The J.T. Clark Family Foundation provides supports a new Performing Arts Centre in Fredericton.
“My family and I decided to support this initative early on in a significant way because projects like this will determine the future of our community for generations to come. Our responsibility today is to ensure future success – and the Performing Arts Centre is a once-in-a-lifetime investment where we can create a lasting legacy.”
— John T. Clark, Chair of the J.T. Clark Family Foundation Inc.
“Dear colleagues, join us in celebrating the ground-breaking of Clinic 1
We are so excited to share the news…the renovation of Clinic 1 is about to begin! It’s been a bit of a process getting here – but after two years of delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are ready to get to work!
What does this mean? Work has begun on transforming Clinic 1, the Regional’s busiest clinic. The expansion will include the Mohs Micrographic surgery clinic, IV-day clinic, casting clinic, four procedure rooms, and eighteen exam rooms.”
“We anticipate this work to be completed and open to serving patients by the spring/summer of 2024, at which point it will be named The J.T. Clark Family Foundation Ambulatory Clinic in recognition of their $1 million gift. We will certainly keep in touch, sharing updates along the way!”
“You can read more about the expansion and enhancement of Clinic 1 in our campaign report by clicking here.“
“Thank-you for taking the time to meet and visit with our students. It is so amazing that you and your family encourage students to get involved, learn about and support such a fantastic organization like Terry Fox.”
–Jennifer Jones, Teacher, George Street Middle School, Fredericton, NB
The J.T. Clark Family Foundation is one of the donors helping protect the land and lighthouse on the Musquash Estuary Nature Reserve, making this area more accessible to the community. The following sign will be installed near the Musquash Head Lighthouse this spring.
Charlotte County Archives raises funds for important ongoing initiatives
St. Andrews, NB —The board members of the Charlotte County Archives (CCA), located in St. Andrews, set themselves an ambitious goal of raising $25,000 for their 2021 Annual Campaign for ongoing expenses at the Archives. With the help of the community, board members, and a welcome challenge from the J. T. Clark Family Foundation, they exceeded their goals. This has set the CCA on a sustainable footing for the upcoming year and they are grateful to everyone who helped them get there.
In response to the Archives’ Fall newsletter sent to all Archives members, John Clark contacted Board Chair, Franklin Cardy, and offered a matching grant challenge. Says Franklin, “Mr. Clark told us that if we were able to raise $10,000 in new money for our Endowment Fund, which is held at the Fundy Community Foundation, before the end of the year, the J. T. Clark Family Foundation would match that amount. We got that message out to the community and managed to raise just over $10,000 for the Endowment Fund, in addition to what we had already raised to that point. The community and board members were very generous in helping us raise those extra funds. This in turn was met with the matching grant of $10,000 from the Clark Foundation. The generosity and effectiveness of John Clark’s challenge cannot be over-emphasized. We are so very grateful to him and to the community.” Adds board member Donne Smith, the lead on the CCA fundraising committee, “Our fundraising success shows the strength of commitment that our community is showing to the Charlotte County Archives. That strong commitment helps to sustain the important work that we do, preserving the documentary heritage of the County for generations to come.”
By strengthening the Endowment Fund at the Charlotte County Archives, the J. T. Clark Foundation has helped the Archives create a way for donors to leave a legacy gift to the Archives. Gifts such as these, along with continued operational fundraising, will help to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the CCA. With only limited grant money available from all levels of government, the Charlotte County Archives continues to need and appreciate community support.
The J T Clark Family Foundation partnered with the Canadian Mental Health Association of New Brunswick (CMHA of NB) launching a new fundraising event in June 2021 “Ride Don’t Hide”.
Lori Wheeler, CMHA of NB’s Director of Communications, states “New Brunswickers are struggling with their mental health more than ever. Demand for mental health programs and services are at an all time high. We are staring down an echo pandemic of poor mental health”.
“But at the same time, mental health has never been as widely and as openly discussed. Where stigma used to keep people struggling in silence, we now see a growing openness and awareness around the importance of mental health. We know that one in five New Brunswickers will struggle with a mental health issue in any given year. But all five in five New Brunswickers – every single one of us – has mental health. And now, more than ever, its clear to all that we must protect, promote, and celebrate our mental health.”
The J T Clark Family Foundation issued a $30,000 matching challenge for the “Ride Don’t Hide” event in memory of friend and family member Tim Richardson.
During the month of June, New Brunswickers from all regions of the province participated in activities and raised $31,288.25 which exceeded the $30,000 goal set by CMHA of NB.
“The Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation has reached its $12-million goal for the Clinic 1 expansion capital campaign.
Officials with the foundation announced a $1-million lead gift from the J.T. Clark Family Foundation on Tuesday.
“We’re feeling very excited and quite humbled, to be frank,” Jeff McAloon, president and CEO of the hospital foundation, said in a phone interview. John Clark, the founder of the J.T. Clark Family Foundation, reached out to McAloon in early January after receiving care at the ambulatory clinic.”
J.T. Clark Family Foundation is happy to have helped Explore Lorneville Inc. raise $27,000 for a restoration and conservation project in the Musquash Head area. We matched donations to a total of $12,500.
New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame executive director Jamie Wolverton watches a video clip of Canadian soccer great Christine Sinclair on the 12 foot by 7 foot screen in the new 50-seat Alden R. Clark Theatre inside the hall and museum in downtown Fredericton.
Photo: Bruce Hallihan/The Daily Gleaner
If you haven’t been to the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame lately, you’re in for a big surprise.
Although the hall and museum in-downtown Fredericton has lost “about 90 per cent” of foot traffic due to the COVID-19 pandemic, executive director Jamie Wolverton says the downtime has been beneficial in another way.
The Building Inspiration legacy project, set up to coincide with the sports shrine’s 50th anniversary, is now complete.
“It’s fabulous to see it finished,” Wolverton said.
The centrepiece of the improvements is a SO-seat theatre and presentation space on the third floor to facilitate video screenings, seminars, presentations and special events.
“We’ve already got an event booked for the end of the month,” Wolverton said. “We’ll still have to have physical distancing in place, but it’s great to see things start to open up a bit. We’re anxious to start leveraging the space when we get back to whatever the new normal is.”
The Alden R. Clark Theatre, named after a hall of fame member, has nine TV screens mounted on the wall. Together, they can form one large, 12 foot by 7 foot screen.
“For the last piece of our fundraising campaign, we developed a seat sponsorship,” Wolverton said. “We reached out to honoured members and supporters and asked them to contribute $500 to sponsor one of the remaining 40 seats that weren’t spoken for.”
The J. T Clark Family Foundation matched each donation.
“So essentially they turned that into $1,000 per seat,” he said, “and we were able to raise an additional $40,000.”
The hallway next to the theatre has framed portraits of 18 of the 250 enshrined members.
The second floor features a ‘New Brunswick’s First” wall, with bilingual plaques recognizing achievements, and a display case nearby with artifacts of some men and women who are part of the ‘firsts’ accomplishments.
“Records change all the time, but the very first person to achieve something can’t be outdone,” Wolverton said.
A large display for the newest members of the sports hall has been moved to the main floor, next to the entrance.
The sports hall’s website has added a 3D virtual tour, “so you can feel like you’re walking through the building from home,” Wolverton said. “You can zoom in and read the writing on all the plaques, or zoom back out and see the layout like a dollhouse.”
By next summer, Wolverton hopes to “redo the virtual sports system, so we’ll have cutting-edge technology to keep the virtual sports enthusiasts even more engaged when they’re here.”
The 2020 hall of fame induction ceremony was postponed until 2021. It will be held April 24 at the Fredericton Convention Centre.
The latest inductees will be armwrestler Joyce King of Lower Hainesville, Miramichi basketball player and coach Pauline Lordon, UNB men’s hockey coach Gardiner MacDougall of New Maryland, golfer Kathy Meagher of Fredericton, paranordic skier and Shippagan native Louis Fortin and the Fredericton-based Wayne Tallon curling rink.