This story was originally shared as part of the Riverside BIA's Humans of Riverside series, edited by Grace Cameron.
I came to Canada from Grenada in 1989 when I was 19 years old. I worked in different coffee shops but on the side, I was always helping people. I remember once taking home a lady who was homeless so she could have a shower. My sisters were shocked.
I’ve been helping people ever since I can remember. In Grenada, I was 17 when I brought home a young woman and her two kids so they could have a place to live.
But that’s me, always helping. It’s just natural. I believe that you don’t need a lot of money to make a difference. If you have love in your heart and you’re surrounded by a good platform, you can do anything to help your community.
Before moving to Rivertowne, I lived at the YWCA building in the Pape and Queen area and was the food bank coordinator and I organized all the stuff for Black History month activities.
Eleven years ago, I moved to Rivertowne and quickly realized that this brand-new community needed support. A lot of the young people were just hanging about smoking and selling and doing bad stuff. I decided to create programs so we could have less of that bad stuff. I started the after-school program for 4- to 16-year-olds so the youth could have a safe place to just come and get support.
Before the homework sessions, I started a Friday breakfast program to bring people together. There was no opportunity for kids, youth, adults and seniors to just sit together under one roof and have a conversation. The program has been running for 10 years with the fundraising help of the Riverside BIA, Chef Scott (who sadly recently passed), and the Ralph Thornton Community Centre, and hands-on support from the Toronto Police Services week-to-week.
We started the breakfast program with 80 participants, but since the pandemic, with more people at home, we’re feeding about 140 people every Friday. Parents who go to work appreciate it because they know that their kids will have a healthy breakfast at least once a week and people who are disabled look forward to it because they have trouble cooking for themselves.
Over the years, I’ve also started an annual community cleanup day with other community residents, and an appreciation dinner during the Christmas season. Altogether, I’m involved in a number of different projects in Rivertowne. I believe the programs have grown because my heart is in it.
I must say that no matter what we’re doing, the community officers from the police 55 Division are always there. They play a great role, from picking up garbage on cleanup day to taking the food from my kitchen and distributing it to residents on Friday mornings.
I have my own challenges but I don’t let that stop me. I keep doing what I need to do because it’s my calling. No matter what, I never give up. I stand strong because of the love I have for my community.
