Look What You Did, Peterborough

The 2025 ComPassion Project Grants Are Out.

Every year, quietly, in deep winter, something important happens.

The money raised throughout the year gets counted up — every dollar from every event, every in-store donation, every direct contribution — and then it goes out to the organizations that need it. No fanfare. No big ceremony. Just funds landing where they're supposed to go.

In late January, the Wild Rock ComPassion Project completed its 2025 granting cycle. Working through the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough — our essential partners who manage every dollar with full transparency and ensure it reaches the right hands — we distributed well over $60,000 to six organizations doing vital work in Peterborough and the Kawarthas.

Those organizations are Kawartha Land Trust, YES Shelter for Youth and Families, One City Peterborough, Fourcast Addiction Services, Peterborough Trailbuilders Association, and Peterborough Bicycle Advisory Committee.

Where the money came from

2025 was a year of this community showing up in a lot of different ways.

The ComPassion Ski Relay at Kawartha Nordic and the Banff Mountain Film Festival might be top of mind, but beyond those, we saw event organizers choose to raise for ComPassion Project on their own initiative. The Middle Path running race series and the Reggie Ramble both directed participant donations our way. Add in the Yeti Film Night, in-store giving, matching campaigns, and direct donations, and 2025 was the most varied fundraising year we've had. Different people, different entry points, the same destination.

Where the money goes

The grants we make are unrestricted. That's a deliberate choice, and it's worth explaining.

So much funding that nonprofits receive comes with conditions attached: it can only be used for this program, this initiative, this line item. What we grant is flexible. It lets an organization respond to a crisis, solve a problem quickly, or simply do the work they know needs doing without having to justify it to anyone. We choose our partner organizations carefully. We trust them. That trust is part of the grant.

What does that look like in practice? The Peterborough Trailbuilders Association used their ComPassion grant to buy a Snowdog — a compact machine that grooms winter trails for fat biking. It's the kind of purchase that's hard to justify on a tight operating budget, but it made a real difference: trails that would have been unrideable after heavy snowfall stayed open. More people outside. More smiles on the trails.

On the other end of the spectrum, One City Peterborough used their funding this past winter to increase evening emergency outreach during some brutal cold stretches. Bringing hot drinks, clothing, and survival gear to people living rough when they needed it most.

Every one of our six partners has a version of that story. Six organizations, six different kinds of work, all of it making this city and region better for the people who live here.

The ComPassion Ski Relay: Year Five. $19,055.

On January 31st, over 60 skiers aged 4 to 71 spent six hours on the trails at Kawartha Nordic doing something they love while raising money for the ComPassion Project. The sun came out. The chili from Ashburnham Ale House was exactly what you want after hours in the cold. The top skiers logged over 80 kilometres each in six hours, which is honestly absurd and we mean that as the highest compliment.

This year had something new: Kawartha Nordic's youth programs joined in, with over 100 kids earning their maple taffy by completing mini relay laps as part of their weekly lessons. The youngest skiers on the day were from the Faulds family.

Final total: $19,055. In five years, the Relay alone has now raised over $60,000 for the ComPassion Project's partner organizations.

None of it runs without people. Thank you to John Hauser, who has built and led this event every year. To volunteers Bev Cameron, Taylor Wilkes, Pete and Joan Lawless for keeping everything moving. And to Kawartha Nordic GM Meagan Gamble and her whole team for being such generous partners throughout the day.

As Kieran put it: "The ComPassion Relay is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind when we established the ComPassion Project. John's leadership inspired a multigenerational group of Peterborough's active community to come together doing something they love while raising money for the partner organizations. That's a win in every possible way."

See you next January.

Banff Mountain Film Festival: 1,318 people. $7,713.

We've been hosting the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour in Peterborough for close to three decades. It doesn't get old.

This January, 1,318 people came out over three nights to watch some of the best adventure and mountain culture films in the world, right here in Ptbo. A portion of every ticket goes directly to the ComPassion Project. This year that came to $7,713, which goes into the 2026 granting cycle.

The Banff Film Fest works for the ComPassion Project for a simple reason: community. You get a room full of people who already love the outdoors, already care about their city and already know their neighbours. The vibe — and it really is a vibe — makes talking about organizations protecting the Kawarthas or supporting people facing homelessness feel like a natural extension of why everyone showed up in the first place, not a hard pivot.

Tickets for next year's festival drop in November 2026. They go fast.

The hard truth, and the good news

We're not going to pretend things are getting easier. Homelessness, addiction, and food insecurity are pressing harder on Peterborough and on communities across the country. The wild spaces we love face their own pressures — from development, weakening environmental protections, and a climate that isn't waiting for anyone. Government at every level is not keeping pace with the need. That reality is part of why we keep doing this.

But we don't want to leave you with that. Because the other truth is: a bunch of people went skiing. A bunch of people went to the movies. A bunch of people rounded up at the till, or ran a trail race, or clicked donate. And because of all of that, six organizations doing genuinely important work in this city just got a little more room to breathe.

That's not nothing. That's a lot.

Thank you.

— The Wild Rock crew

The Wild Rock ComPassion Project is an endowment fund founded by Kieran Andrews, operating in partnership with the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough. To learn more about the fund, our partner organizations, or how to get involved, visit compassionptbo.ca.