Programs & Services > Community and Neighbourhood Development > 10th Anniversary
Community and Neighbourhood Development 10th Anniversary
Michele Lupa - former CND Manager
There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness,
but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues.
They are messengers of overwhelming grief …and unspeakable
love.
Washington Irving, American writer
Michele Lupa is the former CND Manager. Before she left Family Service Association of Toronto (FSA Toronto) after four years to become Executive Director of East York East Toronto Family Services, she was instrumental in guiding the reorganization of CND from an ethnic-based to an issue-based program with strongly defined principles, approach and structure that the whole team decided upon in a collaborative fashion.
Despite this legacy of creating a solid foundation, vision and philosophy for CND, the story that means the most to Michele happened when she was Coordinator of Growing Up Healthy Downtown (GUHD), her first position at FSA Toronto. At a GHUD focus group, one of the women, a newcomer from Iraq, where she had survived the horrors and atrocities of the regime, shared the story of her introduction to GUHD."She told us," Michele said, "that she was walking down the street with her 1-1/2 year old son, and she was crying uncontrollably. A woman stopped her and asked, "Are you OK?" She had just sort of reached her limits and didn’t know where to turn." The concerned woman told the distraught woman about a program for moms and walked her straightaway to 519 Church, a GUHD agency, where staff diagnosed postpartum depression. The Iraqi woman was immediately given a referral and support. "It turned her whole life around," said Michele, herself crying at the memory.
GUHD, once considered a core program, three years ago became threatened with the termination of federal funding, a peril that continues to this day. Michele, wanting to demonstrate to the decision makers the value of this program, applied for and was granted the right to send a delegation to meet the Federal Finance Committee and present the case for GUHD. It was her idea that the politicians should hear from a "real" person who used the program and to learn why it was vitally important.
The Iraqi woman had become, Michele remembers staff saying, "GUHD’s biggest cheerleader. She comes to the program every single day." She agreed to speak at the deputation. "She was petrified at the thought of talking for three minutes in front of federal politicians that you see on the news," Michele said."But she felt it was something she could do for us."
"The two of us went and I did my whole big picture thing and she told her story and it was incredible. Every single one of those politicians personally thanked her for sharing such a personal story. Unfortunately, it hasn’t manifested in any concrete changes in funding but, quite honestly, this woman felt so empowered and that is worth as much as anything."
by Jane Schmidt
- Kim Hinton - CND Manager
- Michele Lupa - former CND Manager
- Deborah Konecny - Family Are Important Resources Co-ordinator
- Naga Ramalingam - CND Community Development Worker
- Abdirahman Sabriye - Community Development Worker
- Salma Sarour - former Building Bridges Co-ordinator
- Shokofeh Dilmaghani - CND Community Development Worker
- Sophia Ali - GUHD Co-ordinator
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