Becki Zerr:
I'm Becki Zerr and welcome to Raising Kindness, a podcast all about promoting volunteerism within our community. Join me each month as I'm joined by my 12-year-old son, Bennett, and his friends demonstrating that together, despite my vision loss, we can definitely make a positive difference in others' lives. We may not always know what we're doing precisely, but we're going to learn, meet new people, and have a lot of fun during the process. So grab a friend and join us on our volunteering adventure that we call Raising Kindness.
Welcome to another episode of Raising Kindness. I'm Becki Zerr and I'm really looking forward to bringing this next episode to you. But I have to be honest, right in the introduction for this podcast was a wee bit challenging because I actually don't have a personal or really any experience either personally or professionally related to this topic. But that being said, I didn't want to make it an excuse to keep us away from helping out at a women and children's shelter. I do think that it's really important that within our community we recognize and applaud the organizations that have stepped forward to make safe options for those who really need them.
Honestly, my limited experience in this area dates all the way back to high school. For those of you who are now trying to do the quick math in your head, well, let's just say that I've been out of high school for over two decades. But I remember we had this assignment where we had to engage with various community organizations. We would visit an organization, help out however we could, or really just get a tour. I totally truly don't remember all the organizations that I visited that year in order to complete my assignment.
But ironically, the ones that really stood out and are still present in my mind today were the ones that made me step out of my personal comfort zone. And one of those memories is of visiting a homeless shelter within our community, Regina. I knew that homeless shelters existed but I most definitely did not formally understand what all of the contributing factors were that resulted in people actually seeking out temporary shelter options. But thinking back, I don't think that I actually had a lack of understanding because of inequity views, but I really just think it was simply due to a lack of exposure, really at the fault of no one at that point.
I do however know that as a teen being on that tour, what resonated with me was when I saw a small stuffed animal perched on a small cot like style temporary bed. I remember hearing that the residents were only allowed to stay at the shelter for a defined period of time. And I remember looking at that stuffed animal and realizing that it likely belonged to a child only a few years younger than myself at that moment. Our tour guide did not address the stuffed animal that was present that day, but I remember learning at that particular moment that not all children within my community experienced the same childhood that I did. Since then, I totally admit that I've had very little exposure to subsequent shelters. But I do know that organizations like SOFIA House do tremendous work. Together, they help make our community a safe and inviting place for everyone.
My philosophy is, "Better late than never." And I'm happy to say that during this volunteer experience, we spent some very valuable time at SOFIA House, a women and children's shelter located here in Regina. This was probably one of the most genuinely rewarding volunteer opportunities that we've had so far. I am so pleased that my son Bennett and his friend Danica were able to be alongside me for this really impactful opportunity.
So let's get started with today's episode. Like I said, the kids and I had an opportunity to spend some really valuable time volunteering and helping out at SOFIA House. We had the opportunity to engage with some amazing kids who were staying at the SOFIA House residence. One evening when we joined in on a kids' group activity night, it was a really rewarding evening. And it was all thanks to executive director, Tmira Marchment. Welcome to the show, Tmira.

Tmira Marchment:
Hi, thank you so much for having me.

Becki Zerr:
To get started, I'm wondering if you would mind telling us just a bit about yourself and what you like to do for fun.

Tmira Marchment:
Absolutely. So my name is Tmira Marchment, I live here in Regina under Treaty 4 Territory. I live with my family, my husband, and my two children, my daughter Willow who's 12 and my son Reid who is 10. And for fun, I like to spend some time with them. I like to do some yoga and work out when I can. And I like to just spend some time outside and connect with nature.

Becki Zerr:
Awesome. I'm wondering if you can share a bit about SOFIA House and for the listeners so they can have an understanding in how it all got started.

Tmira Marchment:
Absolutely. So SOFIA House is a second-stage shelter for women and their children who are fleeing violence. A second stage means that we provide long-term housing. So when you were talking earlier in your introduction about temporary stays at crisis shelters, it's really important to recognize that SOFIA House provides a longer-term housing which is a really big need for women in our community, is where do they go after that crisis shelter or where can they stay long term?
So that's something that SOFIA House can provide. We have 20 shelter spaces and two apartment buildings throughout the city. Everybody who comes gets their own apartment, it's a completely independent living, and there is support services right on site so nobody has to leave to receive counselling. We do one-on-one counselling for both women and children as well as group counselling, and then we have a cultural program as well.
SOFIA House has been around for about 35 years now. We started in one building, which was a partnership with our Regina Housing Authority, which had 10 suites and office space. And since then, we've grown to expand to a second building as well. So in July of 2020, we were able to secure a second building owned by Avana. And now we have the two buildings, we're able to provide double the space, so 20 spaces, and we're hoping that we are able to continue to expand in the future because we know the community need is really high for that long-term housing.

Becki Zerr:
Absolutely. I'm so glad that you pointed out the difference between the shelter that I was talking about in the beginning and what this SOFIA House represents and it was able to provide. So thanks so much for doing that. I'm wondering if you can comment a little bit about some of your funding sources.

Tmira Marchment:
Yeah, absolutely. It's pretty interesting because in Saskatchewan, second-stage shelters aren't funded by the provincial government so we don't receive any core operational funding. So a lot of our funding comes from fundraising and it comes from securing grants, and the city of Regina and places like United Way, and fundraising and donations and contributions from the community. So our funding sources are really varied and we really depend on the community and fundraising efforts for a lot of our funding.

Becki Zerr:
Amazing. When you were talking about some of the supports that are provided to the residents, I'm just wondering during their stays, I'm just wondering do some of those supports follow into their journey after they've left SOFIA House as well?

Tmira Marchment:
So we don't officially have outreach workers to follow people after, but we do informally. We definitely keep in touch with people and we connect with them as often as they want to just to see how they're doing afterwards. We don't have a time limit for a stay at SOFIA House, so we have people staying anywhere from a couple months and then they might decide that they're ready to move on to completely independent living or they might stay for three years and they really need a lot of support during that time. So when they're ready to leave, whenever that is, we will help them secure independent housing, we can help them put into place whatever services that they need on the outside. And then eventually, if we were funded for such a thing, I would absolutely love to have an outreach program where we did connect with people after they leave. So, I would say we do that informally right now.

Becki Zerr:
I was kind of assuming that you probably were. But I'm just curious when it comes to after supports, what type of visits do you guys get back from the residents that are currently there? Do you commonly see them pop by just to say thank you or hello?

Tmira Marchment:
Yeah, they will pop by or they'll send us a message. A lot of times they'll send certain staff members messages to let them know how they're doing and things like that. We even have some people within the shelter who are fairly independent and none of our programming is mandatory or anything like that. So if they choose to be more independent and start looking for that independent housing, they might just check in with us every now and then and just let us know how they're doing and that's just fine with us.

Becki Zerr:
That's awesome. Do you know about how many women and children you guys have been able to help and serve over the years?

Tmira Marchment:
I know that last year, for example, we served 73 women and children. Because we have the 20 spaces, it kind of depends year by year on how many children are a part of those families. If each woman brings in one child, the numbers might be lower. If each woman had four children with her, the number of children would be higher. We are almost always full. If we're not full with the 20 spaces, as soon as a vacancy comes up, it will be filled right away. We always, always have a wait list of between 15 and 20 families at any given time. So, as soon as we can kind of secure housing for people, they can stay for as long as they need to.

Becki Zerr:
Wow, that's amazing. I'm just wondering what your thoughts were on our little volunteer team that came out last night and how much do you guys actually rely on volunteer services?

Tmira Marchment:
Yeah, I appreciate that you guys came out so much. I think it's wonderful that you're doing this and that you're sharing this with your children and their friends. I think it's absolutely wonderful to expose people to the types of services in the community. So first of all, thank you for that. And secondly, yes, we absolutely do rely on volunteers especially for some of our children's programming that you saw last night. We have our women's programming every Thursday night which can be really intense group kind of counselling. So at the same time, we offer that children's activity kind of group programming night so that the women don't have to also care for their child and they could talk about these big heavy things that they need to and the kids can spend some time together as a group.
And the volunteers are a big part of that because they can help with those activities, they can help with the childcare, they can help with anything that the children need. So, volunteers are so important to us. Even outside of the children's programming, sometimes we'll have businesses and organizations who want to help, even with little things like helping collect donations when doing donation drives for women and children's clothing, or helping out with the outside and helping us getting get ready for springtime and getting flowers together so the women have a nice place to go outside and spend time with their children. We had Erin & Associates from here, for example. They did a whole new playground set for us so that the kids could come outside and have a really good place to play. So all of this is volunteer-led and it just means so much to us to have the support in my community.

Becki Zerr:
That's awesome. Yes, I have to admit, Bennett and Danica did totally notice the amazing play structure that was in the backyard last night. So it just is so amazing to see such all encompassing home environment that you guys have created. And if people want to learn a little bit more about SOFIA House, how would you best direct them to obtain that information?

Tmira Marchment:
Yes, absolutely. They can go to our website, it's www.sofiahouse.ca, and it's S-O-F-I-A House. So they can go to our website. All of our contact information is on there as well as information around what we do, our funding sources. And then they can also check out our Facebook page, our Instagram page, and our Twitter page as well.

Becki Zerr:
Perfect. Thank you so much for the amazing opportunity last night. It was truly impactful and thanks for making time from us today.

Tmira Marchment:
Absolutely. Nice to talk to you, thank you for coming.

Becki Zerr:
You bet. Take care. Next up, we're being joined by an amazing volunteer of the SOFIA House, Emily Molloy. Welcome to the show.

Emily Molloy:
Hi, thank you for having me.

Becki Zerr:
You bet. Thanks so much for being part of the show. I totally appreciate it. I'm wondering if we can start off by you just sharing a little bit about yourself.

Emily Molloy:
Yeah, yeah, for sure. So I am a third-year human justice major. I am currently working three jobs and volunteering right now. So I'm pretty busy. On the side For fun, I like to do yoga, do art. But don't get a lot of free time these days, I've been pretty busy between classes and work. So that's pretty well what my days look like.

Becki Zerr:
It sounds like you are an incredibly busy person, so thanks for making time for us, I totally appreciate it.

Emily Molloy:
For sure.

Becki Zerr:
To start off, I'm just wondering what made you want to join in and be part of the SOFIA House volunteer crew?

Emily Molloy:
Yeah, yeah. So as I mentioned briefly there, I am a justice studies major, so it is kind of my passion. I also do have a specific passion, I guess, connection to women and children. I previously worked with children so I kind of felt comfortable getting into this environment. It wasn't very new to me. And that was basically the biggest reason is I wanted to be in an organization where I'd be working with women and children and giving back in some way with them.

Becki Zerr:
Absolutely. So what type of volunteer opportunities have you had with SOFIA House so far?

Emily Molloy:
Yeah. So I do pretty well what you did when you came by. I do the children's programming, so that looks different every time. We've done like cake and cookie decorating, we've done tie-dye. It's always different. I've gone on outings with them in the summertime. We've done the science center and different things. And yeah, it's different all the time.

Becki Zerr:
Absolutely. I mean, the kids were so full of energy and excitement and were just so welcoming to our entire little crew that rolled in on their space last night. So it was just a joy to see them participating and doing their thing. I'm just curious, I know how I feel when I leave a volunteer opportunity. I'm just wondering if you can share with the viewers how you end up feeling.

Emily Molloy:
It's a really good feeling after you leave. You leave feeling almost like fulfilled, satisfied with yourself. You leave in a good mood every time. Because as you mentioned, the kids are very welcoming. It's a very welcoming environment and that's one of the first things I noticed about SOFIA House when I had my very initial interview with the organization, is just how welcoming it was. And the kids definitely, they don't give you a choice, they make you feel welcome.

Becki Zerr:
Totally. They were all over, I have a guy dog named Lulu and they were all over her last night. But they were very polite and listening as to when it was appropriate to reach out and give her the love and cuddles.

Emily Molloy:
Oh, that's amazing.

Becki Zerr:
So, that was awesome. Yeah, it was amazing. They're really engaged in learning about what her role was and even my vision loss. So I think the education went both ways last night, which was really exciting. But I'm just curious, what type of other volunteers have you worked with and what are your thoughts on other kids, like my son and his friend coming out and helping out?

Emily Molloy:
I think your son and his friend helping out is really amazing. I think starting them at a young age is really, really beneficial. They'll pick up on a lot of skills that way and just kind of get a better understanding of their community. Right? There's a lot that they can gain from volunteering at a young age. I can really truly only say that I've volunteered with SOFIA House. I've stopped in at a few places here and there but SOFIA House is the only one that I've kind of stuck with and kept coming back to.

Becki Zerr:
Oh, that's awesome.

Emily Molloy:
Yeah.

Becki Zerr:
If somebody is considering volunteering either at SOFIA House or a similar organization, what piece of advice would you offer to them?

Emily Molloy:
Go in with an open mind. Of course, you'd never know what type of people you're going to be meeting, what situations they've endured. You're going to see all walks of life, all types of people. Go in with an open mind and open heart and you'll be good.

Becki Zerr:
Awesome. And what's your very favorite thing about volunteering?

Emily Molloy:
I think that feeling afterwards that we talked about briefly there. I think you do feel very satisfied. You feel good about yourself, you'll feel good for the work that you've done and also the people that you get to meet. Like we just had the Safe Paws Gala Fundraiser on last Friday and it was really, really neat getting to see all the people who are like-minded and in the community and they all came out and we all have the same values. And it's really nice getting to connect with people in the community.

Becki Zerr:
Absolutely. No, I completely agree. I feel like when I leave, I almost feel a little bit guilty leaving the volunteer opportunities because I feel like I almost get more out of it than I'm able to give. But you never know the other person's experience or interpretation of what you're able to give to them on their end of things. But I completely agree. I end up feeling just so happy. And like I said earlier, the kids come out and they are just almost bouncing and they're full. They feel so full of gratitude and what they've learned and the people that they've met. It's just an amazing thing to be able to see.
So, thank you so much for all the amazing work you're doing in your extremely busy life and I wish you all the luck with your career. And thank you also for taking time to come and join us on the Raising Kindness Podcast.

Emily Molloy:
For sure. Thank you so much for having me on.

Becki Zerr:
You bet. Well, fasten your seatbelt and get ready because the kids are here and they're about to totally take over. I just have to say that once again, this was just such a positive volunteer experience for both myself and the kids. But that being said, I'm really looking forward to hearing their thoughts. Welcome to the show, Danica and Bennett.

Danica:
Thank you.

Bennett:
Thanks.

Becki Zerr:
So as usual, I'm wondering if you guys can start off by maybe painting a picture of the volunteer opportunity that took place at the SOFIA House that we all got to experience. Bennett, do you maybe want to get started at first? And then Danica, remember kiddo, you can jump in at any point and help him out.

Bennett:
So what we did is we dropped off lots of hair stuff. We had shampoo, we had 15 boxes of them, and they were so happy for that. And then we also dropped off some beauty supplies like makeup, curling irons and all that different type of stuff. And so when we got there, we dropped all that off and then we put that in one of their little rooms and then we made craft and it was like bats and then we did bingo.

Danica:
And I think it was so cool how they just did it off the top of their mind. They do not plan anything. I think they just do that always because they have no idea if they're going to have any more donations for anything else. They just do it off their top of their mind.

Becki Zerr:
What did you guys think about today's volunteer experience in general?

Danica:
I think it was a lot different from the one we did earlier. It was just so cool to see all the kids, how happy they were, and not to see just the other kids there to see some new people.

Bennett:
Yeah, yeah. It was actually really fun. I had a great time. They were just kids like the CNIB Kid's Camp. They were just kids.

Becki Zerr:
So we were all spending time with kids that for one reason or another did not currently have a similar home family life to your guys'. Have either of you ever considered what it might be like to have an unstable home environment for those kids?

Danica:
That's literally tricky because it would never cross my mind before you would do that. It's just so different to see how kids go through that and when we're in a home perfectly safe and sound and some other kids have lived their life differently.

Bennett:
Yeah, I think it's different. I probably didn't think about that until yesterday, but then it opened a new spot for thinking that some kids aren't like us.

Becki Zerr:
What was something that each of you guys learned today?

Bennett:
I think I learned that I was a pretty bad bingo caller. They said that I had to put some more enthusiasm into it.

Danica:
I definitely agree on that one. And something that I learned is that all kids are different and all families are different. Not all families are the same. They're all different.

Becki Zerr:
What was your very favorite part of today's volunteer opportunity?

Bennett:
That's a hard one. I would say probably seeing the smiles on the people's faces when we delivered the makeup and stuff, all the shampoo and stuff. You could see they never wiped their smile off their face. I don't think you could.

Danica:
And I definitely agree with that. They were just so happy to get all these big donations. And that we never know, they might have not have gotten that big of donation before. It was so happy to see all the moms having smiles on their faces.

Becki Zerr:
Okay. We made it to the Kindness Challenge, the part of the show where you two totally take over. I just wanted to remind the viewers first that this is your opportunity to get involved. Simply complete the Kindness Challenge that the kids are going to share with you. But remember to take a picture of you too completing the challenge along the way. So you can then log into social media, upload your photos with a brief description and tag us in. Okay, you two, let's hear all about this episode's Kindness Challenge.

Bennett:
So today's Kindness Challenge, we thought that it would be good if we could do some crafting supplies like markers, pencil, crayons, glue, all that different type of stuff, and indoor and outdoor activities like soccer, soccer balls or games or something.

Danica:
Because when we went and did the crafts, they did not have, they only had like 20 markers, no pencil crowns, no crayons.

Bennett:
Yeah.

Danica:
And they only had a little bucket of crafting supplies. And they do the thing for kids every Thursday. And they can't just go out and buy all the crafting supplies. They need some donations-

Bennett:
Yeah.

Danica:
... for some crafting supplies.

Bennett:
So we want you guys to drop off, go out and buy some markers or crafting supplies or all that stuff that we just listed and drop it off at a CO SOFIA House or something similar to that.

Becki Zerr:
Good job you guys. You managed to once again come up with something that's cool and it's going to make a big difference in so many people's lives. So thanks for doing that. I really can't wait to see all the completed challenges by our viewers posted on social media.
I've been fortunate enough to live a life that's always permitted me to have easy access to life's basic necessities. As a young nursing student, I not only learned about health in general, but I also learned about the social determinants of health. That class was particularly impactful to me and it really stuck with me both personally and professionally. But despite my lack of direct experience in this area, I do recognize that not everybody has had the same experiences as me either, because I know that despite not helping out at homeless shelters, I've done good over the years.
I was a nursing student that stayed late on my own time to rock a sick baby who had no named guardian on her file. I was also the registered nurse that stayed late to hold the hand of an elderly gentleman during his final hours. I didn't want to leave him until his family had all safely arrived at his side. And in a totally different part of my life, I was the one that stepped up to host a beauty event for women who are blind or partially sighted. A segment of this population had always been curious about the world of beauty and fashion, but just a little bit too shy to step forward and ask for help. I've always felt a need for help, to give back and just kind of lend a hand. And I believe that things happen for a reason, but that reason we may not entirely know or understand.
But I believe today, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. Because today's volunteer experience, it really taught me a lot. However, I also had the opportunity to teach as well because of Lulu. I got to teach this group of children that people living with vision loss are just regular people like them too. I got to talk to them about my guide dog Lulu and what she does. And now there's a whole nother group of people that now know that good can totally come from even the hardest of times. And that brings us to the end of this episode of Raising Kindness. We look forward to seeing you participate in the Kindness Challenge so be sure to tag us in in all of our social media accounts. Take care and thanks again for watching.
And that's a wrap on this episode of Raising Kindness with me, Becki Zerr. Thanks so much to all of my guests and to you for tuning in. Be sure to check us out on social media. You'll find us on Facebook and Instagram at raising.kindness.podcast. And don't forget, you're going to want to like and subscribe to the podcast on YouTube and your favourite podcast platform. See you again soon.