Members of the Retired Teachers of Ontario’s local chapter, District 40 Brant, awarded Brant for Nature with a $4,000 donation on December 10, 2024.
The funding comes as part of the Retired Teachers of Ontario’s (RTOERO) annual community grants program, which supports locally-based grass-roots projects.
With a mission to improve the lives of its members, and seniors in general, every year RTOERO gives back to local communities by assessing the merits of each grant submission and rewarding them up to $4,000 to help continue to grow and develop.
Since the community grants program, formerly Project Service to Others (PSTO), began 24 years ago, RTOERO has donated almost $2.1 million to more than 600 programs and projects across Canada and in 2024 alone, the organization awarded a total of $122,252 to help fund 31 projects.
“Our members are active in contributing to the well-being of the places where they live, all across Canada,” said John Cappelletti, Chair of RTOERO’s board of directors. “By partnering with local organizations, with grants and practical support, RTOERO districts engage in grassroots community building.”
As RTOERO has recently had a large focus on environmental sustainability, members of the local chapter chose Brant for Nature for its efforts in getting the community involved with environmental stewardship
Betty Anne Whitney, President of RTOERO District 40 Brant, said that whether people are hiking, walking, biking or engaging in other outdoor activities, it’s important to build a connection to nature.
“Brant for Nature encourages a safe and welcoming environment for individuals, and is deepening community involvement and environmental stewardship,” she said.
Brant for Nature, which started back in the spring of 2022, aims to inspire an appreciation of nature through education and outdoor experiences, and to promote environmental conservation and stewardship through community activities and citizen science.
Tom Sitak, a retired teacher from Pauline Johnson College and the President of Brant for Nature, said the soon-to-be non-profit organization was started when himself and a few other like-minded individuals noticed that the community was missing something in the area of nature advocacy.
With Brant for Nature now hosting events, gatherings, hikes and workshops throughout the year, there are now plenty of opportunities to learn more about the local environment.
“Our board meets monthly to plan events, to discuss issues in our community and to look into areas that we believe need protection and support for nature,” said Sitak. “We do stewardship work in maintaining bird boxes, as well as the turtle conservation project as we’ve seen that turtles are disappearing at an alarming rate. We’ve also been offering access to guided hikes and to a variety of guest speakers on different topics and to let people know about other organizations we support like the Brant Tree Coalition too.”
Speaking to the grant, Sitak said that himself and the Brant for Nature team were pleasantly surprised to be awarded the funding.
“A lot of our members at Brant for Nature are actually members of RTOERO as well and so we decided to apply for the community grants program,” said Sitak. “RTOERO’s focus this year has been on the environment and environmental stewardship and so they decided that since we’re still just starting out, that they would help us out with some of our startup costs, ongoing programming and those kinds of things, and to our pleasant surprise, we received the full $4,000.”
He said that as RTOERO’s grant is the largest they’ve received over the past two years, it will help go towards various streams within Brant for Nature.
“We’re currently in the final stages of becoming a non-profit corporation, which is great, but that also comes with some significant costs especially when you have to go through the lawyers and all of that kind of stuff. So not only is the grant helping with that, but it’s also helped us to buy a laptop computer and some software to help us with the mechanics of operating our organization like upgrading our website,” said Sitak. “It’s going to also allow us to pay for our insurance and our Ontario Nature network fees, as well as to help us expand our programming and pay for the professionals we bring in. So not only will it help with all of that, but it’s going to help us with our turtle conservation project with materials and tools, and continue our bird box maintenance stewardship as well.”
For those looking to get involved with Brant for Nature, residents of all ages are encouraged to attend one or more of its many upcoming free events made possible with the RTOERO grant:
- Sunday, January 26 at 5:00 p.m. – Owl Prowl with Laurel Wringer and Duane Brown at Pinehurst Conservation Area.
- Sunday March 2 at 2:00 p.m. – “Outdoor Magic: The Power of Nature Connections” with guest speaker, Grant Linney, at the Paris Library.
- March (specific date to be determined) – Wildlife Mitigation Fencing at Watts Pond Road.
- Saturday, April 12, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. – Turtle Workshop/Nest Box Building with Jeff Leader at the Brant Rod and Gun Club.
- Earth Week Community Tree Planting – Saturday, April 26, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Mt. Pleasant Optimist Park, and Sunday, April 37, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at D’Aubigny Creek Park in Brantford.
- Sunday, May 4, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. – Fungus Walk with William Van Hemmessen at Fould’s Tract near Glen Morris.
- Sunday, May 25 from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. – Spring Bird Migration with Duane Brown at D’Aubigny Creek.
- Sunday, June 22, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Rafting along the Grand River from Paris to Brantford.
Since its inception in 1968, bilingual organization, RTOERO, has focused on promoting healthy, active living during retirement for members of the education community. With over 85,000 members across 51 districts in Canada, RTOERO is the largest national provider of non-profit group health benefits for education retirees including those who have worked in various roles in education such as early years, schools, school boards, post-secondary institutions, and other education-related fields.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
