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Reflecting on the Gifts of Work

By Kara Peters Unrau

Published in December 2021

As we head into winter,  it is amazing to reflect on where we all were this time last year! We have closed, transformed, built, renovated, re-imagined, held, re-held, opened and re-opened time and time again – all within this Working Centre ecosystem.

There are many new faces involved in the work at TWC since March 2020 (Welcome! Welcome!), and many others who have had to work remotely, or in a more restricted way. In pre-COVID times we would intentionally spend time in multiple project spaces to weave the threads of projects, resources, and people at The Working Centre. It continues to feel strange to be this disconnected when historically we were so incredibly interwoven and integrated. And yet 120 people show up and work together, contributing their daily work to our community projects. No small thing!

Photographer Doug MacLellan, a friend of The Working Centre, has been spending time in our spaces this fall – using his talent with a camera to help us to see each other in another way. The gift of work is offered in such a wide range of ways, in many different contexts – and it is so important to reflect on the meaningful relationships that hold this complex work together.

  • Sarah as she hands out mail to community members at the Resource Centre on Queen Street

  • Michael stirring a very very big pot of beans at Maurita’s Kitchen

  • Gemma serving coffee at SJK in the morning

  • Alex hauling scrap metal from Recycle Cycles

  • Pam making grilled cheese at the UA kitchen for a resident

  • Nikki accompanying a community member to the hospital

  • Ala on the Money Matters phone with CRA talking through a complex tax benefit situation

  • Kiegan putting together the new furniture for Water Street House resident rooms

  • Katinka bringing food or drink to someone in their room at UA

  • Myrna baking yummy muffins (so many!) at Maurita’s Kitchen

  • Orhan programming a fob for a new resident

  • Aaron strategizing with a contractor to fix the plumbing

  • Bryan hosting community members at the laundry at SJK

  • Connie and Sarah in the WASL parking lot checking in on sleeping folks in the morning

  • Krista at the Receiving Desk handing out bus tickets to Nico for Street Outreach

  • Zana providing wound care for a community member at a motel

  • Don walking up the back steps at 256K to check in with a resident in supportive housing

  • Ian hosting the front door at UA

  • Gwen handing out to-go meals at the SJK Garage

  • Deb walking through uptown Waterloo with the Discovery Team

  • Hoshim unloading furniture from the WASL truck for a community member who has just moved into their new home

  • Jen supporting a scheduling request for a housing worker

  • Chris meeting with Job Café workers before their Clean Team shift in downtown Kitchener

  • Rebekah negotiating an order of supplies

  • Martin setting up a cell phone for a new outreach worker

  • Diane picking up a donation of masks and sanitizer

  • Berenice organizing the Food Bank supplies at Maurita’s Kitchen

…and so many more people, and so many more ways of contributing!

It is exciting to be able to reflect on all the good work that is happening – even in this time of pandemic. It is a step of faith and a movement into the unknown to be meeting people who are vulnerable where they are at. There is so much gratitude for all the people who are a part of our interconnected web – and all the intention and presence that is brought as we walk with real people, with real complexities, each and every day.

Good Work News is The Working Centre’s quarterly newspaper that reports on our latest community building efforts and seeks out ideas which redefine work, consumerism, and sustainable living. First published in 1984, we have now published over 150 issues with a circulation of 13,000.

Subscribe to Good Work News with a donation of any amount to The Working Centre.

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The Integrated Circle of Care is a fluid and collaborative approach followed by workers from different agencies weaving through St. John’s Kitchen. Within this approach, staff members from each agency are aware of their specific personal roles. However, the high level of collaboration between workers means that people can approach any worker, without knowing their agency association or specific role, and still receive support – either that worker will support the person directly, or they will introduce the person to another worker who can support the person more appropriately.

This approach makes relationships more natural and support more accessible. Workers from different agencies are easily approachable, meaning that people build relationships with multiple workers. Having relationships with different workers is important to a person’s support – it makes support from a trusted source easy to find, and means that people have a choice of worker to approach in any given situation.

In order to maintain a circle of care around a person, workers from different agencies ask for consent from the person for information to be shared between workers. Continuous communication between workers helps to ensure that people do not fall into gaps between services, and also that services are not duplicated.

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