From anthropology to social work, to helping those with disabilities find independence and helping the homeless find housing, a local retiree has seen a lot in her 18 years living in Collingwood.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we sat down with Dawn Myers, a board member with Home Horizons Transitional Support Program.
Q: Tell me a bit about your background. How long have you lived in Collingwood?
A: We (my husband and I) found Collingwood in 1990 when we were looking for a place for our boat. We found a place in Cranberry. We just loved the area so when we retired, we moved up here full time in 2000. We have enjoyed our time here. We love the town and everything that goes along with that. It’s a different sense than a big city.
In a big city, in my case... you don’t get involved as easily in organizations because you have to be really interested to do that. Here, it seems that opportunities just arose. People asked me to participate and I just did.
Q: What was your background before moving to Collingwood?
A: I was born in North Bay and moved to Toronto when I was quite young. I lived there a long time, going to the University of Toronto to get my MSW (Master’s of Social Work). I worked there, got married, we moved to Vancouver for 10 years. That was wonderful. I worked there with Family Services. I moved back in 1981. The rest of our careers were in Toronto.
Q: What led you toward that career path (social work)? What made you passionate about that?
A: My father had MS (multiple sclerosis). Growing up, he wasn’t always well. I really understood, by the time I was a teenager and helping with some of his care, that the resources were very limited. You had to work very hard to get help in the house. You would get it, but it was limited. There were no places a person with disabilities could easily go to. No curb cuts, steps everywhere... I think that was one of the issues. There are people who are bright but have a disability that cannot do things in the 1960s and ’70s.
When I first went to UoT, I went for anthropology. I considered going on in that area.
I had this particular professor for three years running. At the end of the third year, I said to him that I was considering going for a Master’s in anthropology.
He said, “You know if you get into that field, you’ll have to travel.”
I didn’t think that was so bad. I said, yes.
He said to me, “You look like the marrying kind to me.”
I said, What? Did that mean I couldn’t work? I didn’t quite understand.
He said, “Have you ever considered social work?” I didn’t know what that was. He told me the faculty was up on Bloor Street. The interesting thing there is that after three years of taking his class he must have sensed that I liked to work with people. I don’t know what he sensed.
But in a way, that strange comment got me into social work and I’m happy with that move. It suited me very well.
It was the era. If you wanted to get married you shouldn’t think about travelling. But nowadays, you can. At the time, I was shocked by that, but then I took his advice. (laughs)
Q: How did you get involved with Breaking Down Barriers?
A: When I moved here (in 2000), one of the executive directors (EDs) of Breaking Down Barriers was a schoolmate of mine. She asked me if I would join the board, so I did. I’ve done fundraising and supported the EDs through the board.
Q: Being on the board is a volunteer position. What makes you want to volunteer your time that way?
A: I think it’s just that, you can see how things need to be achieved when you get to know an organization. If you’re on the board and you can help make decisions, you can tackle projects through an organization like a non-profit charity. With Breaking Down Barriers they really reached out to more people with disability to do more things with them. They had bus tours, one time they took a lot of people up to the mountain, they had never been there. It can be hard if you don’t have a car. Getting people working and into job training... for me, Breaking Down Barriers was a really good thing, having had a father who had a disability. He did have his own business so that helped, but if you didn’t have your own business and have those kinds of resources, Breaking Down Barriers really gave people some options. I’ve been off that board for about ten years.
Then, I became involved with homelessness issue in Collingwood.
I got into a group called the Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness.
It’s still a group, it has representatives from various agencies. The agency is helping people who have their struggles.
Q: Could you please elaborate a little bit on the homelessness issue in Collingwood? Is it very pronounced here?
A: Yes, it is.
When I moved here, I didn’t realize that. You get talking to people and it’s very clear that there’s a homeless population but they’re invisible, mostly. They’re at all stages of life.
My group that broke off and became Home Horizons, wanted to help people who couldn’t get housing.
So we set up a board, I knew how to do that now (laughs), we created an organization to house homeless women and children.
We rented units in the community and sublet them to the homeless population. We had six units and they were always filled. At first it was only for a year because we wanted to avoid people claiming the units. The goal was to get people back on their feet. We provided job training, education and help with Ontario works, EI or welfare so they could get a grip on what they wanted to do, as well as finding housing.
We didn’t do it for them. We supported and encouraged them and gave them those tools.
Q: Are you still involved with this group?
A: I’m still part of this committee. As the philosophy has changed, so has the committee.
Transitional housing, which was basically our model, has been phased out in favour of the Housing-First model.
In our work with women and children, we found there was quite a population of homeless youth in the area.
We’re talking between the ages if 16 and 24, sleeping in restaurants at night. We heard stories about two girls sleeping in a hallway in a building overnight. During the good weather there are some areas where there’s a lot of camping. We began to think, this is a group that really needs assistance.
So Home Horizon decided to build the Barbara Weider House. It’s for homeless youth. It has been serving the youth population for over a year.
We’re limited in bed numbers, so we’re looking to increase that.
We’re finding it’s well-used. It’s unfortunate, but we have lots of youths that want to get into that.
Q: What’s the capacity?
A: There are seven beds, but it’s zoned for 10. The neighbourhood has been very good, I think we only had one neighbour that was really upset by it. If we were to increase the capacity we would certainly go to the neighbourhood about it.
Q: Is it at capacity most of the time?
A: Yes, it is.
Q: Do you see yourself continuing to support these kinds of causes? Do you see yourself slowing down?
A: (laughs) I’m pretty old! I think I should be slowing down.
I’m very committed to the homeless issue.
I chair the capital campaign for the Barbara Weider House. We’re aiming to raise $850,000 and I think we’ve raised, to date, about $500,000. It is one of those things that will end. It will mean not having to pay mortgage money.
We have three fundraisers yearly for operational costs. We have Bowls for Beds in the spring.
I think each of our fundraisers tends to raise about $25,000 to $30,000. The Spirit Tour is coming up in the fall (Oct. 27) where you get on a bus and go to different breweries in the area with food, drink, dinner and a dance. The third one is the Coldest Night of the Year walk in February.
Q: Do you find the community had been supportive overall to this cause?
A: Yes, I do. I think we were very unknown initially. I think we’re much better known than we used to be. Switching programs from women and children to youth was hard.
Youth are the future. So, whatever we can do for the youth and support them to keep them safe is important.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we’ll be speaking with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way. This feature will run on CollingwoodToday every Saturday. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
