The Team

I've come out of my hole that I retreated to after the the latter-half of April. Things were running like mad, and we needed to focus on the day-to-day stuff that seemed to go a little goofy. I thought for a moment, in the midst of preparation for tonight's Soul Food, that I would take this chance to recognize our team of volunteers who are a part of our community at The Door (okay, I'm going to brag). Here's a few things that I love about them.

I love that we have a diverse team of people investing in the lives of our youth. Some are just fresh out of high school, entering college or the workforce. Some are grandparents. Some are caregivers. Some are moms and dads, some are single, some are married. Some are professionals, some are retired, or at some sort of limbo between working and retirement. Many of those are just the parts that define us, though, the labels that we carry. All of us have unique and complex personalities, and it creates a beautiful rhythm with the youth of the centre as we connect with them in different ways. It's a bit like a band, where all of us have our part to play, and together we create a masterpiece - only this time it is love, care, compassion, mercy, laughter, hope, empathy, sympathy, and on and on.

I love that we have a team of volunteers who care deeply for the community that they are a part of. In fact, I can't think of even one who volunteers simply out of obligation. They are regularly concerned for the well-being of the youth, and often sacrifice time and resources outside of the drop-in centre for conversations and coffee. They value our youth. They empower our youth. They pray for our youth. They don't just maintain a relationship for the few hours a month that they are scheduled to be at the youth centre, if they see them on the street, they talk to them. They express, both in their words and their actions, that they are willing to go to bat for our youth.

I love that we have a team of volunteers who care deeply for the team that they are a part of as well. We had a volunteer meeting on Monday (we meet every night of drop-in too, but try to get together at least a couple of times as a whole team). A few things struck me during this time. First, we get along - not perfectly all of the time (but who does?), but we are interested in each other's lives. I think that this has brought us together as a team. We spent time talking about fishing, about family, about vacations. Second, every one of our volunteers is always striving to grow in their role, to continue to learn, to question, and to seek. This impresses me the most because we have a few valued volunteers who have been investing in youth longer than I've been alive, and I would think that at some point they would have learned everything and accomplished everything, but they continue to grow. I hope that I am never arrogant enough to think that I have "reached it". We have at least five volunteers right now who have been involved in the centre far longer than Aaron and I. They have been most gracious and understanding to us as we began to direct the ship, and have collaborated with us along the way.

To our volunteers, if you are reading this: You play an integral part at The Door. We value your contribution, and particularly the investment you make again and again into the lives of our youth. I hope that you get as much out of working at The Door as we do working alongside you. Thank you, and we love you!

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We are always looking to add to our team at The Door. If this is on your heart, please contact us so that we can have a conversation. This is an amazing family to be a part of, and maybe I'm a bit biased, I couldn't imagine a better team to be a part of.

Project Serve, Toronto, April 2010

Streets of Pain... And Hope

It's Friday night on Queen Street, the road is bustling with taxis, cyclists and shoppers, the restaurants are full. We dip into the shelter doors, and get ready to spend the evening sharing a meal and giving the women who call this shelter home manicures. For three hours, we sit and chat, talking about our hometowns, the weather, and listening to sometimes schizophrenic conversations. As we drive back to the church where we will crash on the floor for the night, I ask the girls what impressions were left on them after the night. "They're just regular people" they tell me, struck by the face of humanity that is so often overlooked when we think of those who experience poverty and homelessness.

I (Danielle) just returned Sunday from another Project Serve experience with three of our young women from Collingwood, and fourteen other youth and leaders from the Huntsville and Shelburne satellites. This is my third Project Serve trip to Toronto, the first for the majority of participants. During our 48 hours in the city we partnered with the Salvation Army in their shelters and their vans that serve hot breakfasts and reach out to youth on the street, we joined a number of churches in the downtown core who house shelters in their halls and basements, joined a group of Sisters who offer subsidized housing, community gardens, and adult drop-in programs, and we handed out sandwiches throughout the downtown streets.

Many of the youth who joined us this past weekend come from rural towns. They come from different socioeconomic and family backgrounds. Some of them have what we sometimes refer to as the 'R.W.K.', or rich white kid syndrome, and for them, this trip blows their world wide open. It isn't an easy trip, we give up our ipods and cell phones, relinquishing our money and debit cards, and sleeping on a floor instead of our pillow-top mattresses. On Sunday, I had an opportunity to ask the girls who came with me how this trip had impact on them. They wondered how they would integrate what they had experienced into life at home, knowing that the things we complain about and take for granted (perhaps a better word would be 'exploit' sometimes) were in a new light after this trip. They felt a need to become active in the issues of poverty and homelessness. And they understood the depths pain and of joy that many on the street experience. Pain from unimaginable circumstances and issues in life, and joy from simple things that allow them to get through the day, or from lives that don't have so much peripheral junk that the important things in life are lost.

The challenge that we left them was with the words 'justice' and 'compassion', and those begin in the lives of an individual who allows their gut to be torn apart so that they are moved to action. We've had ten youth from The Door Youth Centre in Collingwood participate in the Project Serve trip to Toronto. That is a pretty good starting point to instill change in our centre and our community, I think.