Shirley will be greatly missed in all the community spaces, like hospital, prison, outreach places, in fact, everywhere her unending kindness and generosity of spirit was shared as she moved, and worked with people in places of pain, bringing healing and wholeness to situations.
It is the right thing to do. These words rang out to me in an op ed article that Theron wrote on a community concern some years ago. They were the words of a critical conscience on an issue that enveloped the community of the day. But those words ring true and have been a constant in the consciousness, life and values which were a bed-rock of motivation for the life and actions of Theron Kramer.
And these words, It is the right thing to do, which carry great weight today in light of the passing of Theron Harold Kramer, husband, father, grandfather, brother, neighbour, advocate, champion and friend to many.
In a fruitful garden under a tree stood two young people. The two young people had hopes and dreams and they planned them there under the tree of life. Two young people who encouraged a movement, a network of responses to human need. The rich and plentiful garden is here in K-W.
A City founded by the farmers and industrialists who lived with the first nation’s people who befriended them. A place of prosperity from the earliest days and enriched by immigrants and refugees who brought diversity and vigor.
The journey from kitchen table conversation to national conversation about the nature of community has been a 30+ year story. We celebrate that the virtues and values of The Working Centre are being recognized in the personification of Joe and Stephanie who have embodied the outcomes of this covenantal relationship with community.
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.
