Charitable No 85521 5471 RR0001
Honorary Life Members
A Ten Oaks Project Life Membership is awarded by the Board of Directors to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of the mission, vision and values of the Ten Oaks Project. In addition to the permanent right to vote at our Annual General Meetings, life members also receive a handsome handmade Ten Oaks Project mug and our eternal gratitude.
Ten Oaks Project Life Members (by year of investiture)
Julia Wagg
Holly Wagg
Chris Cowperthwaite (2009)
Jen Keystone (2009)
Sonja Prakash (2009)
Mark Schaan (2011)
Julia co-founded the Ten Oaks Project in 2004 and, after leaving the Board of Directors, served as the Director of Camp Ten Oaks for three summers. She is a past recipient of the United Way Community Builder Award, as well as a Capital Heroes Lifetime Achievement Award for her volunteerism. Her career pursuits have taken her from backhoes to boardrooms, and have always focused on the human resources profession that she loves. She is an adoptive mom to an ever-growing family, continues to put her hand up as a volunteer, believes that time is something you make, and overshares compulsively.
Holly Wagg has over a decade of extensive experience working in a leadership capacity
in the nonprofit sector. As a seasoned communications and marketing professional,
she transitioned her career in 2009 to focus on fundraising as the Manager, Funds
Development/Marketing of ArtsSmarts. In 2004, Holly co-founded the Ten Oaks Project
which runs Camp Ten Oaks and Project Acorn, and was actively involved in growing and
cultivating funds for the organization until she retired from the board in early 2009.
Now, she’s investing some of her spare time in starting up a Post-Adoption Support
Group for LGBTQ Parents in Ottawa having adopted two children now ages 11 and 13
with her partner, Julia Alarie, in 2007.
A volunteer with the Ten Oaks Project since 2005, Chris served as both a Camp Ten Oaks counselor and member of the camp leadership team. Since his first year of involvement, Chris been a proud ambassador of the Ten Oaks Project in Toronto, taking a lead role in building the community and donor base in the city. He served on the Ten Oaks Project Board of Directors from 2008 to 2010. In 2009, he convened a team that conceived and launched CampCurl, which has become the organization's signature Toronto FUNdraiser, raising $25,000 for the project in its first year.
Chris holds a BSc and diploma in peace and conflict studies from the University of Waterloo. He is currently completing an MBA at York University's Schulich School of Business. In his professional life, Chris has worked as a fundraiser and project manager, most recently as manager of Development and Alumni Relations at The Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation.
Jen has been working in health and social services for a number of years. Career highlights include Special Events Manager at the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT), and founding Board Member of the Ten Oaks Project. Currently, Jen is the Administrative Coordinator at Rainbow Health Ontario, a province-wide program that works to improve the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people in Ontario through education, research, outreach and public policy advocacy. Committed to environmental consciousness and stewardship, she is the Co-Chair of the Sherbourne Health Centre Green Council. Jen received an Honours Bachelor of Outdoor Recreation, Parks & Tourism from Lakehead University, Thunder Bay. Last, but definitely not least, Jen is a proud parent of two super kids!
Sonja has more than 10 years experience in community work that focusses on youth, social justice and anti-oppression. Sonja is a founding board member of the Ten Oaks Project, and has been volunteering with the organization since 2004. In addition to her role on the board, she was also a Camp Ten Oaks staff member and has led the development and and execution of Project Acorn: a leadership retreat for youth from queer communities. Leaving her hometown of Montreal to pursue a Bachelor of Social Work at Carleton University, Sonja has come to embrace Ottawa and its communities of activists who live and agitate in the Capital.
In 2011, Mark wrapped up his term as past-president on the Ten Oaks Project Board of Directors. He was president of from 2008 to 2010, prior to which he served terms as vice-president and treasurer. Mark was also part of the leadership team for the first two years of Project Acorn. Mark sometimes questions which is his real job -- Ten Oaks or his role as a senior policy analyst at Industry Canada.
Mark spent a lot of time becoming educated, a pursuit he seems to have not yet perfected. Mark holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Waterloo, as well as an MPhil and DPhil in Social Policy from the University of Oxford. After having studying bureaucrats for that long, Mark actually became one and is enjoying that to date.
Some people have said some nice things about Mark, giving him some commendations for his voluntary and academic work. Others are still withholding judgement. When Mark is not doing Ten Oaks, he's reading Canadian literature, cooking for his secret (until now) food society, hanging out with friends, or doing other volunteer work.