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Dufferin Community Foundation announces grant recipients for fall 2025

December 18, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Joshua Drakes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The grants are part of the DCF’s ongoing commitment to supporting community initiatives.

The Dufferin Community Foundation announced on Wednesday, Dec. 17, its fall 2025 grant recipients.

Shirley Boxem, grants committee chair, said these charities were chosen for their ongoing outstanding service to the community.

“This year’s grant applications underscored the incredible work being done by organizations in Dufferin,” Boxem said. “It motivates all of us to work harder towards supporting their tireless dedication to our community.”

The six charities chosen will receive grants ranging from $2,000 to $8,250 to support initiatives that range from socks for people in need to watershed education for kids, all uniquely important to the community. The grants will be used primarily for programs in 2026.

The Arts, Culture & Heritage Grants, which were made possible by the W. & M. Edelbrock Fund, include Dufferin Film Festival and Streams Community Hub, which each received $5,500 and $8,250, respectively.

For the Dufferin Film Festival, the grant funding will be used to deliver more screenings at the Orangeville Opera House, host filmmaker Q&A sessions, host a speaker brunch, and expand inclusive workshops, all at a reduced price compared to other film festivals.

For Streams, the grant money will be used to purchase pottery wheels and laptops, support photography and music programs, purchase BeaverBot cardboard cutters for makerspace programs, and buy new 3D printers for creative STEM programs.

The Environment Fund Grant, made possible by local donations to DCF’s Environment Fund, will allocate $2,000 to the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority.  Grant funding will help bring curriculum-linked programming on the watershed and the significance of wetland preservation to students in grades 2 to 4 in Dufferin County schools.

Lastly, the Dufferin Vision Fund Grants, funded by public donations to the Vision Fund, will see a $2,500 grant being sent to Community Living Dufferin, Headwaters Communities in Action, and Socks 4 Souls Canada.

Community Living Dufferin assists adults with intellectual disabilities by providing low-cost, supported access to recreation, such as arts, music, crafts, yoga, swimming, horseback riding, and other group activities, all intended to promote creativity and reduce isolation.

Headwaters Community in Action will use the grant funding to support its Grounded & Growing program. HCIA’s Headwaters Food and Farming Alliance supports and promotes food literacy by providing schools with growing equipment, seeds, soil, and instruction. The team at the HFFA visits schools to set up seed kits and Earth Boxes, and they check back in to supervise growth and harvest.

Socks 4 Souls Canada will use its grant money to help deliver 7,000 socks at no cost to local community initiatives that need them. These will include Choices Shelter, The Salvation Army, and the Orangeville Food Bank.

The Dufferin Community Foundation donated over $23,000 to local initiatives across Dufferin County.

Michele Fisher, executive director of the DCF, said choosing the six winners was not easy, as there were many great applications. She thanked the reviewers for their dedication and tough choices.

“Our grants reviewers had the challenging task of scoring the applications and coming to a consensus on which would be funded,” she said. “We are grateful for their dedication – it’s not an easy job when all of the charities do such good work.”

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