Great communities don’t happen by accident; they are willed into being and kept moving by the people who show up for them. Help our neighbourhoods be all they can be—you can be the spark we need by jumping in and lending a hand this month. The bottom half of the newsletter this month lists a dozen ways you can contribute in big and small ways.

Upcoming Events

Orleans Wood Elementary School – Drop-in Play Social

Saturday, February 28th – 9:30 AM – 12 PM

Come out and take part in our second play social event. Bring an activity or some sports equipment and enjoy the morning with friends and neighbours out of the cold.

If you’d like to help host one of these events at a local school or other venue, get in touch!

Climate & Your Cash – Orleans

Saturday, Mar 7 – 10 AM to 12:30 PM

Event Tickets

Recent Events

Moonlight Ski

The Moonlight Ski event was well attended by approximately 45 residents and 10 sponsors, volunteers, and benefactors. Ski Heritage East was very grateful for the opportunity to connect with the residents who use their trails and for the chance to raise some funds as well. It was fantastic that we had such a great night with a full moon and great temperatures and conditions.

Winter Carnival

This year’s Winter Carnival saw a great turnout with lots of skaters checking out the newly re-constructed rink and boards with the 1-year old change shack. The local Scouts troupe also showed off some interesting winter camping setups they used overnight last month, and cooked up some delicious and sweet maple taffy for attendees.

Thanks again as always to our excellent rink and event volunteers for making this event awesome!

Environment Committee

Forever Chemicals in the Kitchen

Nadia Ouellette

When PTFE-coated cookware becomes scratched, microplastics can enter the food we consume. Heating at high temperatures or for longer periods of time can also release toxic chemicals into the air we breathe, and can even be lethal to pet birds.

Read the Full Post

Suburban Observations

The Latest from ‘The New Orleans’

From Rob Attrell, Board Director and Outreach Committee Chair

Subscribe today and follow the journey at TheNewOrleans.ca.

The kickoff meeting of the Eastern Ottawa Urbanism Club will be happening on Tuesday March 3rd over lunch.

More information on how to get your invite can be found at the link: Eastern Ottawa Urbanism Club.

Community Submission

Stop the Silent Treatment

Article Submission

We’ve all experienced bullying in one form or another — and some of us may even recognise moments when we were the ones doing the harm. It’s easy to dismiss bullying as a childhood issue, but it doesn’t magically disappear when we become adults. It shows up everywhere, even in community groups.

Read the Full Post

To submit your own article or topic suggestion, use our Submissions Box.

Community Engagement

Submit Your Photos Today

CGOW Photo and Video Archive

The Photo and Video Archive is our attempt at a community-owned, locally-sourced repository of high-quality visuals. By building this crowdsourced repository, we are creating a shared resource that belongs to the neighbourhood.

We are looking for “stock-style” photos and/or video that captures the everyday reality of our corner of Orléans. This includes the beauty of our ravines and river paths, but also the mundane—the intersections we cross, the homes we live in, and the ways we move through the community. You could look to capture something you really love or something you seek to improve. This media allows us to make our perspective visible to the rest of the city.

Contribute Knowledge to your Community

CGOW Forum

Our new forum is designed to let community residents break out of the algorithmic traps of social media and contribute to a shared knowledge base that reflects community needs and sentiment.

Built using Discourse community software, the CGOW Forum is an online public square for a variety of topics important to our neighbourhoods, and you can even navigate and read the forum without an account.

Encourage Friends and Neighbours to Join

Membership Drive & ✨Contest✨

At the end of 2024, we explicitly set out to start growing our community association membership and newsletter subscription base. We now have over 200 members and our newsletter reaches nearly 600 people each month.

We’re hoping to get your help to register your friends and neighbours in the community by running a membership drive, featuring ✨prizes✨ for residents who encourage the most new signups (provided those people are residents living inside our Geographical Boundaries).

If you aren’t already a CA member, join today! You can still participate if you’re a brand new member.

Tell Us What’s Important to You

2026 Community Survey

The Convent Glen Orleans Wood Community Association is taking some time early in 2026 to survey residents once again as part of our Strategic Plan. We have already started some initiatives that you told us were a priority on our previous survey in Fall 2024

Please take a moment to fill out the new survey to let us know how the association can contribute to a strong and vibrant community. The survey will take 5 or 10 minutes to complete.

Please fill out the survey by March 22, 2026.

Volunteer Opportunities

We have a ton of ongoing opportunities to get involved, please have a look at the full list (linked). Please reach out if you’re interested.

Volunteer Coordinator
- Send regular updates to volunteer group about new and upcoming opportunities
- Help event planners find volunteers
- Help recruit new community volunteers
Events Coordinator
- Keep track of upcoming events with leads
- Make sure events have a poster, date/time, RSVPs, booking, etc.
A/V Expert/Coordinator
- Someone that can help out with in-person events that need video or sound to help set things up
- Can give advice for possible purchases in this area
Local Experts/Coordinators
- We’d love to hear from you if you are interested in representing your specific area’s interests within the community association. Our boundaries include Convent Glen North and South, as well as Orleans Wood and everything north of St Joseph and west of Place d’Orléans, and we hear from some parts of the community much more than others.
School Parent Council Liaisons
- If you’re affiliated with a parent council, in the community we’d love to be in touch to coordinate events where appropriate.
Graphic Designer
- If you have a strong eye for design or visuals, we’d love your help putting together graphics for community promotion or advertising community events.
- We have been using Canva for design, so experience with that program would certainly be helpful.
- Tasks we’d be looking for help with include the following:
  - Help us to create posters, flyers, and other materials for events
  - Support graphic design needs like logos or other graphics.

See All Current Volunteer Opportunities

Orléans Community Network

The Orléans Community Network is a way for different organizations and community groups to keep in touch, share information, events, and best practices, and unite in advocacy on relevant issues. It’s also a great way for residents to find and get in touch with community groups that are active in Orléans.

To have your organization included in the network, reach out to [email protected] with the name of the organization, its website, and a main contact email address.

CGOW Community Network

The Convent Glen Orléans Wood (CGOW) Community Network is a dedicated way for volunteer groups, schools, and local organizations right here in Convent Glen and Orléans Wood to communicate and collaborate. Powered by your Convent Glen Orléans Wood Community Association, our mission is to foster a more connected, informed, and collaborative neighbourhood. We believe that by making it easier for us all to communicate and work together, we can strengthen the tight-knit bonds that make our community a truly special place to live.

To have your organization included in the network, send an email to [email protected] and let us know the organization’s name, website, and a central contact email address.

CA Board of Directors Meeting – March 9 – 7:30 PM

Every month, the Board of Directors of the Community Association holds a meeting to discuss ongoing community association matters. If you’d like to bring up something the board should discuss, send us an email at [email protected].

You can also see minutes from previous board meetings here, to see what we’ve been chatting about: Board Meeting Minutes.

Board Meeting Details

Other Community Newsletters

Laura Dudas Ward 2 Newsletter

Ottawa Lookout – 3x per Week Ottawa News

Thanks to Our Sponsors

Check out our sponsors or get information about becoming one at cgow.ca/sponsors. We have new, revamped Bronze, Silver, Gold, and even Platinum sponsorship packages.