Clinton Orr and Jodi Ruta Find New Ways to Support Their Small Manitoba Community

In the small community of Beausejour, about 45 minutes from Winnipeg, Clinton Orr and his wife, Jodi Ruta, have long looked for ways to give back to their community. Their zeal for charitable giving was sparked by their experience with adopting a rescue dog from a local shelter in 2012.

“When we adopted Bubba, a lovable lab cross, it motivated Jodi to become a certified dog trainer, leading her to volunteer with a rescue shelter,” says Orr, a Senior Wealth Advisor with Canaccord Genuity Group in Winnipeg. “We made regular donations to shelters. But when Bubba passed in 2020, we wanted to do something bigger to honour him.”

Orr and Ruta were well aware of the shoestring budgets most rescue shelters operate on. Ruta also learned through volunteering that most rescues require veterinary care before they can be adopted, which normally eats up a shelter’s meager budget.

“We saw an opportunity to make a big impact on the adoption rates and overall health of rescue dogs, while taking the burden of vet bills off of shelters, allowing them to focus on providing a loving and supportive environment.” So Orr and Ruta started a donor-advised fund with Charitable Impact called the Pet Life Animal Fund.

The Fund has made a major difference in the lives of rescues and the operations of shelters in Manitoba.

“There’s really nothing like the satisfaction that comes when you can see the impact you’re able to make through charity,” says Orr. “And because we’d worked so closely with these shelters, we were helping people we knew and cared about. Our neighbours.”

The couple has also supported multiple other organizations, including the Canadian Cancer Society’s Run for the Cure, as well as the Dream Factory, a Manitoba-based youth charity.

“We knew how great it made us feel, and how much service benefits the community. So we wanted to do something to encourage more young people to engage in this kind of service, to feel the same satisfaction and sense of community that we’ve felt.”

This year, the couple has established a new way to give back through the Clinton Orr & Jodi Ruta Community Builder Scholarship Fund, in partnership with the Brokenhead River Community Foundation. The scholarship is for graduating high school students living in the Ecole Edward Schreyer School catchment area. The fund will grant two students $4,000 each year to be put toward their continued education.

Candidates are asked to demonstrate active volunteer and community involvement within the community. Volunteer hours can be completed in Beausejour or the surrounding area. Community service hours are verified by the Brokenhead River Community Foundation.

Orr and Ruta hope that this new scholarship will not only help students financially but encourage the younger generation to become more involved within their community. Building this mentality at a young age will support continued community bonds and programs.

“We chose to partner with the Brokenhead River Community Foundation because of their long history of working with our community. They have provided us guidance through the process to ensure this fund’s success,” explains Orr. With an endowment of $200,000 from the couple, the scholarship will continue to serve the community for many years to come.

The couple hopes the fund will drive generations of local students to become more involved in volunteering and community service. The rush that many of them will feel will likely lead to a lifetime of service and charitable giving, just as it has for Orr and Ruta.