Donate to Dovercourt, a registered charity.
Your donations help us deliver programs and services to our community.
You can also donate in memory of past staff.
Your donations can:
Donations are vital
At Dovercourt Recreation Association, we believe that everyone deserves a place to move, connect, and belong, all year round.
As a registered charity, we work hard to make our programs and services accessible to people of all ages and abilities. Most of our funding comes from our success as a social enterprise, but donations and community support play a vital role in helping us go further and reach more people.
Your support makes a difference in several ways:
- Financial Assistance Program: We provide up to $200 per person to help cover the costs of participating in our programs. Through our Dovercat Club, we also fill remaining spots and offer opportunities in select programs at no charge to eligible families, ensuring that financial barriers do not prevent meaningful experiences.
- Specialized inclusive programs: We offer adapted fitness classes, weekly accessible swim sessions, and our W.A.V.E. (Work and Volunteer Experience) program, which helps adults with developmental disabilities build skills, confidence, and community.
- Accessibility and inclusion: We hire and train specialized staff to support individuals who need extra help to participate safely and successfully. We provide accessible equipment, adapted materials, and personalized support plans. We also invest in inclusive hiring, offering job coaching, training, and adapted work environments so employees with disabilities can thrive and contribute fully, including partnering with OCAPDD for over thirty years to provide meaningful employment for their clients.
Whether it’s sending a child to camp in the summer, helping a senior stay active in the winter, or creating a space where everyone feels welcome. Your generosity makes it possible.
the dovercourt community
Renée, a regular Dovercourt pool-goer, relies on Dovercourt.
For more than three decades, 91 year old Renée has been a regular swimmer in the warm waters of Dovercourt’s pool.
She is grateful to the Dovercourt staff for assisting her with access to the pool, as she has limited mobility in her legs. Of Dovercourt, she says, “To me, it gives me my life,” she said. “Not only does it help my body, but my mind.”
Read more about Renée in the November issue of the Kitchissippi Times
Donate in honour of former Dovercourt staff
We were saddened to hear of his passing in September 2020. Lorne Tosh was a longtime member of our Dovercourt community, and one of the friendliest, most cheerful people you will every meet. Over the years he played many roles at Dovercourt, including a member of our Board of Directors, a customer service staff, and an avid user of the Fitness Centre/ weight room. His talented daughter, Tara, is responsible for several large murals at Dovercourt including the Koi fish on the ceiling of the upstairs entrance, and the Canadian wildlife appearing on our downstairs changeroom doors and the walls that lead to the pool.
This is our great friend and former staff, Jonas Mitchell. Jonas was a very enthusiastic, fun, caring, and compassionate leader in our camp program for several years and was an inspiration to a generation of campers, many of whom went on to become staff themselves, including Nicola, the little girl he is holding in this picture. In 2018, Jonas was killed in Toronto as he was riding his bike to work by a driver who ran a red light. If you were a friend, camper or co-worker of Jonas, his parents have asked us to start a fund in his memory that will help children who need help to manage the cost of camps. You can donate online on our campaign page on Canada Helps or in person at Dovercourt. And please, take care and watch out for bicyclists.
Ways to donate
The best way to make a donation to Dovercourt is through the Canada Helps form at the bottom of this page. You will receive a tax receipt.
If you prefer to send us a donation by cheque in the mail, please ensure that you include your full name, address and email so that we may email you a tax receipt.
Dovercourt Recreation Association
411 Dovercourt Ave, Ottawa ON K2A 0S9
WAVE’s Open Door Kitchen
You can make a donation to our new social enterprise below, in the CanadaHelps donation form. Read more about the Open Door Kitchen here.
Dovercourt’s Community events and resource sharing
Dovercourt works with a number of community partners and sponsors to provide resources and events that help our community. These have included various revents with Westboro Village (e.g. Wickedly Westboro), the annual Garage Sale with the Westboro Community Association, the McKellar Fall Harvest Fair with the McKellar Park Community Association, and other special events. All of these are free events, so your donation can help support these community-building events.To discuss sponsorship opportunities
Please contact Executive Director, Sureen Gosal at 613-798-8950 ext. 224 or sureen@dovercourt.org
Please do NOT make donations to the Kichi Sibi Winter Trail here. The Trail is now its own registered charity/ not for profit, independent of Dovercourt. Visit www.wintertrail.ca to make your donation.
