This article, written by Arleen Macpherson, first appeared in the September 1999 Good Work News as a reflection on her 11 years as coordinator of St. John’s Kitchen. In 2002, Arleen joined The Working Centre Board of Directors. This year she retired from the Board after serving the last five years as President.
Reflections on 25 years of Working Centre activity on Queen Street
Have you been down on Queen Street South in Kitchener lately? There is a virtual many-faceted gem in the heart of downtown. Three buildings near the corner of Queen and Charles Streets and another at Victoria and Weber Streets house the projects of The Working Centre that serve hundreds of people in Waterloo Region and beyond in a variety of creative ways.
How sad it was to read the report in the Record of the death of Rose Uhrig on August 16th. Rose worked for The Working Centre and St. John’s Kitchen for about ten years and will be remembered by many volunteers, patrons and co-workers.
On Monday November 12 Nellie Pautler died after a six month illness. My favourite memory of Nellie is of an encounter during a Christmas dinner celebration at St. John’s Kitchen. Nellie was always there for special occasions as well as on her regular volunteer days.
The greatest challenge confronting this beautiful family since they’ve been on their own and on Social Assistance has been housing. Decent, affordable housing eludes everyone whose income is limited. The lack of it, the constant search for it drains all one’s energy, occupies all of one’s waking hours and sucks up an inordinate amount of one’s income, leaving very little for other needs such as food and clothing.
The twelfth Annual Mayor’s Dinner, April 10th, 1999, honours Lucille Mitchell, founder and past president of Hospice of Waterloo Region. Hospice offers individualized care to dying persons and stresses living fully until the very end of life, with dignity and in comfort. It recognizes that patients with terminal illnesses can have some control over their lives until the end and that the grief suffered by their surviving relatives and friends can be eased by trained caregivers. Hospice of Waterloo Region joins the growing number of hospices that are developing around the world.
I love this time of the year for all the treasured memories of Christmases past that come flooding in. I get to enjoy once again the Christmases of my childhood spent in the little Northern Ontario village of Gowganda.
You should see our garden! In less than three months an abandoned field of weeds in the countryside has been transformed into an acre of lush growing vegetables. Already we, at St. John’s Kitchen, are eating our own chemical-free potatoes, onions, cabbage, squash, green beans, beets, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs. We have also blanched and frozen several pails of green beans for the coming Winter. And there is lots more to come!
As of June 1st, the Family Benefits Act, The Vocational Rehabilitation Services Act, and The General Welfare Act will have been replaced by The Ontario Works Act (OWA) and the Ontario Disability Support Program Act (ODSPA) in accordance with The Social Assistance Reform Act or Bill 142. I waded through Bill 142 (75 pages) on the internet one night recently and hastily concluded that I would not want to be subject to it, nor would I want to have to work by it, or be responsible for enforcing it.
It is a very depressing piece of legislation which will not only create desperation and hopelessness for those who are already struggling to stay alive, but which will also, I believe, impoverish all of us who live in this province.
Have you heard about the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, MAI for short? This is a treaty which if ratified, will expand the investment and business privileges of corporations throughout the world while drastically reducing the rights of Canadian and other governments to impose any control over the practices of these businesses. The popular media gives us little to no information about it, but the implications are frightening. It will affect all of our lives but will be devastating to the growing number of poor people. And, closer to home, Bill 42, “The Welfare Bill” will soon be passed in the Ontario Legislature.
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.
