our contribution is a measure of that passion.

Bob and Wendy Sullivan

(Pictured: Bob and two of his grandchildren)

It has always been part of our ethos, that the earth and all that is in it was created by God for our use and enjoyment.  It therefore goes without saying that we have a responsibility to maintain it and to be good stewards of everything we have been given!

That personal ethos we share, and the mission of The Couchiching Conservancy are a perfect fit.
The Couchiching Conservancy has been protecting special properties now for more than 20 years; protecting them from abuse and development so that these properties with their environmentally sensitive flora and fauna can be maintained and preserved in perpetuity.  That is an everlasting commitment!

It is therefore important for us to make sure that the Conservancy has the funds and resources, to maintain an organization to steward the properties forever!  Our gift of money, after we have no need for it, assures us that the funds are available to continue the mission of the Conservancy.

Only the interest on our bequest will be spent for operations, the principle will survive forever, and continue to reap interest yearly.  Wow!  It is unbelievable how much interest can be garnered on what we give over a hundred or two hundred years.  What we bequest may not be a great deal of money, but if we were all to bequest something, we can assure that this great organization can continue its mission forever…what a legacy!

David and Bonnie Homer

Ron and I have been involved with the Conservancy since it was founded. We have watched it grow – we’ve helped it grow – and we are proud of its history. We have all made a huge impact on the landscape our children will inherit.

We have promises to keep – promises to our donors, to the community, to the green earth that so needs our help. By accepting responsibility for these lands, we have made a solemn promise to give them the best care possible to protect their diversity and integrity. And that ongoing burden of care requires that the Conservancy stay strong for the long term – that it can pay the bills and have caring staff and a strong core of volunteers to make sure that those promises are kept.

So that’s why Ron and I have made our commitment and re-designated our life insurance to benefit the Heartwood Fund when we pass on.

We all want to make a difference – what a better way to make a difference to future generations than to provide them with well-loved natural spaces close to home.

Janet Grand and Ron Reid

In 1993 a group of local naturalists and other concerned citizens gathered to consider the need to form a land trust.  It was at a time that the number of local government scientists was being reduced and there was no appetite on the part of local municipalities to become involved with Conservation Authorities. Through our contacts and involvement with Ontario Nature and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, we were able to collect and organize materials and maps of the local natural environmental.  From here we put together our guidelines for land protection and as they say the rest is history. 

From the concerns of a small group of citizens has evolved an organization which has been embraced and supported by the local communities and has received recognition across the country as an example of how a land trust should function.

Twenty five years have gone by and we have seven grandchildren to whom we are leaving a legacy of environmental concerns.  We also want them to see that the efforts of a small group of individuals can have a positive impact, a lasting effect and thousands of hectares protected land to which to point. 

What better way is there to ensure that the Couchiching Conservancy continues to be able to function long after we are gone by giving to the Heartwood Fund.

Adam and Shirley Thomson