'A safe space to be yourself:' Gala builds connections within the recovery community

THUNDER BAY — When Kristin Gravel’s best friend died of an accidental overdose in 2021, she spent the next four weeks drowning her sorrows in as much alcohol as possible.

That friend was Dayna Elizabeth Karle, the namesake of the DEK Addiction Recovery Foundation.

“Her celebration of life really hit me,” said Gravel. “She was 10 months clean when we lost her to an accidental overdose and I don’t remember a lot from those 10 months because while she may have been clean, I was still consuming my normal degree of alcohol.

“I don’t have those memories with her of all the time we spent together. That was a big awakening moment for me.”

Gravel is now more than 1,240 days sober and shared her story of recovery during the third annual DEK Foundation pasta dinner for the recovery community last Friday at the Columbus Centre.

The dry event is a free meal open to anyone in recovery with the goal of building connections in the community.

The dinner helps individuals in recovery not feel isolated.

“People don’t get to experience this,” said Gravel. “It’s a moment where you can celebrate wherever it is you’re at and everybody in that room will meet you exactly where you’re at.”

“It’s a night to dress up, to come and dance and make a fool of yourself doing the chicken dance,” she added.

The DEK Foundation looks to help people in recovery through various programs, from filling backpacks of supplies for people coming out of treatment to making sandwiches for the Care Bus staff to hand out to its riders.

“The biggest thing I have noticed is the connection,” said Gravel. “A lot of time in addiction, you feel isolated, like your story is unique, which isn’t the case. Everybody can relate to everybody else regardless of how long you’ve been in recovery, and so the DEK Foundation connects people, but it also gives a safe space to be yourself.”

Foundation president Carolyn Karle said they began the dinner as a way to bring people together and allow people to have fun and let loose without the triggers of alcohol and other substances.

“The folks look forward to it. Swag Events decorates for us,” she said. “So we all feel pretty darn special when we come in the door.”

Karle spoke of the partnerships within the community to host events like the dinner, highlighting the foundation’s work with the Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre.

“We’ve collaborated together and just made a beautiful evening for all sorts of different people from all different areas,” she said. “It’s a great idea to get connected and people are way more successful when they reach out and step out of their comfort zone.”

The friendship centre’s director of housing, Katie Bortolin, said they are happy to partner with DEK and honour those in recovery.

“We follow a reduction model of care and are dedicated to supporting our community members wherever they are at  whether it’s in active addiction, contemplation, two hours of sobriety, or 12 years,” she said. “This is a testament of community supporting community and we are grateful to be a part of it.”