GIVING PEOPLE A CHANCE: Ted Paling Legacy Fund aims to help vulnerable youth and families
North Dumfries family man was a longtime volunteer dedicated to fairness for all
Ted Paling surrounded by his family
Funny. Serious. Intelligent. Always up on current events. Questionable fashion sense. Excellent taste in music. The “cool dad” to his three daughters. Determined to help the underdog.
These are but a few ways to describe Ted Paling, a family man against all odds, a lover who could have been a fighter. Despite a traumatic upbringing -- bouncing around in foster care, and enduring childhood abuse -- he was determined to flip the switch and build a better life for himself and others.
“He came through adversity. He could have been a completely broken person, or he could have become a really nasty, horrible person,” his wife, Elizabeth said. “But he became a loving father and husband and friend, and decided to also share that with the community.”
Ted died suddenly and unexpectedly in March 2024 at age 69. His determined spirit will live on in an actionable way thanks to his family’s establishment of the Ted Paling Legacy Fund, with the help of memorial donations from family and friends and proceeds from a life insurance policy.
Ted, a stay-at-home dad for many years, volunteered in his Cambridge and North Dumfries communities. He helped with literacy programs at Galt Collegiate Institute and assisted troubled youth through the John Howard Society. He also volunteered with the Cambridge Food Bank, Cambridge Literacy Foundation, and Community Justice Initiatives. He most recently helped Ukrainian refugees settle in the area. Shortly before his death, Ted had expressed interest in delivering food to families in need through Cambridge-based organization, Kinbridge.
“He always chose vulnerable populations to work with. He was always kind of drawn to people living in tougher situations, I think, because of his own childhood and vulnerability as a kid,” Elizabeth said.
“We wanted to establish a fund that would enable us to honour him, first of all, and his legacy of volunteering that way,” she added. “Secondly, to allow us to spread it out across different kinds of populations that he would want to support.”
The legacy fund is a Donor Advised Fund held at Waterloo Region Community Foundation (WRCF). It allows the family to choose annually which charities they would like to support.
The family has already made their first grant through the fund, using a flow-through gift to assist Kinbridge, where Ted had intended to volunteer.
“Ted was very humble about his community involvement. He didn’t even tell people what he was doing. Most of his close friends were surprised to know about all the volunteer work that he was doing,” Elizabeth said of Ted’s volunteerism.
“For him, it wasn’t about giving back, it was about giving to vulnerable children and trying to help them bring themselves up out of their poverty and out of their illiteracy,” she added. “It was giving people a chance. The fund will definitely be framed around his ideals, and his ideals were definitely around fairness, injustice and the fact that lots of people don’t have opportunities, and giving people the basics like food, shelter, and literacy. Helping people help themselves.”
It’s a determined and loving approach to life that Ted embraced despite his upbringing.
“For a human being, a little boy, to come through the things that he came through, to be able to have a stable marriage and relationship with his children, and friends who he’s been friends with since high school. Maintaining all of those things when none of that was ever modelled for him,” Elizabeth said. “And then to be able to give his time willingly to others who are vulnerable in his community.”
“Many people said this at his memorial: For a man who basically grew up with no loving family, he was a real family man.”
Giving Back a Family Affair
When it came to establishing a legacy fund to honour her husband, there was comfort in familiarity with WRCF.
The Jane & Ken Wright Family Fund, in honour of Elizabeth’s parents, started as a Field of Interest Fund in 2009, focusing on child literacy. It is now a Donor Advised Fund that Ayr resident and climate change advocacy volunteer Elizabeth manages with her brother, Peter, a Cambridge resident who runs a management consulting firm called The Planning Group.
Ken served on the Cambridge & North Dumfries Community Foundation Board of Directors from 2005-2011. After his death in 2022, his obituary encouraged donations to his fund. He also left an estate gift to his fund through his will.
“My mom just loved children. She had been a nursery school teacher before they were married and raised six children and 14 grandchildren,” Elizabeth said of her mom, who died in 2009. “They just loved children and always wanted their money to support things children need that they don’t always have, or that enhance their lives in one way or another.”
Another sibling, John Wright, started the Ashley MacIsaac Fund in 2009 to support music in Cambridge. John owned the Southworks Outlet Mall, which is now the Gaslight District. The fund typically supports applications received through WRCF’s Arts Grants Fund.
Establishing these funds has always been logical for the family, Elizabeth said.
“It’s really about building the foundation for the future, and it’s about building a foundation for the community,” she said. “I would absolutely encourage people to set up funds or give to funds at WRCF. Secondly, I would just say that the quality of expertise that I’ve seen at WRCF... the people who work there are just incredibly knowledgeable and skilled, but also very kind and caring human beings who care about what they’re doing.”
For more information on the Ted Paling Legacy Fund, visit wrcf.ca/tedpaling.
WRCF offers a range of fund types to choose from, depending on philanthropic interests and desires for specific levels of involvement in annual granting decisions.
Funds can be established in your name, or in the name of your family, your organization or anyone you wish to honour. If you would like to learn more about setting up a fund, contact Dan Robert at dan@wrcf.ca or 519-725-1806 x 205.
For more information about WRCF, visit wrcf.ca.