Jon Green's efforts to help people living on the streets of Thunder Bay have already won him some well-deserved recognition.
Now the outreach worker for Elevate NWO has been nominated for a Holiday Hero award.
Green recently received a Mayor's Community Safety Award from the City of Thunder Bay, in appreciation for the empathy and sensitivity he displays while providing support to homeless individuals.
The executive director of Elevate NWO, Holly Gauvin, calls him "an amazing, compassionate individual" and "an all-round great team member."
His nominator for the Holiday Hero award said he treats his clients "with dignity, respect, love and kindness."
Green, who still goes by the nickname Bear that his parents gave him when he was just a newborn, has an informed appreciation for the struggles people living on the street have every day.
"I remember not doing so well in the past, like eating from dumpsters, and you know, addictions and everything."
The Fort Frances native said that by the time he came to Thunder Bay for help, he "felt like a boat in the middle of the ocean without a sail. After I went to treatment, something clicked. I don't know just what, but I found a better way of living."
Eventually, Green became a peer support worker at a Rapid Access Addictions Medicine clinic in the city.
"I really found a passion for it, being able to help people. I felt inspired," he said.
When the opportunity came to work with Elevate NWO, "it was just like a match made in heaven. I'm eager to come to work every morning. I love seeing people fight [to survive], and prove people wrong by overcoming stuff. At the end of the day, I know that I've made a difference."
Monday to Friday, Green usually arrives at Elevate earlier than his 8:30 a.m. scheduled start time to prepare for making the rounds of homeless encampments where he checks on people's welfare and deliver supplies.
"We make sure we get to all the people, and that they get a breakfast/lunch, and try to hook them up with whatever services we can, with other agencies. With organizing all that, navigating and arranging services for people, then trying to get people rides to appointments."
On the day he was interviewed for this profile, he and his partner also made deliveries from local food banks, and he was organizing the cleanup of abandoned encampments.
Wherever his job takes him, Green keeps an eye out for clients who need things like a blanket, a jacket, a warm pair of socks or harm-reduction supplies.
"I meet so many people, but they all touch my heart. That's the hard thing, right?"
He recalled a recent situation where one of two sisters living together at an encampment passed away.
"That was a hard one. but I was glad I got to know her and to make her smile. I know that at least I did everything I could to help her. But it still hurts, thinking that somebody had to die sleeping in a tent out in the cold."
