Transformation in Action - Christmas 2011

Click Here to download a PDF copy of our Christmas Update 2011

Youth Program Update:
A hope for the future through education

Measa found out about ehm when she was referred to our free Teen Tutoring and Homework Club by her high school in 2008. Her parents brought her to Canada from Iraq a few years earlier to escape the war and provide a better life with more educational opportunities. Although already on the honour roll at school, Measa took it upon herself to seek out extra help with her studies and come to our Monday night tutoring sessions. She also became enrolled on ehm’s Transit for Teens program, which assists students in financial need with TTC tickets to get to and from school. This support helped ease the financial burden on Measa’s family and allowed her to focus on her studies. Last fall, Measa was awarded a science prize at her school’s commencement and when she graduated in the spring, she had her pick of university offers. She chose to study Life Sciences at the University of Toronto, which will help her pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. Measa still attends our weekly Homework Club, offering sage advice to other high school students, staying on top of her first-year assignments, and connecting with the volunteer tutors she has grown so close to over the years.

We have recently expanded our Tutoring and Homework Club to include elementary and junior high students as well as high school students, and we have a few college and university students like Measa joining in the study sessions as well! Our Transit for Teens program supports dozens of high school students each year with TTC tickets.There is a dire need for TTC ticket support in our partner high schools. We are over capacity for our programs and each week more students, who cannot afford transportation to school, are referred to us. Please consider investing in the success of young people like Measa with a donation of student TTC tickets or a monetary donation to ehm’s Transit for Teens program.

Clinic Update:
Our newest Volunteer Dentist

Most people by the time they are adults, know how painful a toothache can be. For the vast majority of us a trip to the dentist will remedy the problem. However, for people on the street or the working poor, dental care is beyond their reach. They often live with the constant pain of not one, but several infected teeth. The ehm dental clinic provides critical care to these individuals through volunteer dentists and hygienists. Dr. Jan Hanna is one of the volunteer dentists. He is a graduate of the McGill Dental School and has an associate practice in the city. While at McGill he was exposed to care for low-income persons through a mobile dental clinic and wanted to continue helping those in need. Serving the less fortunate was something ingrained in him as a child of immigrant parents who struggled to make ends meet. Dr Jan feels at home in the ehm clinic and feels grateful for the opportunity to help people down on their luck. In particular, he remembers a woman who came to the clinic in pain expecting to have a broken tooth pulled. After he fixed, it she gave a big smile then started to cry over the care and love she had received. Dr Jan invites his fellow dentists to be part of the ehm clinic and says coming to the clinic once a month makes a big difference in someone’s life.


Drop-in Update:
A place where everyone can be respected & loved

Many individuals attending the ehm drop-in have experienced more than their share of life’s difficulties. There are multitudes of reasons why they suffer the indignity of needing help to care for their self, but a lack of loving and supportive relationships always seems to be at the core of their problems. Loneliness, isolation and lack of loving relationships often lead to depression, hopelessness and lack of self worth which is a pain that is as bad, or worse than any physical affliction. Gino, who has been attending the Drop-in for nearly 2 years is very articulate and passionate about his experience. Twenty-one years ago, he suffered an injury that left him a paraplegic and he now depends on a wheelchair to get around. He loves the ehm drop-in because it is fully handicapped accessible, but even more because as he says "I am treated with dignity here and respected as a person and not just someone needing a meal. Staff and volunteers are very respectful and make it priority to interact with participants. There is a sense of community that I don’t find elsewhere." A welcoming community offering unconditional love is an overarching reason why the ehm drop-in exists. People come because they need food, clothing and shelter but they come back because here they feel love.

Program Update:
Love and support for our ABI residents

An acquired brain injury (ABI) is a catastrophic injury and may happen for medical reasons or trauma to the brain but will always impair the individual’s ability to care for themselves; most people with ABI spend the rest of their life in an institution. At the request of the province, ehm has pioneered a model where persons with ABI live in community with other people. Today there are six individuals with ABI living in the ehm Residence; Denise is one of these residents. Prior to coming to ehm she was studying to become an Early Childhood Educator when she suffered a medical emergency and was in a coma for three months. Afterwards she suffered from pancreatitis, anorexia, stress fractures in her feet and was wheelchair bound. Since coming to ehm Residence she has overcome her medical problems and no longer needs a wheelchair. She now leads an active life attending day programs and has completed a course from George Brown College in life skills. Denise loves the freedom she has at ehm to come and go as she wishes and that she is included in all ehm activities. Denise credits the support she gets from ehm and her worker from COTA Health for the improvement in her health. She says, "anytime I have a problem, staff help me and the problem gets solved."

We are happy to have Denise, and friends, as part of the ehm community.


Resident Story:
Tenant honored by the Ontario Non-Profit and Housing Association

Since moving into ehm two years ago, Juarex Lewis has shown himself to be an exceptional tenant, a good neighbour, a great friend and a valued role model.

Juarex is an extremely active member of the community, bringing a positive attitude and boundless energy into every thing he does. It is this positive outlook that has allowed him to find both stable housing and employment, while attending school and volunteering.

At 23, Juarex was part of a Convenant House youth crew that helped with gardening at ehm. Since moving in, Juarex has kept up with gardening and he also pitches in at community dinners and other activities such as cleaning the youth room. Juarex said it was an "awesome" experience for him to win the ONPHA award. "It was so amazing. It’s beyond words. It just makes me want to do more" he said.

We are honoured to call Juarex our resident and our friend. Thank you for all of your support.