Staff Feature – Lake St. George Staff
March 1, 2021
Lake St. George is typically filled with students from all around the GTA as they enjoy one of our engaging environmental education programs, such as learning about fish and wildlife populations, honing their navigation skills through an orienteering program, or experiencing paddling for the first time on the beautiful kettle lake.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, offering these traditional overnight programs for students was not possible and has been put on pause. To continue to provide value to the community during these challenging times, the team at Lake St. George worked closely with York Region’s Community and Health Services Department to explore how the empty dormitories at Lake St. George may best support those hardest hit by pandemic.
Looking closely at the facilities and capacity of dorms, Lake St. George and York Region staff determined that one of the dormitories could directly support York Region’s Housing Stability and Homelessness program by providing space for individuals experiencing homelessness to isolate if they are awaiting test results or have tested positive for COVID-19.
Staff at Lake St. George exhibited TRCA’s core value of respect while planning for and preparing for this change in use of the site. They understood the challenges these individuals were facing and worked with staff to understand how they could help ensure everyone stayed safe while accessing the site.
While the site was well suited to the isolation centre, it did require some changes to make it comfortable for the individuals that may be isolated in the rooms for up to two weeks. Jake Elleker, Joseph Elliott, and Ian Rodhouse worked tirelessly to get the facility updated.
Within a week, they removed additional bunks from the rooms to give participants more space, moved furniture that could not be cleaned out of the rooms, and adjusted locking systems to better suit the adults utilizing the rooms. They also provided information on how we could make the participants’ stay more comfortable and worked with our partners to provide food to those using the shelter.
While we look forward to a time when the site can return to having students playing and learning on the grounds, we are happy that, due to the hard work of these staff, TRCA can help support the most vulnerable among us during this difficult time.