This year’s YMCA Peace Medallion has two recipients in Grey Bruce being honoured for their work in the communities.
The medal is awarded to those who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to peace-building and community empowerment in the region.
Joan John and Barb Vandenbor, were honoured during a special ceremony held at the YMCA Thursday.
Joan John is the founder and leader of JunCtian Community Initiatives (JCI) in Dundalk. The YMCA says she has made a profound impact on her community, particularly for newcomers, youth, and South Grey’s growing black population.
John founded JunCtian in 2019, and says, when she moved to the area from Brampton in 2018-2019, she wanted to create something to bring people together and created a vibrant hub for cultural exchange. She has organized events to celebrate diversity, like a celebration to mark the end of Ramadan, she has organized a Caribbean food festival and a Truth and Reconciliation Day event. She has also supported youth and families through counseling and integration efforts. John created the local Beautiful Girls program, which she says, “Is not about lipstick or brand names but how beautiful you are mentally.” She has offered programs on girls empowerment. She has also offered a Boys to Men program which involves mentors talking to and teaching skills to boys in community. John has also put together a big Canada Day celebration which saw hundreds of people take part. She is also marking international women’s day and notes international men’s day will be celebrated this Saturday in the community.
John is also a municipal councillor for Southgate Township, and notes, she is the first black woman to be elected in a municipality in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound. She works in the justice system in her full-time day job.
The list of organizations she volunteers with is long, and includes the Owen Sound Emancipation Festival, the Old Durham Road Black Pioneer Cemetery Board, the Southgate Ruth Hargrave Memorial Library board, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusive Education Committee of the Bluewater District School Board and many other initiatives and events.
John says she is always looking for people to help with local programs or be mentors and speakers for local youth, noting, “I will take all the volunteers that I can get and we have moved JCI from just just being Dundalk or Southgate, we’re serving the entire Grey-Bruce-Owen Sound area.”
Walkerton based Barb Vandenbor was honoured for her leadership in addressing rural homelessness and food insecurity.
Her volunteer work began when her local church pastor challenged the congregation to do something to make a difference in the community. Vandenbor, with the help of a local nurse Ashley Walter, decided to cook a meal once a month, paid for out of their own pockets for the people who were living in Walkerton’s Hillside Motel. Then a fire at the motel left a number of people unhoused, and Vandenbor and Walter moved their cooking operation to The Big Door in Walkerton (a cafe-like venue with a big garage door that also has a program for youth) and the initiative grew into a weekly Tuesday lunch program that now serves over 60 people in Walkerton.
During the Tuesday meals, there are people from other services who come to help because its an opportunity to find those in need all in the same place at the same time. Paramedics, housing providers and mental health workers come to check in on the unhoused or vulnerable people.
“You don’t know whether it could be your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister or your child. This is why we do it,” says Vandenbor who adds, they also provide clothes to people, and other volunteers are now donating produce. The meal has grown to so many attendees, Vandenbor says she may one day need a bigger building.
The YMCA says, “Barb’s efforts go beyond providing a meal, she fosters a sense of belonging and community, working with local organizations to ensure holistic support for those in need. Her empathy and advocacy for those at risk of homelessness, combined with her dedication to community-building and empowerment, have had a profound impact on the community.”
The YMCA Peace Medal, first established in 1987, is presented annually during YMCA Peace Week to individuals who embody the values of peace and have made significant contributions to the well-being of their communities.
The two recipients join a distinguished group of 26 individuals and 13 groups who have received the Peace Medal over the years, with their names now proudly displayed at the YMCA of Owen Sound Grey Bruce.