Community Foundation (Endowment Fund)

Ride 4 Busby — Tom Oldershaw “Making-The-Difference” Endowment Fund (Barrie, Ontario)

In Barrie and across Simcoe County, the Busby Centre has become a lifeline for people experiencing homelessness or at risk of losing their housing. From its downtown hub at 88 Mulcaster Street, Busby serves hundreds of neighbours each day through drop-in services, housing supports, outreach, and partnerships that move people along the shortest path from homelessness to housing. The organization is clear in its ethos—Everybody is Somebody—and it backs that promise with practical, daily help: warm meals, showers, clothing, harm-reduction supplies, advocacy, and the companionship that restores dignity and hope. (busbycentre.ca, 211 Ontario)

The Ride 4 Busby — Tom Oldershaw “Making-The-Difference” Endowment Fund exists to sustain that work for the long term. Established by longtime Busby champion and former board member Tom Oldershaw, the fund channels community generosity into a permanent endowment designed to support Busby’s mission year after year. Oldershaw’s commitment to “make the difference” is more than a slogan; it’s a financing philosophy rooted in stability. By seeding a managed, income-generating fund, he created a dependable stream that can underwrite essential services, buffer economic shocks, and help Busby plan with confidence. (Leave Nothing To Chance)

Why an endowment? Because frontline homelessness supports need more than seasonal campaigns and emergency appeals—they need predictable resources. In Barrie, the Barrie Community Foundation (BCF) specializes in building and managing endowment funds for local impact, pooling investments, handling administration, and granting out earnings to qualified charities. Community foundations like BCF are engineered for permanence and accountability, creating a mechanism for donors to leave a legacy while steadily funding high-priority needs across the city. Public filings and local reporting show BCF’s ongoing role in stewarding endowments and granting to organizations such as the Busby Centre. (barriecommunityfoundation.org, charitydata.ca, Global News)

Ride 4 Busby captures the story of how philanthropy and grassroots energy intersect in Barrie. Fundraising rides and peer-to-peer campaigns have long animated the local donor community; they’re visible, inclusive, and culture-building. Oldershaw tapped that spirit—rallying friends, cyclists, and civic leaders to get behind Busby’s most practical needs while also thinking long-term about durability. The result is a give-now and give-forever model: ride-day pledges and sponsorships help today, while the endowment compounds quietly so the help continues tomorrow. (Oldershaw has spoken publicly about creating the “Oldershaw Making the Difference Endowment Fund” after retiring from Busby’s board—a personal milestone that became a structural gift to the community.) (Leave Nothing To Chance)

The need for stable funding is unmistakable. Barrie’s homelessness crisis strains shelters, drop-ins, food programs, justice and health systems, and the downtown core. Busby’s response is pragmatic and collaborative: it runs seven-day-a-week drop-in hours, on-street outreach, centralized intake, and housing navigation, while convening partners—health units, CMHA, paramedicine, employment and benefits programs—so people can access services in one place without red tape. That coordination means someone can get a shower and a hot drink, talk to a housing worker, see a nurse, complete forms, and connect to transitional housing pathways in a single visit. (busbycentre.ca, 211 Ontario, Settlement Services)

One of Busby’s most powerful collaborations is Lucy’s Place, a supportive housing program created with Redwood Park Communities and the County of Simcoe that converts an old motel site into stable apartments with 24/7 onsite support. When Lucy’s Place added new units, Busby’s executive director underscored how essential supportive housing is to ending chronic homelessness in Barrie. These are the kinds of long-horizon solutions endowments help sustain—programs that move people beyond survival into stability. (Global News, Barrie Today, collingwoodtoday.ca)

And the momentum continues. In 2023, Busby launched a capital campaign to acquire and improve its Mulcaster Street properties, expanding beds, creating climate-controlled spaces, adding hygiene facilities, and co-locating services into a true community social-service hub. The campaign’s goal—$2.2 million—speaks to scale: a facility that can keep doors open through winter storms, heat waves, and housing shortages, while offering the programming capacity the community now requires. Endowment income complements this bricks-and-mortar vision by covering core operations that make the building a living, welcoming centre every single day. (Barrie Chamber, Barrie Today)

What the endowment supports (now and in the future)

• Drop-in services (7 days a week): warming/cooling space, showers, clothing, coffee/tea, brief service navigation, help with forms, referrals, housing supports, and—most importantly—acceptance and community. (busbycentre.ca)
• Outreach (“Detour”): daily on-the-street engagement with food, water, clothing, blankets, tents/tarps, harm-reduction supplies, minor first aid, and crisis support that meets people where they are. (211 Ontario)
• Onsite partner clinics and access: health unit nurses, CMHA withdrawal management, paramedicine visits, HepC testing, foot care, benefits and housing worker drop-ins—all under one roof to remove barriers. (211 Ontario, Settlement Services)
• Steps to housing & supportive housing pathways: navigation and case management that link directly to transitional and supportive housing options like Lucy’s Place. (Global News)

Why Ride 4 Busby matters

1. Stability for essential services. Food, showers, harm-reduction, and outreach are recurring costs that don’t pause when donations dip. Endowment earnings help keep the lights on and the doors open. (barriecommunityfoundation.org)
2. Local stewardship and transparency. Managed with community-foundation discipline, endowments ensure funds remain dedicated to charitable purposes and are invested with prudent policies over decades. (barriecommunityfoundation.org)
3. Community culture of giving. Ride-day fundraising and peer-to-peer challenges invite broad participation—from corporate sponsors to families and cycling clubs—building awareness and a shared sense of responsibility for neighbours. (Busby’s own fundraising page highlights how grassroots events—from walks and runs to birthday drives—translate directly into services.) (busbycentre.ca)
4. Alignment with systems solutions. As Barrie leaders call for more affordable and supportive housing, the endowment helps Busby play its part: stabilizing people today while advocating and partnering for structural solutions tomorrow. (Barrie Today)

About Tom Oldershaw

Tom Oldershaw’s connection to Busby is hands-on leadership first, then legacy building. After serving on Busby’s board, he founded the Oldershaw “Making the Difference” Endowment Fund to keep the mission resourced, reflecting a belief that durable social impact requires durable funding. His public reflections capture the arc from governance to giving: when his board term ended, his commitment deepened into creating a permanent source of support. That continuity—lead, then endow—has inspired others in Barrie’s donor community to think long-term. (Leave Nothing To Chance)

How to get involved

• Give to Busby to meet immediate needs or support the capital campaign to expand space and capacity. (busbycentre.ca, Barrie Chamber)
• Start a community fundraiser—a team ride, walk, or creative challenge—using Busby’s fundraising guidance as a blueprint. (busbycentre.ca)
• Consider endowment giving through the Barrie Community Foundation to create a named legacy or contribute to an existing fund that benefits Busby’s programs year after year. (barriecommunityfoundation.org)

Impact, measured in everyday moments

Ask anyone who has walked through Busby’s doors on a freezing January morning or a blistering July afternoon: impact begins with safety and warmth, but it doesn’t end there. It’s the relief of a hot shower after days outside. It’s a nurse treating a wound, a housing worker making a call, a case manager mapping the steps to a new set of keys. It’s the conversation that reminds someone they are seen, known, and not alone. Those moments are powered by donors who give today—and by endowments that ensure help is there tomorrow.

The Ride 4 Busby — Tom Oldershaw “Making-The-Difference” Endowment Fund is Barrie’s promise to keep showing up. It’s a cyclist’s steady cadence translated into financial resilience; a community’s belief that everybody is somebody turned into a permanent resource for hope.

Learn more & sources

• Busby Centre (who they are, how they help, donate): (busbycentre.ca)
• Busby Drop-In Services (7 days/week): (busbycentre.ca)
• Busby Outreach Program (Detour): (211 Ontario)
• Busby community fundraising ideas: (busbycentre.ca)
• Busby capital campaign & building acquisition plan: (Barrie Chamber)
• $2.2M building purchase goal (local news): (Barrie Today)
• Lucy’s Place supportive housing partnership & expansion: (Global News, Barrie Today)
• Barrie Community Foundation (endowment manager in Barrie): (barriecommunityfoundation.org)
• BCF support/granting to local agencies incl. Busby: (Global News, charitydata.ca)
• Tom Oldershaw on creating the “Making the Difference” Endowment Fund: (Leave Nothing To Chance)

Short description (≈150 words)

Ride 4 Busby — Tom Oldershaw “Making-The-Difference”

nce” Endowment Fund is a Barrie-based, community-powered commitment to the Busby Centre’s mission: meeting urgent needs today while funding the path from homelessness to housing for years to come. Inspired by longtime Busby champion and fo

rmer board member Tom Oldershaw, the fund turns local generosity—from ride-day pledges to corporate gifts—into a permanent endowment managed for stability and impact. It helps keep Busby’s seven-day drop-in open, fuels on-street outreach, and supports housing navigation and partnerships like Lucy’s Place supportive housing, so neighbours can move from crisis to keys. As Busby expands through its capital campaign at 88–90 Mulcaster Street, endowment income complements bricks-and-mortar investments with the operating support that makes a building a true community hub. Everybody is Somebody—and this fund ensures that promise endures in Barrie. (Leave Nothing To Chance, barriecommunityfoundation.org