The reason I love my job as a freelance writer and editor, more than anything else, is the fact that I’m constantly getting to meet amazing and inspiring people. And, being in the role of “interviewer” helps satisfy my curiosity and gives me an excuse to ask all the questions I’d like. You can learn a lot from people, by just listening to their stories...

Take last week for example. I was putting together a press release for one of the PR firms I work with, and was given the opportunity to speak with Anne Topp, Program Manger at Street Haven at the Crossroads—an emergency women’s shelter, supportive housing agency, and education and addictions centre in downtown Toronto.

Admittedly, I hadn’t heard of Street Haven before doing the interview—and I was surprised to learn that they help more than 6,500 women each year. That’s a lot of people for a small shelter with limited resources.

Living where I do, I don’t have a lot of contact with the city’s homeless population—and when I do go downtown, it’s all too easy to just walk by someone on the street without paying attention to what’s really going on or thinking about how they ended up there.

Take Anne for example. She’s a mom of two teenage boys and she holds a very important job in this invaluable women’s organization. You’d probably never guess that she spent the early years of her life living on the streets. “When I was 17 my family had a breakdown and I was no longer welcome in my home,” she told me. “I found myself living downtown on the streets, panhandling and doing god knows what else…and I didn’t even realize that places like Street Haven existed.”

It’s no wonder that she ended up in a career that has her working with and supporting women in need. “I know what it’s like to for people to look right through you—as if you don’t exist. No one who encountered me on the streets would have guessed that I came from a nice, white neighbourhood in Etobicoke.”

The sad truth is—it can happen to anyone. According to the stats: one in three women will experience some form of violence in her lifetime. Many of the women seeking refuge at Street Haven have been subject to some form of violence either in their homes or on the streets.

Anne became a single mother at a young age and was lucky enough to have a friend whose mother let her stay in their basement. “Many of the women who come to Street Haven come from dysfunctional homes and don’t have the basic life skills needed to interact with others; and, they don’t have friends to turn to when they’re in trouble.” Anne says she was lucky to have been taught these life skills by her adoptive parents, and though she was living on the streets and wherever she could find a couch, she was still able to get by.

Anne found her passion working in youth outreach and put herself through school, studying social work at Ryerson. She got a job at Street Haven nearly two decades ago, and was lucky enough to have the agency’s founder Peggy Ann Walpole as her mentor. “The vision and hope and realness of the women who come here is truly amazing,” Anne says. “They’re no different than anyone else, they just made different choices at different times or came up against different circumstances.”

Raising her son while going to school wasn’t easy. Anne struggled to find suitable childcare and recalls pulling little boy around with her in his wagon. He got used to sleeping on the go. She tells me that her son remembers one daycare where the rottweiler dog in the backyard was his best friend. “That’s just how it was,” she says, quite matter-of-factly.

Today, Anne's two sons, 23 and 15, both volunteer at Street Haven. “They’ve learned not to judge a woman because of her circumstances...and I hear them defending all sorts of causes to their friends who often don’t know better.” Anne says they’re much better off because of their knowledge of what really goes on within this city.

Street Haven’s mandate is to treat all women with dignity and respect while offering them the tools and opportunities to achieve their potential. They’re the only organization in the city to offer a six-month (vs. three-month) addiction rehabilitation program through their facilities at Grant House.

In their 33-bed shelter—housed in an old mansion and heritage building, they provide essential services including food, clothing, and community, plus counseling, referrals, life skills coaching, and support.

“No matter how much we want to accomplish here, there is always so much more to be done,” Ann tells me.

To help expand their offering and achieve their goal of improving the quality of life for all women in need, Street Haven relies on fundraising efforts. Which brings me to the press release I was writing…and the upcoming event that I’m more than happy to promote through this blog!

On May 28 Stuart McLean & the Vinyl Café will perform a benefit concert for Street Haven at the EnWave Theatre at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. McLean has been supporting Street Haven for years saying: “it’s a modest place that does very important work and they go largely unheralded for it.”

Having heard Anne’s story…I couldn’t agree more.

I’ll never walk by someone living on the street again—without thinking twice.

Event Info:

When:
Monday, May 28, 2012
6:00 p.m. Silent Auction with Cocktails & Hors D’oeuvres
7:30 p.m.  Vinyl Café Performance

Where:            
EnWave Theatre, Harbourfront Centre

Tickets:
General Admission $80 / VIP Tickets $130

*VIP Package includes premium seating, meet and greet with Stuart, wine + cheese, and an autographed copy of his most recent book, The Vinyl Café Notebooks.

To purchase tickets: http://tickets.harbourfrontcentre.com/calendar/view.aspx?id=17193