ELORA – Jack R. MacDonald was a long-standing donor to the former village of Elora and for decades provided funds that have positively impacted the community throughout the years.
Though widely valued in the community, many Elora locals may be unaware of MacDonald’s extensive donations.
There has been action taken by those in the community to correct this, with projects underway and executed to acknowledge the legacy of Jack R. MacDonald.
About Jack
MacDonald spent years donating to the community. He was born in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, and at the age of three his family moved to Seattle, Washington where he spent his life.
MacDonald worked as a lawyer, though he had a talent for investing funds. He received a small nest egg from his parents and invested it meticulously for decades, and later began donating to a wide array of charities and organizations, which he did throughout his life.
MacDonald’s father was born in Elora in 1885, and his death in 1970 was what sparked MacDonald to start making contributions to the area. He made small donations throughout the years, in excess of $300,000.
“Jack R. MacDonald started providing donations way before Centre Wellington existed,” said Centre Wellington Mayor Kelly Linton on MacDonald’s long history of contributions.
Elora Funds
After MacDonald’s death in 2013, most of his estate was put into the Jack R. MacDonald Charitable Trust.
Centre Wellington was one of five organizations to receive some of its funds.
In 2016 the township received $3.436 million from MacDonald’s trust fund. Linton commented on the uniqueness of the commitment, as the funds are specifically for Elora and its betterment and may not be used anywhere else in the township.
Council allocated $1.805 million of the funds for the rebuilding of the pedestrian bridge in downtown Elora and the repaving of West Mill Street.
The remaining $1.509 million was to be spent among a few community organizations in Elora.
Deciding which organizations the funds would go to was a 12-week process, with 22 applications considered and a total of $6,029,591 requested. Finally eight were chosen.
Since then, changes in organizations, as well as what projects are feasible in light of the pandemic have led to several shifts in what the funds are going towards.
The funds given to Bungalow 55 have been reallocated to the Bissell Park project since Bungalow 55 is no more. The Kitchen in the Park and the Elora Centre for the Arts, are both in the process of shifting the projects their funds are to be used for.
Honouring Jack’s legacy
The pedestrian bridge in Elora was rebuilt and in 2019 named the Jack R. MacDonald pedestrian bridge to to honour the man and his donation.
“We thought there was no better way,” said Linton on how the township could honour MacDonald.
The bridge isn’t the only way Elora is trying to show respect for all MacDonald has contributed, as there is currently a committee assembled to organize and build a statue of MacDonald in town.
The Jack R. MacDonald Pedestrian Bridge connects north and south Elora over the Grand River. Advertiser file photo
Beverly Cairns, who is the impetus behind the Jack R. MacDonald statue and a sculptor herself, spoke on this matter.
While Cairns has known about the MacDonald sculpture efforts for some time, she has only recently joined the project.
“We need a new proposal,” said Cairns as much of the committee working on this matter is no longer attached to the project.
The sculpture will be chosen by a jury from submitted designs. The theme – like the man – will be quite broad.
“The sculpture has to tell a bit about MacDonald,” said Cairns, adding that MacDonald was a very aloof character and not much is known about him.
This creates a challenge for the sculpture efforts. There are not many images of MacDonald or material to work from.
Cairns said she only has one picture of Macdonald herself and it’s not a very good one.
She thought bronze would be the longest-lasting material for a statue.
“It has to be something that will last years and years,” said Cairns.
“I think more permanent sculptures can become a great asset to Elora.”
Cairns said sculptures are an underrepresented medium.
But there are more challenges to these efforts than capturing the likeness of the man and the cost of the material.
Where to put it is another burning question.
“I think it’s a very worthy project… but quite difficult,” said Cairns, referring to all the obstacles to the effort.
Because of challenges like these it will likely be some time before locals will pass the MacDonald statue on the street.
These issues are causing Cairns to look at other sculpture projects in the meantime that would potentially be simpler to execute than the MacDonald project, athough she hasn’t lost hope that MacDonald will one day be rendered in bronze.
Linton said he would like to see the statue next to the Jack R. MacDonald bridge.
“I’d like to see it close to the bridge but there’s a committee on that, I’ll let them do their work,” he said.
