The recent Barrie Business Awards holds special meaning to the Barrie Community Foundation. Three of their twelve Board Directors were recognized – individually or corporately – with a 2020 Barrie Business Award. They are: Barb White co-owner of Jeff White Group/ Jeff’s Junk (recipient of the Pay it Forward Award); Jim McIntosh, Partner at Barriston Law (recipient of the Mayor’s Employer of the Year Award); and Michèle Newton, Co- founder and President of Making Change (recipient of the Not-For-Profit or Charitable Organization Award).
“The Community Foundation, at its essence is a commitment to the community where we live, a commitment to make it attractive to us and welcoming to others. A place where we have made the choice to invest our time, our joy and our resources. Having members like Michèle, Barb and Jim as directors on our board demonstrates that we are in this together, with others who feel the same,” said Marshall Green, Barrie Community Foundation, Chair.
The Barrie Community Foundation is a public foundation that builds and manages endowment funds to support charitable activities in Barrie and area. They provide a means of keeping charitable donations within the community by supporting local charitable organizations. The Barrie Community Foundation is a member of the Community Foundations of Canada. They are a part of the Canadian movement for community vitality, by helping the community to invest in building strong and resilient places to live, work, and enjoy.
Jim McIntosh’s involvement as a member of the Board for the Barrie Community Foundation reflects his commitment to the betterment of the greater Barrie community consistent with the ideals of Barriston Law. McIntosh is an active member and past President of the Barrie Huronia Rotary Club, past President of Hospice Simcoe and recipient of recipient of the June Callwood Outstanding Achievement Award for Volunteerism.
Michèle Newton chairs the Barrie Community Foundation Communications Committee and assists with inclusive grant making. Newton is a co-founder of Making Change, a start-up not- for-profit organization with a specific focus on raising awareness and educating and exposing people to the Black community and culture, and issues around anti-Black racism. She is also the creator of Our Mosaic Lives and a communications consultant with PMJ Inc. In 2020, Newton was recognized as one of 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women and as a Peace Champion by the YMCA of Simcoe Muskoka.
Barb White and her husband Jeff came to Barrie in 1992 and are proud to be celebrating 30 years in Barrie. Committed to community, their company, Jeff White Group has “three gives” donating year round property maintenance to Gilda’s Club Cancer Support Community, Hospice Simcoe and the O.S.P.C.A. Barrie. They supported the Canadian Cancer Relay for Life for ten years – White being a cancer survivor himself, this charity was very important to him. Recently their business Jeff’s Junk partnered with Redwood Park Community and Furniture Bank in Toronto to bring this initiative to Barrie. They understand the importance of community, now and in the future.
Charitable donations to support Barrie’s Community Crisis Fund can be made online here: https://www.barriecommunityfoundation.org/endowment-funds/the-community-crisis-fund/
To set up a legacy donation (known as an endowment fund) that allows you to give back and support your community year after year, contact Sarah Ingram, Executive Director of the Barrie Community Foundation, at 705-816-6368.
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