Hamilton man returns favour for program that got him out of homeless shelter

Ron Hartwick is sitting in the Hamilton Public Library, selling tuques and socks to benefit Hamilton's homeless community. He's been there for the past week and he's closing up shop Thursday afternoon.

"It's Christmas," said Hartwick. "This is the worst time to be alive if you're homeless."

"They've allowed me to feel alive again.'- Ron Hartwick

He should know. Hartwick was living in a Hamilton homeless shelter as recently as 2013.

Having lost his construction job of over 30 years in Kingston ($55 dollars an hour, he reflects), he decided to move to Hamilton where he could be within walking distance of Labour Ready, an organization that matches workers with temporary labour.

"I hit this town with nothing but $17 and a packet of cigarettes," said Hartwick.

He was hoping to build up enough income through odd jobs to ship his tools from Kingston to Hamilton, but his hips gave out on him after a few weeks of work. At 60 years old, unable to work and living in a homeless shelter, Hartwick was out of options.

"And when you can't work, that's when you start to get depressed."

Salvation

Fortunately, he said, that's when he met a representative from Wesley's Transitions to Home (T2H) program at the shelter. One of the shelter's representatives contacted T2H and recommended they come and talk to Hartwick.

Through some counseling, goal setting and assistance with daily Life, T2H moved Hartwick from the Salvation Army Shelter on York Boulevard, to St. Matthew's House on Barton Street, to an apartment on King and then, finally, his current apartment on Rebecca—all in under a two year span.

During that time, the program got Hartwick assistance setting up his bank account and bill payments, and he's now receiving the right support from the city, he says.

"They've stopped me from dying from old age," Hartwick said.

And now he's giving back to the same program that helped him out. This week he's selling tuques and socks, but other days he's setting up the program's galas and volunteering at their picnics. He even sits on T2H's participant advisory committee, giving feedback on the program through his own experiences.

"(Hartwick) always has good advice," said Dean Waterfield, director of housing with T2H. "You can't put yourselves in their shoes. They help give us those experiences."

One of many

Waterfield said that while not everyone returns to give back to the program,T2H has an 80 to 85 per cent success rate of getting people off the streets, out of shelters and into permanent residences.

One thing that's consistent with the people in the program, Waterfield continued, is that everyone that T2H works with has some kind of disadvantage—some have addictions, some were abused, some lack proper support. Many of T2H's success stories are reintroduced into a normal routine, while others, like Hartwick, come back and help with the program, said Waterfield.

But it's not completely altruistic, said Hartwick.

"I'm doing this for selfish reasons," he said. "I can sit for 24 hours in my apartment and vegetate, but T2H gives me purpose to get up in the morning. They've allowed me to feel alive again."

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And he's hoping he can give purpose back to some of the people using Hamilton's homeless shelters.

"If you can get them out into the community, then maybe they'll find something they like to do."

Hartwick is a few years away from turning 65, and he said he's at the point in the T2H program where they no longer give him daily goals.

So he's now setting his own.

"My goal is to be able to get out of the apartment four times a week," he said. "If I can get out and help someone else through one of these agencies, that'd be great.

"What better way to pay it forward?"