Donors honoured on Dave Smith Day

HUNTLEY – It took years and the kindness of a community to build Carp’s state-of-the-art Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre (DSYTC), and last Friday (Sept. 25) the treatment centre team honoured that community with the unveiling of the donor wall in the main entrance hall.

And they did it on a day Mayor Mark Sutcliffe proclaimed Dave Smith Day.

A group of more than 80 contributors and supporters gathered at the facility that helps youth stricken with addiction issues for free to commemorate the special day and see the unveiling of the donor wall in person. Several dignitaries and politicians were on hand as well including Sutcliffe and MPP George Darouze as well as Dave Smith’s widow Darlene Smith, who continues to be a big part of the DSYTC.

Outside, a small group of residents played catch with a baseball and gloves while the ceremony unfolded inside.

Following a tour of the facility, speeches began around 2 p.m., marking the special occasion.

“I was given the privilege and hired by Mike (Beauchesne, board chair) and the board to come here and get this centre built,” DSYTC director of philanthropy Cindy Manor said. “And I know what it means firsthand to have a young person who needs help. My son is celebrating nine years sober. Thank you so much and I can’t thank you enough. Every family navigating difficult times, deserves a strong support system, genuine empathy, a foundation, Everyone here is a business, or a community partner who chose to help another young person and other families find the same opportunity that my family found. Together, you helped us reach our $20 million capital campaign. No easy feet for a small team. The contributions range from a $1,000 to more than over $600,000. The amounts may be different, but every gift is important. Every donation, every introduction, every event, volunteer hour and person who helped share our story brought us closer to that goal. The wall is more than a collection of these names. It’s a reminder to the young people who walk through the door that they have people who have their back. I say this with a mom’s gratitude and love. Thank you for supporting families like mine and for helping me complete this campaign.”

Manor’s own son Hunter went through the DSYTC program and has been sober ever since.

Sutcliffe was next to speak, with a proclamation in hand.

“You know, sharing your own personal story, your family story, for making this your big goal,” Sutcliffe said to Manor. “And we are all proud to support you. Congratulations and thank you. It’s really an honour for me to be here. This is such a special place. I don’t have to tell anybody here about the challenges that we’re facing as a community, like many other cities. It’s been really tough and as a dad I find it hard to process what’s going on and the fact there are so many young people in our community, so many families in our community that are experiencing challenges like Cindy’s family, has been through. Like others, who’ve been through it as well. That’s why places like this are so, so valuable, and so special.  We are grateful to the entire team here at the DSYTC for their outstanding work in supporting youth and supporting families. We’re very, very lucky to have the leadership and the compassion that is on display here every single day. So, thank you to the whole team here.”

Sutcliffe was then joined by Darouze to proclaim Sept. 25 Dave Smith Day.

“You don’t have to ask people, ‘did you know Dave or not,’ because if you knew Dave, you remembered him,” Sutcliffe said. “There was no way of avoiding him. If you were around when Dave was around, he was just an incredible force in our community, a force for good. He was a great visionary and a great leader and a very, very passionate contributor to our city.”

Following the proclamation, Beauchesne shared the goal behind the facility and the program.

“It’s an absolute pleasure and a privilege to welcome you all here on this very special day,” he said. “More than 15 years ago, when planning for our new centre began, we knew this journey was going to be much more than just bringing together bricks and mortar. Rather, we wanted and needed to create a place where young people, where young clients would feel safe, respected and supported while receiving the treatment they so desperately needed. It also needed to be a space that offered caregivers reassurance that their youth were safe and well cared for. And one that fosters a tremendous source of pride and inspiration for staff and volunteers alike. We further envisioned a place that would bring together treatment, education, primary care, psychiatry and family support, as well as an environment that consistently created meaningful and authentic opportunities for long-term health, hope and happiness. Today, thanks to you, that vision officially becomes reality.”

Board co-chairs Lawrence Greenspon and Angela Lariviere also spoke, with Greenspon regularly having to take a break fighting through his emotions over the momentous occasion.

The last to speak was Haley Ford. Now in her 30s, working and attending school working towards a potential law degree, Ford was once in the DSYTC program.

“I used to tell people that the love of alcohol runs through my blood because of how much I liked using it,” she said.

At 15, she found cocaine.

“It made me feel Invincible and in control and in charge, and those were things I never felt as a child,” she said. “I’ll spare you all the exact details of what happened from the day I tried cocaine to the day I stumbled onto Dave Smith. When I look back on all the faces of the people I surrounded myself with during that time period of my life, when I was using, I actually tried to remember what one or two of them that got out the way I did, and I can’t. Some overdosed, and some are still actively addicted. Some are in jail right now, and some became parents before they were even ready, and a lot are no longer with us right now. I realized that everything I had left, my basketball career, my education, my family and my lifelong friends, was being put in jeopardy. I needed a calm space away from all the chaos. I needed safety away from myself and from other people. When I attended the live-in treatment, I felt like the whole world stopped so that I could catch up because I was using drugs and alcohol. I was stunting my growth during some of the most formative years in my life. The staff changed my perception of how adults were supposed to act and care. They were present with me. They listened. They showed me unconditional support and set boundaries that I wanted to respect, and they were silly and fun while sober. They also helped me find things that made me hope and dream again.”

Ford stayed connected with the DSYTC until she was about 19 and graduated high school, having previously dropped out.

“I got accepted to Algonquin College,” Ford said. “The treatment set up a foundation of self-care, healing, and following my heart, and it cemented over what substance use was like, etched into my brain. All those patterns that were causing great harm. What I really want you to understand is the power the people that work here create. It’s so enormous. These programs can shatter generational cycles. They can create connections inside a person that are strong enough to last. Laura Hewitt was my counselor. She’s still right here. And when I get an email from her, it’s like the highlight of my week. That’s what these relationships can become. So today, I’m standing in front of you a grown woman, but I was the young girl that walked through Dave Smith’s doors. The girl who had inherited some very heavy things from the generations before her. I am proof that these things don’t have to be the end of the story. After I did Algonquin’s program, I’ve been working in social services with the youth, especially with mental health in Ottawa for 12 years now. The people in this room, you guys aren’t just supporting a treatment centre. You’re supporting the possibility that another 15-year-old kid can walk through these doors and you’re supporting the possibility that a young person can experience safety before they even understand what it is.  They can learn to care for themselves before they destroy themselves.”