Transit Employees Community Fund – Generosity Comes Full Circle

Transit Employees Community Fund – Generosity Comes Full Circle

MAIN STREET PROJECT RECEIVES OUTREACH VAN

With routes that take them to every corner of our city, transit drivers get a picture of life in Winnipeg that most never see. The diverse swath of neighborhoods and people that drivers connect with each shift gives them a front row seat to the complex challenges facing community.

This unique vantage point, along with the murder of transit operator Irvine Jubal Fraser in 2017, led to the creation of the Transit Employees Community Fund.

In 2017, Transit was collaborating with Main Street Project (MSP), a charity supporting Winnipeg’s most marginalized residents, to provide drivers with additional training and information about mental health and addiction. Shortly after the tragic death of Fraser that same year, Jon Rost, a transit operator of more than 20 years who was involved with the training initiative, brought the idea of helping community to the table.

Rost says, “I was inspired by what Main Street Project was doing and thought, ‘Boy, that would be nice to be able to help in a bigger way than we are capable of as individuals.’ It was during that process where the inspiration, the catalyst, came for me to look at developing a fund at The Winnipeg Foundation.” Rost teamed up with Denise Aston Devisscher, who had worked with Transit for 30 years, to get the process underway.

Fast forward to today, and the Transit Employees Community Fund is up and running, with between 10-15% of employees making bi-weekly contributions directly from their pay cheques. Despite pandemic-related setbacks, the Fund was able to reach its original goal this September; a brand-new outreach van for MSP. The van, which is being used by MSP’s Indigenous relations team and to support the mobile outreach program, has already put on some miles. Vanessa Gamblin, MSP’s Director of Indigenous Relations, says “The van has already gone a long way. We’ve taken many people to Sundance and medicine harvesting.”

She explains that people who access MSP’s services are often unable to get out of the city to participate in cultural and ceremonial events, which has “always been a barrier.” Having the ability to get program participants
into nature, to sweat lodges, and to pick medicine, is a crucial component of the healing journey and a boon for community. Gamblin describes a jubilant scene outside of Thunderbird House, with staff and community members “screaming and cheering,” when the van rolled up for the first time.

Randy Tonnellier, co-chair of the committee managing the Fund, says, “Our donors [Winnipeg Transit employees] are out there every day seeing people in need. I always thought transit operators have more face-to
face interactions with citizens than any other city employee.”

The nature of this service-oriented work runs parallel to the experience of those working with community at organizations like MSP. Jamil Mahmood, Executive Director of MSP, says there is a shared unity between transit
workers and MSP staff, with both being “out on the front lines every day.”

When discussing the creation of the Fund, Tonnellier explains that 2017 “was a dark time for Transit.” Fraser’s tragic death had impacted morale, making an already tough job even tougher. The Transit Employees Community Fund provided both a boost for employees and much-needed support for the people they serve.

“I’VE WORKED THERE FOR CLOSE TO 30 YEARS,” SAYS TONNELLIER, “THERE WERE A LOT OF STORIES ABOUT EMPLOYEES DOING HEROIC THINGS, AND THE FUND WAS A WAY TO RECOGNIZE THAT.”

On the multi-faceted impact of the Fund, Aston Devisscher remarks, “If an operator feels good about giving and the people feel good about receiving because they are going to be in a better situation, then it’s an all-around feel-good thing.”

The Fund is continuing its upward trajectory, according to Tonnellier, who states, “It’s still growing, more employees are donating!” Since its incorporation in 2019, the Fund, which is donor-advised, has given grants to different charities working in areas that are close to the hearts of Transit employees: community well-being, homelessness, animal welfare, and addictions. Tonnellier says, “The committee will continue giving away funds each year to great charities, but we are currently working on setting another long-term goal to help community.”

As for this next big goal, Tonnellier says, “We are really looking to organizations that are serving the same people we are serving.”