Golden Years Spent with Houselink

Oh my gosh, where do I start to begin, it's only been 23 years with this organization.

I was just a pup when I hooked up with Houselink. To my knowledge, it was 1984-85. Wow! Starting at Glencairn - Devondale, Pape/Gerrard, and then Bartlett, I took two years off. Had a baby boy, born June 17, 1988. Moved to a 2-bedroom, basement apt at Bathurst/Euclid. I spent a while there, then moved up to a bigger place, a 3-bedroom house in the Rexdale/Kipling area. I was on the go, job to job, to support my new family, and worked part time in the film industry in 1986.

The year 1994 came fast. I landed a one-bedroom apartment at Claremont facing the front, which is where I reside to this day. My little castle that I like to call home, with lots of pictures on the wall. Memories don't lie.

Golden Years History

805 Bloor St. West upstairs. A long climb, seven staff, two phone lines, a small dull drop-in 9-5 - weekends 4pm-11pm. Drop-in operators received very little pay - $7.50 per shift, no code to push, beer parties once every two months. Wednesday night bridge club, beer for $1.00. Yes, you heard me right.

10 years I spent on the social recreation committee. 10 years running the baseball team. I ran for the board three times. Strike 3, I was out. That's when I said no more.

1986-1987, the Harbord Mews project started to grow; the staff asked me if I was interested in doing general labour work so I jumped at the opportunity to help out with other members of Houselink. Even Debbie, who was my wife at the time, offered to work while she was pregnant with Ryan doing her share of work on the basement floors. While I took on the Harbord project, I also had two other part-time jobs to make ends meet. Houselink office cleaner; part time security film support work; mostly nights, 3-4 nights per week; office cleaning two nights per week. 5pm - 9:30pm, while working at Harbord Street Mews. Six members worked with me halfway through the project, then called upon me to become site supervisor over our members. I lasted through the whole project. The day we finished I felt very proud of my work. To this day I still have nightmares when I go for Wednesday night Supper Club. Memories galore!
Back when I joined Houselink, it felt like a small community all on its own. Not too many properties back in those days.

1995-96 I took time off from Houselink to work as social recreation coordinator for Soundtimes support systems. I ran the drop-in on Wednesday afternoon. Dinner club - men's group - summer camping trips; movie nights; Saturday night karaoke night at a local bar, the Days Inn on College/Yonge. From what I've been told, the members said I did a good job working there. I was a volunteer for two years prior to getting hired, and attended a very unusual hiring party at the Clinton House Tavern. I was the first male they ever hired.
Houselink has sure grown over my years. I've lost some good friends and gained some.

Camping is one of my favorite memories. I'm a big fan of camping. I like to teach people how to pitch a tent, start a campfire from scratch, how to paddle a canoe. Oh, did I mention I've been attending the Boundless Adventures trip since 1988?

I was also the first D.J. Houselink ever had. It took me three weeks to prepare for the dances. I would split my night D.J.ing plus tending the odd bar shift. We had quite a good time back then. The parties would end around 11pm. Then we had a clean up crew, a good core of people that hung out together afterwards at a nearby pub. Not too many of the old crowd left. Some moved on — some far away. I see the odd person these days. I guess people grow over the years.
We have monthly house meetings. At X-mas time they treat you to dinner at a local restaurant and throw a X-mas party with presents for all the members. The other big Houselink show is the annual summer picnic, sometimes held on Toronto Island, sometimes at High Park or another location. This is where all the members seem to come out. A day to get to know more members and even meet a new friend. A good time is always had by all with a B.B.Q., games, prizes, entertainment, and a free token to get home.

You'd be surprised by the amount of families who now live in Houselink compared to when I first joined. It took me a good few years on the Social Recreation Commitee to get it off the ground up and running smoothly. Hey, you could still buy a cup of coffee for 25¢. No budget back then. No supper clubs, no bridge club - no men's night out, no movie nights or $2.50 Sunday matinees. No baseball tickets (Blue Jays) - one token per person attending drop-in. Now they have six supper clubs in all. Social work is going strong.. Sunday dinner with Charly our great cook. Tell me what other organization makes you supper for a dollar.

Great fun, great people, great friends. Houselink staff have shown great support for encouraging member employment. Examples include garden crew, and snow shovelling crews in the winter. All with the help of Janice and Marg - Houselink's employment facilitators.

Over the years, Houselink has become more aware of members' needs, giving us tokens for doctor's appointments, ODSP visits, office visits, GM meetings. We are environmentally friendly with recycling just to mention a few changes. When a new member moves in, they have ample opportunities to help and earn extra pay.

Peggy our E.D. has done an awesome job at the helm for 16 years. She is always aware of our needs and supports.

Thank you all.