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our Board
OUR WRYM PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE - JANUARY 2018
Susan Freeman
President
As the Windsor Residence for Young Men (WRYM) begins a new year, we can reflect on the successes of the past and what lies ahead in the upcoming year.
WRYM helps young men 16 – 24 years of age leave homelessness behind and build new lives. How do we do it? By providing a supportive functional family, often the only family “our guys” have ever known, with staff who are real men and women in the roles of older siblings or aunts and uncles, delivering individual counselling while teaching basic life skills; such as hygiene, food acquisition and preparation, budgeting, social responsibility, work ethic, and the aftercare of a supportive family.
WRYM has served 253 young men in its Transitional Housing Program since opening our doors in October 2012. Last year, 91 clients passed through our Transitional Housing, Outreach, and Aftercare Programs. The average age was 19 years. The success rate jumped to 98% of our young men leaving the streets. These are the formative years for young men and if we can give them the tools to lead productive lives, there are no limits to what they can achieve; but, we will still have to wait to see. We are in this to benefit our community in the long run, too.
The Aftercare Program continued to expand in 2017, as it should, serving 72 clients. It provides “our guys” with emotional support, referrals for service, and housing assistance upon graduation from WRYM. This part of our program can access the private rental market even when there is no social housing available; and, it teaches “our guys” how to fully utilize the wide variety of services that already exist in our community, while not duplicating them. This is vital to independent, healthy and safe lives. We thank Green Shield Canada for their perceptive support.
WRYM has also developed an excellent program called the Kid Next Door (KND) Program. It is designed to teach “our guys” work ethic, work safety, and working cooperatively in a team, while giving them work experience. Remarkably it also seems to assist many seniors to maintain their independence in their homes, too. This past year, the KND project had 454.5 supervised paid hours, 110.75 supervised volunteer hours and participants earned a total amount of $5,909.05. The cost of supervision and transportation was approximately $14,500, which was made possible by The Windsor Essex Community Foundation and Canada Summer Jobs grants.
WRYM receives less than 10% of its funding from government sources. We must rely solely on the dedicated staff, the committees and volunteers, and the generous donations of individual and corporate citizens. Over the past year, we have seen significant amounts of donations swallowed up by far larger agencies which makes our fundraising efforts even more important. On average we invest about $8,000 per year in each of our residents, or about $157 per day.
This year we welcomed two new members to our Board of Directors, myself and Brian Worrall. We said goodbye to Dawn Melville and Hurley Blackmann and thank them for having been Directors on the Board. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would also like to thank Alex Denonville for the tremendous work he did as President. I am happy to say Alex will stay on as a valued Director of the Board.
I am very excited about the opportunities in 2018 and to working together as a team to provide the Windsor Residence for Young Men with another year as successful as 2017.
Sincerely,
Susan Freeman
President, Board of Directors
WRYM helps young men 16 – 24 years of age leave homelessness behind and build new lives. How do we do it? By providing a supportive functional family, often the only family “our guys” have ever known, with staff who are real men and women in the roles of older siblings or aunts and uncles, delivering individual counselling while teaching basic life skills; such as hygiene, food acquisition and preparation, budgeting, social responsibility, work ethic, and the aftercare of a supportive family.
WRYM has served 253 young men in its Transitional Housing Program since opening our doors in October 2012. Last year, 91 clients passed through our Transitional Housing, Outreach, and Aftercare Programs. The average age was 19 years. The success rate jumped to 98% of our young men leaving the streets. These are the formative years for young men and if we can give them the tools to lead productive lives, there are no limits to what they can achieve; but, we will still have to wait to see. We are in this to benefit our community in the long run, too.
The Aftercare Program continued to expand in 2017, as it should, serving 72 clients. It provides “our guys” with emotional support, referrals for service, and housing assistance upon graduation from WRYM. This part of our program can access the private rental market even when there is no social housing available; and, it teaches “our guys” how to fully utilize the wide variety of services that already exist in our community, while not duplicating them. This is vital to independent, healthy and safe lives. We thank Green Shield Canada for their perceptive support.
WRYM has also developed an excellent program called the Kid Next Door (KND) Program. It is designed to teach “our guys” work ethic, work safety, and working cooperatively in a team, while giving them work experience. Remarkably it also seems to assist many seniors to maintain their independence in their homes, too. This past year, the KND project had 454.5 supervised paid hours, 110.75 supervised volunteer hours and participants earned a total amount of $5,909.05. The cost of supervision and transportation was approximately $14,500, which was made possible by The Windsor Essex Community Foundation and Canada Summer Jobs grants.
WRYM receives less than 10% of its funding from government sources. We must rely solely on the dedicated staff, the committees and volunteers, and the generous donations of individual and corporate citizens. Over the past year, we have seen significant amounts of donations swallowed up by far larger agencies which makes our fundraising efforts even more important. On average we invest about $8,000 per year in each of our residents, or about $157 per day.
This year we welcomed two new members to our Board of Directors, myself and Brian Worrall. We said goodbye to Dawn Melville and Hurley Blackmann and thank them for having been Directors on the Board. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would also like to thank Alex Denonville for the tremendous work he did as President. I am happy to say Alex will stay on as a valued Director of the Board.
I am very excited about the opportunities in 2018 and to working together as a team to provide the Windsor Residence for Young Men with another year as successful as 2017.
Sincerely,
Susan Freeman
President, Board of Directors
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and he will feed himself for a lifetime.”
OUR DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS |
President Susan Freeman - Interior Design Consultant |
Vice-President Chase Taylor - Business Development Officer |
Secretary Tim Kavanagh - Assistant Crown Attorney |
Treasurer Bonnie Patrick - Lawyer |
Director Alex Denonville - Communications Manager |
Director Rev. Dr. Matthew M. Durham, csb |
Director David Freeman - Financial Advisor |
Director Rev. Robert Lemon - Priest |
Director Hoang Nguyen - Engineering Student, Past Resident |
Director Dr. Ashley Paterson - Psychologist |
Director Brian Worrall – Consultant, Media Planning & Content |
Executive Director (Pro Bono) Greg Goulin, LSM, JD |
