Lunch on November 21, 2018
Good company enjoyed memories and more
Dick Tindal
Social Convenor Almost 40 members of the Retirees Association (and a few guests) attended the November 21 lunch at the Cataraqui Golf Club, our last social event of 2018.
We were pleased to welcome new members Colleen Krasna, Bob Maccallum, and John Tomlinson and also the return of former member Emel Erken. We had hoped that Maggie McLaren would be in attendance to speak about her work at Dawn House, the organization to which our Association contributed financial support last year. She is recovering from surgery but was well represented by Michele McCaugherty, who told us how Dawn House has been evolving to meet changes and challenges. (You can read Michele's account of Dawn House below.) Association members are invited to submit recommendations to [email protected] for a worthy organization (from any of our three campus areas) that might be considered for funding support from our Association in 2019. Already proposed – and vetoed by our executive – was a suggestion that support be given to the office of the Winter Mayor of Myrtle Beach, on the grounds that this organization provides solace, succour, and settlement support for Canadians in search of warmer weather and less expensive wine. Apparently this is not a sufficiently charitable venture – but I digress. |
A number of those attending lunch followed up by touring the new facilities at the Kingston Campus, as illustrated in the photos on this page HERE. Not to be overlooked, one of the two oldest buildings on Kingston Campus, the Root Cellar, will be the focus of the next Retirees Association column in the Voyageur magazine [For those wondering, the other ancient building is Newcourt House.] If you have any stories to share about this venerable social site (stories that are suitable for public consumption), please send them to [email protected]. If they arrive in the next few days, they might just make it into the Voyageur column, which has to be submitted by the end of this month. If later, they will be posted at this website for all to enjoy. [Just remember to check that any incidents being described are beyond the time prescribed by the Statute of Limitations!] Association events will resume in the spring of 2019, beginning with another “coffee and conversation” gathering being planned for April 10. One lunch attendee suggested that the Association host a wine-tasting event in the coming year, an intriguing idea worthy of further consideration – perhaps while enjoying a full-bodied Cabernet or a playful Chardonnay. Vertical Divider
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Dawn House in Kingston
From remarks by Michelle McCaugherty, Dawn House,
at the SLC Retirees Lunch on November 21, 2018
at the SLC Retirees Lunch on November 21, 2018
In 1985 Kingston was in a housing crisis with a vacancy rate of .1%. A normal vacancy rate for a city is 3%. Due to this crisis Women were becoming homeless and in turn would have their children apprehended by the children’s Aid Society. In 1986 Dawn House opened as a 24-hour supportive shelter for women and children to keep mothers with their children.
As times changed over the years Dawn House started to see more women with mental health and addiction diagnosis’ coming in to the shelter. We became the shelter that would take the women other night shelters would not take.
Because of the severity of women’s mental health Dawn House no longer could take women and children. In 2015 the City of Kingston decided to adopt a ten-year homelessness plan. The plan focuses on more affordable housing and less on shelters. In the fall of 2015 we lost our funding and had to close our doors.
But we chose to would work with the city’s plan and decided we would provide transitional and permanent housing. We opened as Dawn House Service and Housing for women in October of 2017.
Market rent in the city is $850-$950 for a bachelor or one bedroom and that’s if you can find one for Kingston is in a housing crisis again with a vacancy of .7%. For a woman on the Ontario Disability Support Program who finds an apartment at market rent she would be spending almost all of her assistance on rent, this leaves very little for food, transportation, and necessities.
At Dawn House we provide women with clothing, bedding, cleaning supplies, non-perishable food items. These types of item are donated to us by individuals like you. Without the generosity of our community we would be limited on what extra help we could provide to the women we serve.
We get our money from grants, fundraising and donations from those who live in our community.
As times changed over the years Dawn House started to see more women with mental health and addiction diagnosis’ coming in to the shelter. We became the shelter that would take the women other night shelters would not take.
Because of the severity of women’s mental health Dawn House no longer could take women and children. In 2015 the City of Kingston decided to adopt a ten-year homelessness plan. The plan focuses on more affordable housing and less on shelters. In the fall of 2015 we lost our funding and had to close our doors.
But we chose to would work with the city’s plan and decided we would provide transitional and permanent housing. We opened as Dawn House Service and Housing for women in October of 2017.
Market rent in the city is $850-$950 for a bachelor or one bedroom and that’s if you can find one for Kingston is in a housing crisis again with a vacancy of .7%. For a woman on the Ontario Disability Support Program who finds an apartment at market rent she would be spending almost all of her assistance on rent, this leaves very little for food, transportation, and necessities.
At Dawn House we provide women with clothing, bedding, cleaning supplies, non-perishable food items. These types of item are donated to us by individuals like you. Without the generosity of our community we would be limited on what extra help we could provide to the women we serve.
We get our money from grants, fundraising and donations from those who live in our community.
Some background notes about Dawn House, Kingston
Over the years, Dawn House has seen the faces of homeless women, with and without children, change. Their problems have been very similar over the years, but the intensity of their problems has increased significantly. Dawn House has seen an increase in the number of families and the number of women over the age of 60. This is due in large part to low vacancy rates in Kingston combined with high market rents. It can take up to 8-10 years to secure a Rent Geared to Income unit.
Other factors that impact homeless women and children include reductions to health and social service programs and high unemployment rates in a stagnant economy. |
Consequently, the needs of emergency shelter residents have become more complex because of the poverty that results from funding cuts and policy changes.
Women living in poverty on Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) make $1,100 per month and women on Ontario Works make $700. ODSP and Ontario Works are the two main components of Ontario's social assistance system. Ontario Disability Support Program is a means-tested government-funded last resort income support paid for qualifying residents in the province of Ontario. Ontario Works helps people who are in financial need through financial assistance and employment assistance. |