Realizing an Impossible Dream

The Mount Community Centre, former residence of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Peterborough, is moving ahead to complete the second phase of their plan to respond to the critical need for affordable rental housing in the city.  After unavoidable construction delays, 10 new apartments will be available this fall, as well as five specially-designed units for Shared Dreams for Independent Living, a group that sponsors five developmentally-challenged young men. This accomplishment brings the number of affordable apartments now available at The Mount Community Centre to a total of 58. Construction will continue as 5 new units, designed for families, will soon take shape on the top floor.  The drawings are complete for 2 basement apartments in the A wing as well, bringing the total affordable residential units in the building to 76.

The number of non-residential tenants has grown significantly this year. The Rowan Tree Pre-School has expanded its program to include Junior and Senior Kindergarten.  St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, forced to find other space when their sanctuary was condemned by the building department, has settled into the beautiful corner complex that includes what was once our priest’s apartment, large reception room and bishop’s parlour.  The auditorium has become home to a new Art Gallery with a wide collection of works from 21 different artists. An Early Childhood Education Program is being run by Sir Sanford Fleming College this fall in Austin Doran Hall. What we knew as the old St. Joseph’s Hall is now rented by The Dennis Group fundraisers. That means there is no longer any office space for rent in this huge building. 

The food centre has expanded its enterprise to provide food services to the Kawartha Cardiology Clinic and baked goods to the Silver Bean Café.  The Peterborough Community Training and Development rents the food centre every Monday to Friday, as chefs in training prepare food for Meals on Wheels, and 4 different VON locations.  Every Sunday our kitchen is rented to a local chef who prepares about 400 PALEO meals to deliver to clients.   A collective kitchen program, called “Cooking with Andrew” runs twice a month. Tenants are invited to cook and eat together, then take home food or fill mason jars to support clients at the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry.  Bumper crops from this year’s vegetable gardens are enjoyed by tenants and processed in the food centre kitchen.

Significant developments appear on all fronts of this project. Within, a high-efficiency hot-water heating system has been extended throughout the house.  One half of the pews from the former chapel has been redistributed throughout the building, thus leaving space for a wider use of this area. It is now possible to host a wedding reception as well as the ceremony in Austin Doran Hall. On the property, the old orchard has been revitalized through a $1000 project of the Peterborough Kawartha Rotary Club to plant fruit trees and berry bushes with the help of tenants. The home, land and gardens provided the base for a summer camp experience for elementary school children this summer. Garden plot spaces, shared with interested neighbours, flourished this year.

Amid this beehive of activity, volunteers continue to save the project thousands of dollars as they donate time and skill to endless tasks of constructing, repairing, painting, cleaning, gardening. etc.  This summer “the Mount crew” was recognized with a civic award by the Mayor of Peterborough.  If you pass through The Mount Community Centre today, you may run across a piano teacher, a meditation group, a pre-school child at play, a couple preparing for their wedding, a volunteer in hard hat, or a staff member passionately engaged in carrying out the mission of providing a space of safety, companionship and dignity for all who come in need.  The dream for this project, called impossible five short years ago, is now being realized in an amazing way that could never have been predicted, but always hoped and prayed for.

- Sister Joan Driscoll, csj                 

Multipurpose Meal draws Capacity Crowd

Tickets had sold out for the annual Food for Thought dinner, a fundraising event for The Mount Community Centre on September 29^th.  As 120 guests gathered in the newly named Austin Doran Hall (formerly the chapel of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peterborough), they sat down at an elegantly set table to discover by lot whether their meal was to be prime rib with all the trimmings or spaghetti with a simple sauce. The more fortunate half spontaneously offered to share, or enjoyed the better plate with a bit of discomfort. Such a concrete experience of inequality gave all present cause to reflect on poverty and injustice in our society and the need to do something to help. The fact that the room was filled with people who have done much to alleviate poverty in our area resulted in a spirit of joy and fellowship that permeated the room.

This gathering was also called to be a celebration of what has been accomplished to this point at The Mount Community Centre. The first phase, the construction of 43 apartments, was completed almost a year ago. The guest speakers were two tenants from the complex who silenced the room with their stories of how so many have worked together and supported one another in such a way that they are no longer only neighbours but friends. Pat Ainsworth commented on a life-changing move for some into safe, affordable, clean homes and sincerely expressed her gratitude to the donors and volunteers assembled, saying: “This is a wonderful community and it would not exist without your support and generosity.”  Jim Jamieson echoed her message, and described how the tenants have merged into a community, meeting weekly for games and music nights in the common room.

A third dimension of the evening was the announcement by the board chair, Stephen Kylie, of a new fundraising campaign to build the community food centre, and to undertake the construction of more than 40 new apartments. He introduced the campaign team that has so far accepted this responsibility, and 8 prominent and accomplished citizens of Peterborough rose to receive his acknowledgement, and the support of the gathering.

In the outline of future plans, Mr. Kylie announced an exciting partnership with a recently incorporated group known as Shared Dreams for Independent Living. This is a group of 5 families who have joined together to create a supportive, person-centered, family-directed and driven, permanent home for their sons living with developmental challenges, who have chosen to live their lives together.  They have chosen The Mount Community Centre as their preferred home because the vision and mission of this project clearly reflects their own.

The evening was truly a celebration of an impossible dream that has been partially realized in the community experience of tenants in the 43 finished apartments, and in the growing interest in and use of portions of the building and grounds that continues to expand. This dream finds hope in the commitment of staff and volunteers who have faithfully and generously worked toward its fulfillment without counting the cost.  This dream now holds an energy that will carry it forth to new and exciting phases that are yet to be shaped.

Joan Driscoll, csj

A Convent Home Transformed through Social Innovation

Have you ever had to say goodbye to a cherished home that was so much a part of your life that separation seemed almost impossible?  Have you wondered what could happen to that space that had been cared for with pride and devotion and in return had offered great satisfaction and security?  Early in the second millennium the time had come for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peterborough to leave a residence that had been theirs since 1895, a farm dwelling that had expanded and developed into a  complex of over 130,000 square feet of buildings, and housed at one time over 100 Sisters.  The property was sold in 2007 to a Toronto company that had planned apartments for seniors, but with the economic crisis of 2008 it was forced to abandon this undertaking, and our home went to the parent company in Calgary that immediately put it on the market for sale.  For more than four years we waited and prayed for a buyer that would honour and appreciate this beautiful space that encapsulated our history, and we watched an empty Mount St. Joseph deteriorate as time, weather and vandalism took its toll.  Then a miracle occurred in August of 2013 when 5 courageous members of the Peterborough Poverty Reduction Network risked all to buy the building with a vision for social innovation that contained all that we could have hoped for in the treasure that had been ours.  What is now The Mount Community Centre is alive with the same mission to serve those in need as we are, and we look across the way these days filled with hope and gratitude for all that is happening there.

An initial search for housing and food security to respond to Peterborough’s most urgent needs as established by the PPRN became a much larger dream with the purchase of this property. Currently construction is well underway in the residential wing as 47 apartment units will be ready to move into by the summer of 2016. With thanks to a $50,000 donation from a local agency, the large commercial kitchen is being fully restored to a ‘community food hub’ which will offer a place for tenants and others to learn how to prepare nutritious meals using produce grown on the property. Finally our first non-residential tenant is expected to move in before December, and this organization will provide day and overnight respite care for people living with Alzheimer’s or other kinds of dementia.

Meanwhile a host of special events has been taking place at the Mount Community Centre over the past while.  The deconsecrated chapel has become a space for weddings, music festivals and concerts, a Greek dinner and a poverty meal, an interfaith gathering and much more. Larger rooms have provided space for a variety of gatherings, including meetings and entertainment, and smaller rooms have been used as a quiet place for artists, musicians and office workers. November brought to the scene the production crew of Murdock Mysteries who filmed a small segment of this popular series. All of these activities contribute to the huge financial challenge that this wonderful project entails.

The plan for The Mount Community Centre will take 10 to 15 years to complete, and is centered around five main pillars – housing, food security, community services, arts and culture and ecological sustainability. As an impossible dream slowly becomes a concrete reality, one of the most surprising and amazing factors is the number of volunteers from many walks of life and the tremendous contribution they are making to this unique project which is the largest and most ambitious of the rising number of community hubs that are popping up across our country in response to social needs. If you wish to know more about this exciting venture, or get involved, you can go to the website at www.themountpeterborough.com

Joan Driscoll, CSJ