FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oakville, Ont., December 9, 2025 – The Oakville Community Foundation has announced that Bonnie Jackson has been awarded the Adrian Coote Volunteer Award, The Kenny Family has been awarded the Family Founders Cup and Michael Whitcombe has been awarded the inaugural Michael Whitcombe Award for Outstanding Board Volunteer.
The awards were announced at The Foundation’s annual Holiday Event on December 2 at the Bronte Boathouse Restaurant and Event Venue, celebrating an incredible year of generosity with over 150 Foundation Fundholders and volunteers.
“We’re grateful to be surrounded by so many people who share their time, talent and treasure to make the world around them a better place,” said Wendy Rinella, CEO of the Oakville Community Foundation. “We’re proud to recognize and honour Bonnie Jackson, Michael Whitcombe and the Kenny Family for their generous contributions to our community.”
Bonnie Jackson, Adrian Coote Volunteer Award
The Adrian Coote Volunteer Award is named for The Foundation’s former Board Chair, Adrian Coote, and recognizes a volunteer who has given extraordinary services to the Oakville Community Foundation.
This year, Adrian Coote presented the Award to Bonnie Jackson.
Bonnie Jackson is a former Board Member with the Oakville Community Foundation, as well as a longtime Fundholder after creating the Jackson Family Fund with her husband, Terry. She is also a founding member of the Women’s Giving Collective.
In 2014, Bonnie was awarded the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers and in 2015 received the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award honouring her, now, more than 47 years of charitable work. This includes volunteering with Breakthrough T1D, formerly Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the Oakville Community Foundation, YMCA of Oakville, Wellspring Cancer Support Foundation and Oakville Hospital Foundation, among many others.
The Kenny Family, Family Founders Cup
The Family Founders Cup, which recognizes a family’s multi-generational impact in our community, is named after The Foundation’s founding families.
This year, Board Member Andrew Tyrrell presented the Family Founders Cup to the Kenny Family.
The Kenny family moved to Oakville from Sudbury in 1986 and brought with them their long-standing interest in helping address community issues. In 1998, they created the Kenny Family Foundation Fund after being introduced to the OCF by Don and Marilyn Noble, one of The Foundation’s founding families.
According to Peter and Joanne, the family’s goals have always included a focus on education and helping people to be self-supporting. Over the years, they have supported international, national and local organizations, including Halton Women’s Place, the Oakville YMCA and Kerr Street Mission.
For the Kenny family, giving and generosity are intergenerational. In 2018, Peter and Joanne created Funds with The Foundation for their children and grandchildren.
Michael Whitcombe, Michael Whitcombe Award for Outstanding Board Volunteer
The Michael Whitcombe Award for Outstanding Board Volunteer recognizes a Foundation Board Member who has made a significant contribution to the OCF and exemplified what it means to be a Board volunteer.
Foundation Board Chair Ameeta Vijay and Board Member Julie Cordeiro presented the inaugural award to past Board Chair Michael Whitcombe.
Michael Whitcombe became an OCF Board Member in 2013 before becoming Board Chair in 2017. He served as Board Chair when The Foundation launched the inaugural GIVEOakville campaign as well as Community Classroom and The Foundation’s major research report, The Vital Youth Report: A Tale of Two Childhoods.
After serving as the Past Board Chair, Michael chose to remain as an OCF volunteer by serving as the Honourary Solicitor for six years.
The Foundation extends its gratitude to these extraordinary volunteers and all its Fundholders, sponsors and other volunteers for another extraordinary year.
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Oakville Community Foundation
The Oakville Community Foundation is Oakville’s largest community of philanthropists with 400 Funds. The Foundation acts as a philanthropic medium, investing donations to generate new money for our community. We conduct local research to provide our diverse donors with knowledge and solutions to make an impact in the local community, both today and in the future. Thanks to the visionaries in our community who started The Foundation over 30 years ago, The Foundation has granted more than $75 million to support charities locally and beyond.
