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 The YMCA of Southwestern Ontario has awarded a Peace Medal to WRYM! The citation reads as follows: The YMCA of Southwestern Ontario is pleased to share that we have now publicly announced our YMCASWO 2020 Peace Medal Recipients, (including), Windsor Residence for Young Men, Windsor. For close to a decade, the Windsor Residence for Young men has been providing essential services to homeless and at-risk youth. Their services include providing shelter, liaising with numerous community partners, and teaching basic life skills to empower young men to reach their full potential. The selflessness displayed by staff to provide around the clock care and emotional support to some of the most vulnerable young people in Windsor is extraordinary. The organization has a 95% success rate with a major positive impact on family reunification and helping people find independent living and employment. The Windsor Residence for Young Men is helping youth find pride in themselves and confidence for their future. https://www.ymcaswo.ca/ymca-peace-week Thank you - so very much!  This Sunday, November 15, is National Philanthropy Day! National Philanthropy Day is a celebration of philanthropy - giving, volunteering and charitable engagement - that highlights the accomplishments, large and small, that philanthropy makes to our society and our world. It celebrates charitable accomplishments and encourages Canadians to give back to their communities. WRYM’s staff and residents, past and present, thank our supporters for all the ways in which you make WRYM’s work possible! Annual General Meeting  WRYM’s Annual General Meeting of its Members usually takes place in December in our classroom. Social Distancing regulations have made that venue impossible at present; and, various forms of electronic remote meetings are not practical for many of our Members who are not possessed of the equipment or skills to participate in that format. We are presently looking for a hall large enough to accommodate us with social distancing in place; but, we may have to postpone our AGM until a later date when regulations change, a hall is found, or a format that accommodates all of our Members presents itself. Gregory D. Goulin, LSM, JD (ret.)
Executive Director, (pro bono), & Founder The Windsor Residence for Young Men
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Our odd couple With today’s rising costs of living and challenges with socialization due to COVID 19, we often move residents on in pairs to help reduce their living expenses and isolation/loneliness. In one recent situation, two young men – Oscar and Felix – came to WRYM in very different situations. Oscar was working and Felix was volunteering to finish high school. Oscar was quiet, calm, and very easy going. Felix was loud, excitable, and high-strung. Although both young men possessed overt differences, they also found a shared history and common goals. Both Oscar and Felix had conflict with family, as well as challenges overcoming their past; but, both young men also loved anime (a style of Japanese art!), movies, games, and wanted careers in the field of communications technology. As each young man went through their individual support plan, participated in counselling, enhanced their life-skills, and found confidence in themselves, we began to see their relationship forming, and the potential for them to live together as roommates. After several planning meetings, apartment viewings, and a lot of work from our staff; we are pleased to say that Oscar and Felix now share a safe and affordable unit. Thanks to the assistance and support from all of our wonderful donors, staff, and volunteers homelessness is a thing of the past for both young men. Please join the conversation First of all, thank you so much for your support of our recent WALK, RUN ROLL 4 WRYM event. Because of you and many other participants and sponsors, we raised more than $33,000! The campaign was kicked off with support from Motor City Community Credit Union (www.mcccu.com), acting as Headline Sponsor, and additional support from Provincial Chrysler (www.provincialchryslerdealer.com), which funded promotional t-shirts and water bottles. Traditionally, we take part in Giving Tuesday (December 1st), an international annual occasion, mostly on the Internet, in which charities compete and cooperate for attention. We will also present an appeal during the upcoming holiday season. COVID-19 means we need to take full advantage of social media to be attractive, interactive and human. Over November, we are asking our kind supporters to say online why they support The Windsor Residence for Young Men. This could be a simple e-mail message and photo (or questions) to wrymevents2020@gmail.com. A smartphone 20 second (or more) video would do even more to humanize and build some excitement. Even better, you or some bright-eyed young recruit can correspond with Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/windsorresidenceforyoungmen , Twitter at https://twitter.com/WRYM2012 and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/windsorresidenceforyoungmen. From Giving Tuesday until Christmas, we will also be encouraging people to consider charitable donations at www.wrym.ca in the name of another as Holiday gifts. Please be assured that anything you can do to join in an exciting social media conversation can be expected to have real, practical effects!  Greg
Gregory D. Goulin, LSM, JD (ret.) Executive Director, (pro bono), & Founder The Windsor Residence for Young Men We Do Good Work! A recent letter from the Department Head of the Public Alternative Secondary School (PASS) of the Greater Essex County District School Board cites positive outcomes for youth in the school's partnership with the Windsor Residence for Young Men's Youth Independence Program:
Gregory D. Goulin, LSM, JD (ret.),
Executive Director, (pro bono), & Founder, The Windsor Residence for Young Men  Many thanks... ...to the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, who advanced their grant process to provide WRYM with $10,000, and to all the other individual donors who combined have provided our guys with another month of care.  A fact (or two) Since March 1, 2020, and the onset of COVID confinement, WRYM has successfully transitioned to housing 11 young men. This may seem few - but I ask you to consider the exponential numbers of lives changed over time as a result. Minimally, please note that homeless male youth are 8 times more likely to die than their peers. A thought
“Adolescence” is defined as the period between childhood and adulthood, a gap youth are not mature enough to deal with alone. Without question, premature babies are given special care to survive. Should not youth forced to become adults prematurely also receive special care? AND, did you know? Canada’s Volunteer Awards provide that recipients can identify a not-for-profit organization to receive a grant (link). Nominate a volunteer by Sept 30, 2020. Greg Gregory D. Goulin, LSM, JD (ret.) Executive Director, (pro bono), & Founder The Windsor Residence for Young Men Coping with the unforeseen consequences of COVID funding  To say that these times, coping with the COVID 19 pandemic, are strange is trite; but, coping with the unforeseen consequences of COVID funding efforts seems bizarre. While the Windsor Residence for Young Men has been the beneficiary of most generous funding to cope with Coronavirus, funding for our basic program has dried up. WRYM has been remarkably COVID free while continuing to transition youth from homelessness; but, we may have to suspend our operations in a matter of weeks because our basic program is not being sufficiently funded. For Example We have been provided with a generous reserve dedicated to staff overtime and isolation pay should we have to isolate with “our guys”, but not the funding to initially provide their basic staff wages. Funding for “The Kids Next Door” work program, about $10,000, was eliminated early on at Stage 1 of the pandemic, when we could not provide social distancing for 4 guys and our supervisor in a vehicle transporting them to the “job site”. For the same reason we had to restrict our Youth Independence Program (YIP) to residents. Like the schools, our classroom had to be closed to all non-resident youth. Now that our community has finally moved to Stage 3 and the schools are opening, we have no funding, about $30,000, to run YIP. We could not apply to fund a program earlier which would have been prohibited from operation with no idea of when the prohibition might be lifted. We have been offered far more non-perishable food than we can store due to the phenomenal efforts of the Miracle Food Drive; but, we still must spend about $1,000 each month on fresh dairy and meat, etc.; and, we certainly can’t send staff home with food boxes instead of pay cheques. The bottom line is that WRYM needs about $50,000 quick to give our staff job security and “our guys” a home. We understand that “the virus” has also affected our donors, funders, and grantors in many ways, certainly slowing down the process of assessing our normal needs and their ability to provide for same while dealing with pandemic funding. But, we must ask you to consider that, while we seem to have built a pandemic wall around WRYM, WRYM may end up a hollow within the shell if we do not receive the program funding now that you would provide later. Please help! Gregory D. Goulin, LSM, JD (ret.) Executive Director, (pro bono), & Founder The Windsor Residence for Young Men  Seniors even it up
Another thought
Thank you for being the wonderful family that you are!
Stay safe! Greg Gregory D. Goulin, LSM, JD (ret.)
Executive Director, (pro bono), & Founder Windsor’s Vital Signs Survey is Vital to WRYM The Windsor Essex Community Foundation @WECFoundation (http://wecf.ca/) wants to hear from you! Tell them what you think of Windsor-Essex as a place to live, learn, work, play, and grow by taking the 2020 Vital Signs Survey. Click the link. Those who complete the survey have a chance to win $100! Don’t miss your chance to share what you think of #YQG as a place to live, learn, work, play, and grow. Click the link to take the survey now. Let’s hear your voice! #VitalWE
Vital Signs is a national program led by community foundations and coordinated by the Community Foundations of Canada that leverages local knowledge to measure the vitality of our communities and supports action towards improving our quality of life. Started by the Toronto Community Foundation in 2001, today over 40 communities across Canada and around the world use Vital Signs® to mobilize the power of community knowledge for local impact. Youth Reconnect is not a new concept for WRYM  The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Press and A Way Home Canada have released their report on the importance of early intervention in early youth homelessness. Youth Reconnect Program Guide: An Early Intervention Approach to Preventing Youth Homelessness may be found at this link. At Windsor Residence for Young Men (WRYM), we are pleased to say that we have always been advocates of early intervention and reconnecting homeless youth with their community since we opened our doors in 2012. We do it through community support! Let’s help homeless youth become active citizens - visit www.wrym.ca Gregory D. Goulin, LSM, JD (ret.)
Executive Director, (pro bono) The COVID Challenge –A No Panic Pandemic! COVID-19 has changed much of normal life for all of us over the past three months - but, the Windsor Residence for Young Men has never considered itself "normal." While “sheltering in place”, we have continued to assist our guys throughout the pandemic with significant success. Nine homeless male youth have participated in our Transitional Housing Program alone, and six have been housed! Although "normal" schools are closed, classes around here continue! All of our residents have been participating in our Youth Independence Program to earn a high school credit, and many are nearing graduation. Finding employment is challenging in many ways during these times; but, two of our guys were able to find jobs; and, one has been working hard to keep his job in the midst of the chaos we are all experiencing.
The best protection against COVID-19 is a home In this blog, Built for Zero Canada Improvement Advisor Amanda DiFalco urges communities to use this crisis to accelerate efforts to end homelessness. She says, "As communities rush to protect homeless people from a global pandemic, they are putting in place critical emergency responses. Shelters and hotels can provide a measure of short-term protection, but they are all at best a stop-gap measure. People experiencing homelessness are at dramatically elevated risk from COVID-19 because they have no home to stay in. In this blog, Amanda DiFalco urges communities to use this crisis to accelerate efforts to end homelessness.
Gregory D. Goulin, LSM, JD (ret.) Executive Director, (pro bono) Desperate for Funding The Windsor Residence for Young Men is desperate for funding to shelter our guys while helping new ones to enter our programs. I can confidently say that we have not received even our modest fair share of federal and provincial emergency funding administered by the City of Windsor; because, we have simply received none. Additionally, while the federal 30% initiative sounds great, WRYM is "only" down 27.42% in revenue from March, 2019; so, WRYM does not qualify while being a front line essential service that cannot have staff working from anywhere other than our residence, which is "our guys' home". I realize that we are a small agency that only gets 40+ youth off the street each year; but, think of the long term impact we have on chronic homelessness. It's hard to think long term in crisis situations; but, we and our youth must have a future to focus on, to benefit our community now and after this crisis is over. For a good read on the economics of charities when a community is in crisis, try this: Raymond J. de Souza on COVID-19: Charities are facing a crunch, and government help is far from certain Please donate through Canada Helps With banking and the mail slowing down due to precautions, sickness and related absences due to family needs, donate to WRYM online through Canada Helps, which makes weekly transfers to WRYM, (Our Board has decided not to use PayPal.)
Stay safe - we need you, each in your own way!
Gregory D. Goulin, LSM, JD (ret.) Executive Director, (pro bono) No one can “shelter in place” if they have no place to shelter in!
We are "sheltering in place" at WRYM having curtailed our off-site activities. Our core in-house programs are still operational; and, we are still accepting applications for admission. WRYM is honoured by Celebrations of Life We would like to extend our condolences to the family and friends of Wayne French who celebrated his life and honoured his memory by directing memorial donations to WRYM. These donations paid for most of our initial COVID-19 supplies when donations in kind fell short. We also honour the memory of Wayne Sweet and others, whose family and friends similarly assisted “our guys” in the past. New Do's & Don'ts for Donations Due to Coronavirus/COVID-19 Please do not donate used clothing or other used household goods; and, definitely not luggage or any other items associated with travel. This disease is spread by travel and on items as well as by people. Please do consider monetary donations. We must staff our residence to supervise our guys. See button below. We need canned and dried foods like pastas that have not expired. Please call first about fresh foods as we have limited storage. The following list of items are golden to prepare for a house potentially full of sick guys:
Gregory D. Goulin, LSM, JD (ret.) Executive Director, (pro bono), |
