Speakers

Guest of Mark Wittgen

Shannon Jackson, Executive Director

Lyndsey Jackson, Youth Reconnect Worker

They will be sharing how our grant has impacted the lives of youth who would have otherwise been homeless. Lyndsey will also share her story of how Durham Youth Services changed the course of her life.

Guest of Bobby McBride

For a bio/presentation summary

After a 30-year career in Human Resources, Shannon joined Durham Youth Services as their Executive Director, drawn to the agency by its mission. She is inspired daily by the strength and resilience of DYS clients, and by the passion and tenacity of the team.

Lindsey Jackson, having lived experience as a DYS client, pursued her education in the social service sector before joining DYS as an employee. Rapidly ascending in her career (2 promotions in 2 years!), Lindsey uses her education and experience to make a meaningful difference in the lives of young people.

DYS partners with youth to achieve and maintain lasting solutions to their housing crisis. While they continue to operate Joanne’s House, Durham’s only youth-focused emergency shelter, DYS recognized that to achieve their vision of ending youth homelessness in Durham Region, they needed to do more than just provide safe shelter. DYS now offers wrap-around supports in youth homelessness prevention, rapid rehousing, and housing stabilization. On May 8, Shannon and Lindsey will share how the Rotary Club Whitby Sunrise generous donation is being used directly to support ending the cycle of homelessness for 15 young people who are transitioning from homelessness to housing by creating a space where they feel “finally home”.

 

Guest of Frank Auddino

Hi my name is Kamille and I have a disability called FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.) 

I was adopted from Russia at 1 year old  and was diagnosed with FASD at age 2. My family has always been very supportive of me when it comes to my FASD diagnosis. From allowing me and my twin sister to learn about our diagnosis at a young age to advocating for our needs whether in school, at doctor appointments or in the community.

Because my parents were so open about my disability I was never ashamed to talk about it with other people. Which I think catches some people off guard because unfortunately FASD is faced with a lot of blame and stigma to the point where no one really wants to talk about it and that's a massive issue because FASD is the leading known cause of developmental disability in the western world.

For the last 6ish years I have watched the disability community be able to branch out especially on social media and share different experiences about living with different types of disability. From wheelchair users, paraplegics, the deaf community, Autism community, ADHD community and many many more.

But the one community that I didn't see was my own disability and that frustrated me. So I decided to start talking about FASD on  platforms like tiktok, Instagram and youtube to try and bring awareness about FASD. So I'm asking for your help. I need support and ideas to help get the conversation of the dangers of drinking alcohol while pregnant and FASD, because 1 in 24 Canadians have FASD. That's a very high percentage for disability that's classified medically as preventable.

Guest of Jeff VanKessel 

Guest of Barry Mount

 

Guest of Sue Miller