Friends of Trinity Bellwoods Park (FoTBP) are volunteers from the community that work together to improve and maintain the green space, cultural and recreational activities of Trinity Bellwoods Park. Since 2001, Friends of Trinity Bellwoods has been recognized by Parks, Forestry & Recreation, the City and by the Councillor as the vehicle of community consultation for the park. We are a diverse group who are willing to share new ideas, respect other points of view, and participate in a collaborative process to create a vibrant community park.

Volunteer members have:

founded and operate a weekly seasonal farmers’ market (2007)
host the annual Pumpkin Parade and Pumpkin Toss at Halloween
partner with Trinity Bellwoods BIA to support the movie nights in the park
conceptualized and implemented the Adopt-A-Tree program (2006) to water and nurture the new planted saplings in the park. This program has been replicated by many other park groups across the City.
coordinate a greenhouse (bestowed 2008) as an educational and community resource
offer bulb and shrub planting events in collaboration with Parks & Recreation
commissioned a tree inventory (2010)
lead community and park clean ups
offer hands-on corporate team building days,
and respond to community issues that affect the park.

By nature, volunteer community groups have a fluid membership. There are ebbs and flows as to how many active members we have and what sorts of initiatives take place and/or are maintained. 2018 onwards, we are at low ebb with just a few of us holding the fort. We welcome new faces from the park community that would like to join us, become an effective and committed member, support our mission and help sustain the group. Note, it may take time to familiar with how things work, learn the ropes i.e. getting an initiative off the ground with city or organizing a park day etc. With patience, rest assured we’ll do our best to guide new members who take initiative. Remember, we are all volunteers that do this on our own time for the betterment of the park.

What’s our Mission?

We hope to ensure that the park will be maintained as a healthy public green space for decades to come. Toronto’s parks are often referred to as the “lungs” of our city. Besides providing a welcome refuge from the hurly burly of city life, park trees and public greens help clean our air of pollutants. Historically designated as an arboretum, Trinity Bellwoods Park, contains some of the oldest and most unique trees in Toronto. We want to take care of the existing natural environment and gradually improve it over time.

We believe that a lively, safe community is created through many small networks of friendships. The park allows people from all walks of life to spontaneously cross paths and strike up a conversation. In order to bring people together, we want to support a wide variety of park activities. Because we have an intimate understanding of park needs, we want to share our vision with Parks, Forestry and Recreation and our Councillor.

Friends of the Park Meetings – Why Should I Come?

If you have ever found yourself standing around the park thinking, “I wish we had…” or “how do we get this changed?…”; if you’re out jogging thinking “wouldn’t it be beautiful if there were more…”. Or perhaps you have an itchy green thumb? Want to clean up the park grounds or interested in green space or the green house? Want to know how to adopt-a-tree? Or volunteer for the farmers’ market? And what about the playground? Maybe you can offer a different skill set, coordinate meetings, take minutes, send newsletters help with socials. Then you need to come to the meetings.

Traditionally we try to have one leading up to a spring park care day and in the fall. Sign up for our newsletter to get notifications or reach out to us by email friends@trinitybellwoods.ca. Please include topic in the subject line of the email.

Past Meeting Minutes

View the minutes of past meetings.