About

The ILFJL Collective — Building More Than Programs

The last six years have clarified something I began thinking about more than a decade ago: what I ultimately want to build through the ILFJL Collective and the long-term LIFE Transitional Housing Project.

I have watched how our communities respond to homelessness, poverty, food insecurity, isolation, and other struggles. There are many people doing important work, and emergency supports absolutely have a place. Food, clothing, shelter, and other necessities can help someone survive a difficult period.

But survival cannot be the only goal.

I believe we also need more pathways that help people who want change move toward greater independence, stability, health, skills, employment, entrepreneurship, and eventually the ability to help somebody else.

That is the larger purpose behind what I am building.

From Support to Opportunity

One concern I have with some traditional support models is that services can become separated from one another. One organization provides food. Another provides clothing. Another handles housing or another specific need.

Each may be valuable, but an individual trying to rebuild a life often needs much more than one service.

Someone may need food today while also needing human connection, confidence, practical skills, employment experience, transportation, housing, education and opportunities to discover what they are capable of doing tomorrow.

I do not want to simply create another place where something is handed out.

I want to help build a pathway.

That pathway begins with people who want to participate in creating change in their own lives. Support should be available without judgement, but opportunity should also encourage participation, responsibility, learning and personal growth.

That thinking became part of the foundation for Not Just A Food Program.

Food is the starting point because food is one of the basics of life. But the words Not Just are important.

It is also about conversation.

Respect.

Trust.

Boundaries.

Learning.

Opportunity.

And eventually, a pathway toward something better.

My Life Has Taught Me the Value of Learning

I did not arrive at these ideas from one career or one field of study.

My life has taken me through many different kinds of work. I spent years in the military, worked in security and factories, operated businesses, worked as a bricklayer's labourer and in roofing, and eventually worked with websites, social media and consulting.

More than 25 years ago, I wanted a better computer, so I began learning how computers worked and started building my own PCs from individual components. I studied Microsoft programs, HTML and other technologies and accumulated a stack of certificates along the way.

I remember communication technology before today's Internet became part of everyday life. Now I maintain websites, create digital content and work across numerous social networks.

The technology changed, so I kept learning.

That principle applies to almost everything I do.

When I do not know something that I need to know, I try to learn it.

Today I am learning more about areas such as thermodynamics and passive heating and cooling because I eventually want to develop efficient, year-round growing spaces.

Why would someone involved with food and community support be learning about that?

Because I can see where one step could eventually lead.

Wellness Without Barriers Is Another Step

Wellness Without Barriers Oshawa is intended to take this work further.

Growing food and useful plants can provide nutrition, but it can also provide education and practical experience.

Someone might discover that they enjoy growing plants.

Someone else may become interested in building growing systems.

Another person could become interested in dehydration, teas, balms or other plant-based products.

Someone may discover photography, graphic design, website development, social media, marketing or content creation.

Another person may discover construction, maintenance, passive building systems or another trade while helping develop the physical spaces these programs will eventually require.

Not every activity will become a career.

It doesn't need to.

The purpose is exposure to possibilities.

You cannot discover that you are good at something if you never have an opportunity to try it.

Small Knowledge Can Still Have Value

Some of the things I share are incredibly simple.

For years, I have shown people how I identify plantain and how I personally use crushed leaves when I am outdoors and dealing with minor irritation from insect bites. Traditional uses like this should not be confused with guaranteed medical treatment, but sharing practical knowledge can encourage people to learn more about the plants around them and make informed choices.

I have learned to grow plants indoors.

I learned to make my own lip balm.

I learned photography.

I learned about websites.

I learned social media.

I learned computers.

Now I am learning about growing structures and passive heating and cooling.

None of these things alone explains what I am building.

Together, they begin to.

What Comes Next

This is why the next stages involving stickers, clothing and other fundraising efforts are about more than selling products.

They are opportunities to begin testing a larger model.

As these efforts grow, I want them to create opportunities for people who are struggling but want something better. That could begin with something as simple as helping distribute promotional material and progress into learning marketing, social media, content creation, customer communication, sales or arranging conversations with participating local businesses.

Over time, I want to create employment and entrepreneurial opportunities throughout the ILFJL Collective.

That could include growing.

Food.

Plant-based products.

Photography.

Graphic design.

Web development.

Social media.

Marketing.

Production.

Construction.

Community programming.

And opportunities I have not even discovered yet.

The goal is not to decide someone's future for them.

The goal is to create enough doors that people have a chance to discover one they want to walk through.

The Long-Term Vision: LIFE Transitional Housing

Eventually, all of these lessons are intended to contribute to my much larger goal: the LIFE Transitional Housing Project.

I know what it is like to lose almost everything.

That experience influenced my thinking from the beginning. Housing alone is essential, but long-term stability can require much more than a roof. People may also need community, nutrition, skills, confidence, purpose, opportunities and a realistic pathway forward.

I want LIFE Transitional Housing to eventually become part of that pathway for people who genuinely want to work toward change.

Not perfection.

Not instant transformation.

Progress.

One step followed by another.

Why I Keep Building

My own path toward this goal has not been straight.

There have been serious setbacks, including circumstances that stopped much of what I was building for a period of time. My stroke changed virtually every part of my life and forced me to relearn things I once took for granted.

But the larger dream survived.

Those experiences have actually changed how I understand what I am trying to build.

I understand more clearly now that rebuilding a life can require time, patience, support and many small victories. I also understand why simply telling somebody to "do better" is not enough. There have to be realistic opportunities available to them.

That is what I want to create.

People sometimes see one sticker, one lunch, one plant, one photograph, one article or one event and wonder how these things fit together.

They are seeing individual pieces of a much larger foundation.

Not Just A Food Program.

Seeds Of Hope.

Wellness Without Barriers Oshawa.

Stickers With Purpose.

Clothing fundraising efforts.

Future employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.

And eventually, LIFE Transitional Housing.

They are different pieces, but they are being developed toward the same larger purpose: creating more opportunities for people to move from simply getting through today toward building a better tomorrow.

I have been working toward versions of this dream for more than a decade, and I am still learning what it can become.

Maybe I will accomplish everything I envision.

Maybe I will accomplish only 10%.

But 10% of a very large dream can still change lives.

So why dream small?

I am a dreamer, but I am also willing to do the work behind the dream—one program, one lesson, one opportunity and one day at a time.

There is much more coming through the ILFJL Collective.

The next steps are not simply about raising money.

They are about beginning to create opportunities.

Opportunities to learn.

Opportunities to work.

Opportunities to create.

Opportunities to become entrepreneurs.

Opportunities to improve health and wellness.

And, ultimately, opportunities for people who want a different future to participate in building one.

LIFE — Love Is For Everyone.

That remains at the heart of what I am building:

More opportunity. More community. More independence. More love and compassion for all.