Meet Caledon’s 2026 Senior of the Year: Judy Bennett

July 9, 2026 · 0 Comments

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

If you’ve ever attended a Toonie Sale, an eco station at Caledon Day, or even just walking around Town, you may spot the very familiar face of local resident and volunteer Judy Bennett.

A volunteer at numerous organizations in Caledon, Bennett is Caledon’s 2026 Senior of the Year.

After first moving to Bolton in 1972, it wasn’t until 2003 that Bennett came back and began establishing her well-known giving spirit around Town.

“I knew a lot of people from way back when, when I first moved to Bolton, so I was no stranger to it,” says Bennett on her return.

On the search for a new job, all of Bennett’s children and grandchildren were residing in or around Bolton, making it the perfect place to call home yet again.

“I managed cosmetics at Walmart, where better to meet old friends at Walmart? That’s when I first joined the Kin Club,” says Bennett.

One of Bennett’s friends at the time encouraged her to join the Kin Club in 2015, and after volunteering for about a year, she decided to join.

“After that, I just kept meeting people,” she says.

Thus began Bennett’s decade-plus of helping out the Caledon community, not just through her various organizations, but also with people throughout the community.

“There were a lot of people in the building,” says Bennett, looking around at her residential complex, “whose families lived a distance away and couldn’t always be here. They would ask me to look in on their person, and I did, and they [became] friends as well.”

From there, Bennett joined the Bolton Community Crew, then motionball Caledon, and later her other endeavours, such as Caledon Meals on Wheels, Caledon Seniors Centre, and ecoCaledon.

But you’ll often spot her helping out at events she’s not even a volunteer at, as she says, friends know they can always come to her for help.

“I feel volunteering keeps both my mind and my body alert. If I sat in my apartment all day, I know that eventually it starts to break down,” says Bennett. “I feel that volunteering has helped me as much as I’ve helped other people.”

Her multiple avenues and organizations are fun for her, she says, as they also introduce her to a wide range of people.

She notes she loves her time spent at the Caledon Seniors Centre desk, because “who’s more fun than people?”

Bennett also runs Bingo at the Vera M. Davis Community Care Centre, and jokes she’ll spot the winners the same week spending their money at the Toonie Sale, where she volunteers just a few short days later.

“Old people are fun. We really are,” says Bennett. “We’re all different, but I really get a lot of enjoyment out of my neighbours.”

“No matter where you go, people need help.”

Bennett says she’s always happy to help out anyone in need.

“I don’t do it to be recognized. I do it because it’s good for me. It’s good for them. Everybody wins,” she says. “And I have a lot of support from my friends as well.”

Bennett says she knows many of the organizations in Town can’t do their work without volunteers.

“I just feel like it’s part of my life. It’s what I want to do, and it makes me happy. And if I can make other people happy, we’re all good.”

When she received the letter that she was Caledon’s 2026 Senior of the Year, she thought, “Really?”

Bennett was recognized with a special reception at Caledon Town Hall on June 23.

“It was lovely, and I was so happy,” she says.

When it comes to volunteering, she says it’s not only fulfilling but also fun.

She encourages everyone to try it, at least once.

“Because once you give it a try, you enjoy it,” says Bennett.

Looking around her apartment at her awards and numerous bouquets of flowers from friends and family, she says, “I want to keep doing what I’m doing for as long as I can.”

“Just because I got an award doesn’t mean I’m going to slow down.”

“I give back as much as I give, and I just think that it has to come from your heart,” she continues. “You have to enjoy it. You have to take the good with the bad. Sometimes everything isn’t perfect when you volunteer. You have to know your limit, and I’m almost 78, and I just want to keep doing what I’m doing for as long as I can do it.”

Bennett credits meeting many of her friends during her time working at Walmart, and it’s clear that the impact was felt the same way around.

“I can remember seeing Judy every time I went to Walmart pharmacy as I had to walk past the cosmetic section where she worked to get to the pharmacy. She always had a smile on her face, but I never really got to meet her personally,” says Joe Luschak, President of the Kin Club of Bolton.

Luschak says that when Bennett attended her first Kin Club meeting, he was impressed by her “smile and eagerness” to help with their projects, especially their Toonie Sales.

“After a few meetings, I began asking myself how can a person like Judy always be so bubbly and always wanting to help in any way she can?” says Luschak.

“It didn’t take me long to realize that being nice had to be in her DNA and that she truly was a warm and caring person,” adds Luschak. “It also didn’t take long for the rest of the Kin members to realize what wonderful person she was, and that was confirmed when she was presented with an award naming her Kin of the Year.”

Luschak says Bennett has been an essential part of their club executive for the past number of years, and she is also one of the first to volunteer for all club projects.

“One of her favourite projects is our Toonie Sale where she oversees all of the jewellery sales,” says Luschak. “At those sales, she often brings cookies, cakes or snacks for the volunteers that she baked the night before.”

“Being recognized as the 2026 Senior of the Year recognizes that she is one who truly cares for, and does everything she can to make our community and its citizens a better place,” he says.

“Thank you, Judy for being who and what you are, a wonderful human being.”