Leadership Team

Green Wood Governance Team

Caleb Carisse
Board Member 2017 - Present
Board Chair 2019

Born and raised in Port Hope, I have a special connection to this town and this community. After moving back in 2015 to raise my family here, I wanted to get involved with a community organization that valued a positive, inclusive, and non-judgmental approach to community building and strengthening; Free of the weights of political influence. I quickly fell in love with Green Wood Coalition. The people, the culture, and the values displayed through formal programming and every personal interaction I have witnessed. have made me a believer in the power of a connected community. When asked, I was honoured to join the board. As a board member, treasurer, and now chair, I understand how vital Green Wood Coalition is to our community. Bringing people together around a dinner table, helping with housing needs, and connecting people together are just some of the reasons I support, and will continue to work to ensure Green Wood Coalition functions in a responsible way, holding true to the values it set from inception.

Jeff Caine
Board Member 2016 – Present
Board Secretary

I am passionate about volunteering with Green Wood Coalition because of the direct impact they have in this community. I feel fortunate to have grown up here & as I now find myself establishing roots in Northumberland with my own family, there is something very compelling to me about Green Wood’s work. I greatly admire the difference they make in the lives of those in need & the attention they bring to issues that require discussion.

Phil Redford
Board Member 2019

I grew up surrounded by schizophrenia, bipolar disease, suicide, and mental illness. I lost my cousin to alcoholism and suicide and have had my own addictions and bouts with it. I moved out of my family home at a young age, looking for help and trying to start a family, but all of that baggage kind of makes it really difficult to have a relationship. Consequently, I've always been looking for a sense of community. Eventually I became an educator and an educational administrator. It was here that I chose to join many adhoc committees and the social justice community. Upon retiring from teaching, I saw an opportunity to become involved on a deeper basis. Having suffered abuse as a young teenager at the hands of someone I trusted as an older friend, I was honoured to be accepted and spent six years on the board of Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre. As I completed my last term, the KSAC Director suggested that I approach the radically inclusive Green Wood that had fostered such a wonderful sense of community. I was hooked. I drank the Kool Aid, and it's been transformative for me. I have found that sense of community that is here and I'm happy to try and make a difference in this way.

Jay Sherwin
Board Member 2018 - Present

I am a lifelong resident of the Cobourg/Port Hope area. Since childhood I have been a member of the Baltimore United Church. A few years ago, when I realized our church was stagnating, I appealed to the congregation to reach out into the community by taking on the challenge of supplying a meal at the Wednesday night Greenwood dinners 2 or 3 times per year. After receiving something less than an enthusiastic response, I decided to get involved with Green Wood personally. When I met with David to offer my volunteer service, he advised me that my offer of physical labour to assist Green Wood, although valued, would be of less importance than my willingness to sit down with others at the Green Wood dinners, talk with them and eat with them. Talking! Eating! That was volunteer work that appealed to me. Now six or so years into that role, I have come to believe the Green Wood model of welcoming all to a community meal is an excellent method of building community and strengthening souls. The challenge we face is broadening the table.

Shane Watson
Board Member 2022- Present

Leslie Lester
Board Member 2022 - Present

Emily Taylor
Board Member 2022 - Present