Staff at EGADZ working to make community a better place
- NC Raine | October 21, 2018
Role models don’t have to be in the spotlight. As evidenced throughout this issue, those who often make the most significant impacts in our lives are the ones in the background, providing support, doing the little things. E-GADZ, Saskatoon’s 28-year-old community service centre, is staffed full of these very sorts of unsung heroes who have dedicated their lives to making the world a better place.
Megan Hetherington, Amara Hoffman, Gloria Paul, and Jackie Schell are four of the many role models at E-GADZ, although it’s clear each of them is somewhat reluctant to furnish themselves with that title. Their jobs demand a high degree of humility and compassion, with little room for conceit. Gloria is the Family Engagement Liaison, connecting parents or children with resources, as well as providing a listening ear. Jackie works in Operation Help, an outreach program working with sexually exploited individuals. Amara is the Drop-In Centre Supervisor, running events and providing basic life necessities to the centre’s walk-ins. And Megan works on the Street Outreach team, who provides everything from nutrition to counselling for people who are struggling to meet their needs.
“If anyone needs someone to talk to or to guide them, I can be that person. I’m kind of the kôhkom in E-GADZ now,” said Gloria, a 22-year vet of E-GADZ. “I get a lot of youth, as well as parents, who are really looking for someone to talk to.”
It's a sentiment shared by each of these role models – a willingness to engage personally with their clients.
“I think being able to engage with the youth is important, to build trusting relationships,” said Amara. “Being able to break down the barriers they face, and be someone who they can go to with no fear of judgement and help guide them a bit.”
This unspoken element of their jobs is what make them role models to many of the hundreds of lives they encounter a year.
“We are able to help so many people navigate the system. They look to us for support, so I could see them looking to us as a role model,” said Jackie. “But it’s just something I do. I’m grateful to be in the position I’m in to help people.”
“I told myself if I ever got the opportunity to be a role model, that I would do absolutely all the different things in the areas that I didn’t have the best experiences growing up. So that’s kind of my mantra,” added Megan. “Take the time to listen, don’t automatically think that they got themselves in that situation. You’ll be so surprised how one little thing like that will open up a whole relationship.”
Each of these strong women have countless heartbreaking stories – Gloria recounts times she drove clients to funerals, or spent hours talking to someone considering self harm. It’s often an emotionally exhausting line of work, but it’s worth it, they say. Particularly when they see first hand the lives they’ve helped transform.
“It makes all the tears and frustration worth it,” said Megan. “It’s a great feeling when you see clients in all their glory of their new situation. I get this butterfly feeling that hasn’t gone away in the four years I've been here.”
“I have a lot of kids coming back to me, saying (how I helped them), even kids when I started working here in 1996. They are still coming to see me to this day,” said Gloria. “That’s where my biggest reward is.”