OJIBWAY HISTORICAL PRESERVATION SOCIETY
OHPS Winter 2016 e-Newsletter

Greetings!

Greetings of the Season & Happy New Year!

We hope this finds you well wherever you may be wintering. As promised in emails last summer, this year’s Winter Newsletter is obviously coming to you electronically and the Ojibway Historical Preservation Society is excited to be able to communicate with you in this far more efficient (and much less costly) way. 

As indicated at the very bottom of this e-Newsletter, you can always click to unsubscribe from any future e-mailings. Otherwise, we will be using this medium for your convenience to provide periodic OHPS information and status updates on restoration projects, plans, campaign proposals and all matters historical that relate to the Ojibway community preservation and restoration efforts.

Projects completed and contemplated

By the end of the summer, OHPS had completed each of the scheduled projects on its “to do” list for 2016. These included the beautiful restoration of the Basswood Cabin, relocating and constructing the new Swim Pavilion to greatly enhance the experience for Ojibway campers, and extension of the well-used Walking Trails on a further westerly circuit. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the fulfillment of these projects!
Walking Trails
We also marked out a potential new southerly Walking Trail by early Fall and obtained the contractor’s estimate for the cost. In addition, quotes were obtained to finish the final Walking Trail leg from the current end at the back beach down to the Swim Pavilion and to extend the deck of Basswood for anticipated future use and safety considerations. The location of the potential South trail appears on this Google Earth map as the hatched circuit extending down toward the South shore.

In laying out this proposed trail, pains were taken to steer well clear of South shore owners’ properties. No start date is scheduled on this or those other projects. Consistent with the OHPS fiscal policy to ensure that projects must be properly funded (with actual donations and/or solid pledges) before commencement, we will be able to move forward on them when sufficient funds are contributed. 
Joint efforts with Ojibway Club Board

Much has been accomplished to date by OHPS, and yet much remains to be done. So our historic restoration and preservation projects will continue to be ongoing in order to protect and maintain the priceless facilities which we have.  That means both prioritizing projects with the Club Board and fund raising must be ongoing too. To this end, on behalf of the OHPS Board, I have met and we have commenced focused communications with the Club Board on determining what needs to be done and when, thus generating our initial list on what will be a Five Year Plan for the preservation and restoration of targeted Ojibway Facilities Planning Projects. 

Included now in the Five Year Plan, to be scheduled upon securing the requisite funds, will be the extensions of the Walking Trails, the Basswood deck, much-needed restorations on successive rental Cabins, several segments of the main fixed dock, and ultimately (during this five year period) the Gift Shop.  As we move forward each year, OHPS will continue to coordinate with the Club Board and be presenting the undergirding requests for donations to you all in the Ojibway community necessary in order for the Historical Society to undertake these projects.

Those at work for you

At the October meeting of the Members and Directors of the Historical Society, two new Directors were elected, and three Directors officially retired. The new Members/Directors are Sean Clarke and Bill Watts. Sean is a practicing lawyer in Toronto, married to Caroline Kilgore, and they recently welcomed a second child into their active family. Bill is a “retired” engineer, very involved on the Club Board as Director of Facilities, and an energetic participant in the Ojibway community along with his wife, Linda. We are delighted to have each of them “on Board.”


Special thanks to the now-retired Board members Stephen Griggs, Peter Bryce and Cathy Hurlburt. As expressed at our Annual Community Meeting on July 16 this year, each of them have contributed immeasurably to the successful efforts of OHPS and we expect that they will be around to call upon for their respective expertise.


The full Board of current OHPS Directors and their portfolios are listed below, with the year in which their elected terms end (in October of each year) in parenthesis:

Terry Clark – President (2017)

Doug Bryce – Treasurer/Finance (2018)

Helen Bryce – Secretary (2018)

Sean Clarke – Special Projects (2019)

Martha Hall Findlay – Legal & Governance (2018)

Sted Garber – Fundraising (2017)

Nancy Lang – Website & Archives (2017)

Leslie Prior Taylor – Community Outreach (2018)

Bill Watts – Building & Grounds/Club Liaison (2019)
How you can partner with us
Our restored Ojibway facilities have become the envy of cottagers and boaters up and down Georgian Bay (and well beyond) as the result of many generous contributions of volunteer time and funding from our special community. With the strategic planning and prioritizing on the part of OHPS and the Club Board outlined above, supported by participation from those who are most able to use and enjoy these singularly special facilities, we together will be able to sustain what has been so carefully preserved for ours and future generations. Because the needs are ongoing, each year we have to renew our partnership with the donor community as we spell out the continuation of the Five Year Plan on which OHPS jointly identifies project needs with the Club Board. 

So we request that, now at year-end or whenever you are able to give during especially the first six months of 2017, you consider and make a thoughtful contribution to the Ojibway Historical Preservation Society. Tax receipts will be provided to all donors. That includes those of you who wish to become a “Friend of the Society” by giving $100 toward the annual “administrative, operating and overhead expenses” that we along with all non-profits regularly experience, with OHPS’s being to the tune of at least $20,000 every year.


Instructions on how to donate are described to the right. Whether you’re interested in the Walking Trails, restoration of our aging Rental Cabins, preservation of our main fixed dock, being a “Friend” of the Historical Society, and/or generally contributing to the very real ongoing needs of the Ojibway facilities, we need your support.  Please participate this year by gifting a considered contribution that reflects a sharing with us of what these extraordinary treasured facilities uniquely represent and how important it is to sustain them for all of our present and future generations.

Wishing you all the very best until summer brings us together again, 

Terry Clark, President OHPS



For Canadian/American/Other Donors:

  1. Go to http://ohps.ca/donate/    
  2. As applicable, click on your preference:
  • Online Donating, 
  • Credit Card,
  • Cheque, 
  • Donor Card

                     ... and follow the prompts.

       3. Note for Americans:

  • Fill in amount & all donor details,
  • Select "Ojibway Historical Preservation Society" from the drop down list under "Select Your Charity Below".      

    Tax receipts are provided to all donors.
For further information, help with donating or to ask for Donor Cards
Please contact   Sue  S heardown at:
rexlea   @istar.ca,
905-939-8293 or 
The Ojibway Historical Society, c/o Sue Sheardown, PO Box 288, 15410 8 th  Concession, Schomberg, Ontario L0G 1T0  Canada.