Supporting Unhoused People with Martine Babineau

Martine Babineau is a proud member of the Rotary Club of Atlantic International Passport. Martine and her fellow Rotarians support the Humanity Project, which provides housing and programming for those in need in Moncton, New Brunswick.

A great example of the impact of People of Action.

Transcript

Peter Tonge: 0:21

Welcome to this episode of Talking Rotary. I'm Peter Tonge and I'm a member of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg. Charleswood, and I am Andy Kwasnica, past president and also a member of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg. Charleswood, we are so happy you have joined us. Peter and I are so excited for this new podcast and thankful to our many listeners. Let's start talking Rotary! Hi everyone. I'm Peter Tonge. Welcome to another episode of talking rotary before I begin today, I have to thank Joe Solway from the Rotary Club of Bowmanville, who filled in as host while I was being a District Governor. So now I'm back. You're stuck with me in the podcast talking rotary is underway again for season five. I'm here today with Martine Babineau, and she's in Moncton. Hi, Martin. How are you?

Martine Babineau: 1:38

Hi, I'm good. I'm good. It's a bright, sunny day here in Moncton. We did get some rain yesterday, so that's forest fires are dampened.

Peter Tonge: 1:48

Lovely. Now we were talking earlier, you were telling me that you don't come from a Rotary family, but your family has a history of service. Tell me about that.

Martine Babineau: 1:58

Yeah, it's interesting. I never really paid attention to it because it was so present in our family. I didn't realize that not everybody was like that. But it I've noticed over the years that my family was always involved. You know, my mother was the the president of the President of the home and school association. When I was very young, my father was the president of our, our church community group, the the church council, and we, there was always involvement. There was always volunteering. So I just thought that was normal. I just thought that was everybody did that. But as I was growing up, I realized that wasn't quite the case, and it gave me pause to think about my family funny stories. A few years ago, at our club, we were trying to do something different than the classification talks, you know, the standard. You talk about your business, and you talk about your work and all of that, and where the people knew each other fairly well. Business wise, we decided to start talking about who we were as people and where we came from. And so when I did mine and started looking back at my parents, I really found that it was like describing superheroes, wow. And as time goes on in my family, as as I look at all of my relatives, I see that more and more, and really, it really hit home this week, because I had a few of my relatives who passed away on different sides of the family, and realized that both of them To me were the description I would have of a superhero. I'm just

Peter Tonge: 4:04

saying, Please tell me more about their accomplishments.

Martine Babineau: 4:07

Both of them were, and would be today, what we describe independent women. But back then, you know, they, they both passed away in their 80s. So that would give you an idea of, you know what time they grew up in, and both of them decided to become become nuns in the Catholic Church. And so one became a teacher in the early parts of her career, and the other one went straight into missionary work. Okay? And over the course of their careers, they they both followed different paths, but the path brought them back to helping in third world countries or helping in areas that had been devastated. So. So the one who became a teacher eventually retired, and as soon as she retired, it was like she retired and then blew right off to become a missionary in Cameroon, where she'd spent the rest of her years. She only came back to Canada a few years ago, we had to fight tooth and nail with her to come back. That's after some very like she absolutely her heart was there. They built schools. They helped women in the community expand their skills and expand their independence. And it really showed that although she was part of a group that would typically be seen to not necessarily be promoting women's independence, that it definitely this is where they were. This is where their heart was to to really make sure that the girls in the in the village they were in, were getting educated, were having opportunities. As a matter of fact, she told me a funny story at one point of going to the girls, it was kind of like a dormitory, the house where they all lived, and finding the men's laundry basket at the door and asking the girls like, what is this? And the girls finally explained that the boys of the same age, they'd all be like early adulthood, older teenagers would routinely bring their clothes to the to the girls house and leave it at the door for the girls to do their laundry. She put a stop to that pretty quickly.

Peter Tonge: 6:52

I love their example, because you know me, maybe it's my male bias, and I'll admit that. But if the, if the first, when you say to me none, the first thing that comes to mind is not typically women's empowerment, right? But they certainly used it as their path to to not only empower themselves, but to empower the women and the girls around them. So I, I think exactly, I think that's that's really interesting. So how, what's the path from there? And that example for you to find rotary

Martine Babineau: 7:33

Well, and, and the actually, that was just one of them, and I, I'll tie this back into rotary, is the second one, the one that went straight into missionary work eventually left the the order and became a cardiologist. And once she so again, kind of bucking the trend of at that point, becoming a cardiologist was definitely not a women's profession. Wow. And so she, she worked as a cardiologist for decades, and eventually went back into mission and went back to she went to Haiti and Africa, working on on medical missions. And so that really both of those brings me to the path of being in rotary and giving like they absolutely gave their lives, my my giving to my time and my resources to rotary pales in comparison to what they've done, but it really did highlight. It made me so proud, I guess, in reflecting on what they had done, that I'm able to do my little part as a rotary and to support the people that are on the ground doing that right. It makes me value all of the support that I give to the foundation. It encourages me to continue, because I know that there are people like them on the other end, right, that are actually making that money work, that are making those donations work, that are building that network, and they also just they inspire me to do. It just shows the the purpose that one life can have, the impact that one person can have, right? So it encourages me to do all of the little things, because their great life of I would give them both capes their great life. Lives of being superheroes is is not made up of one great act. It's made up of waking up every day and of doing all of these small things every day, of having that Spirit to give to. Yeah. So it oftentimes we think, oh, what can I do? I'm just this. I'm just one person, right? What impact Am I having? But we forget that it's not the impact is not in the big thing. It's in all of the individual, little, small things that we do. Oh,

Peter Tonge: 10:19

absolutely. And what an example, they said. And I don't know if you know enough of the family history to know, but I'm, I'm curious to know how your one anti sort of, you know, woke up one day and said, I think I'm being done being a dead for a while. I think I'll become a cardiologist like that. Seems like a big trip to me,

Martine Babineau: 10:42

yeah. And, I mean, I understand, I agree. And knowing her, I don't know what was in her mind at that point. I'll be honest. But knowing her, I can see how she would have felt. She she was a person of faith. It's not like she left the faith right. She didn't have a crisis of faith or anything left the order she actually was known to go to church every day, however, it would have been out of that. I want to be able to do more. I want to be able to contribute. I can only imagine what she saw when she was in her early years and the the family itself always, always valued education, always valued being able to use your your gifts of learning, to create a better world around you. And I can see that in all of all of my other relatives on that side of the family, is that they really used education as a way to to advance the world around them?

Peter Tonge: 11:52

Sure. Yeah, well, there's some, some really, some really, one wonderful examples join the worldwide shelter box community to receive exclusive email updates about where shelter box is currently working in the world, you'll be joining a community of passionate individuals who are impatient to see a world where no one is left without shelter after disaster. Head over to www dot shelter box canada.org/sign, up. Now you talked a little bit earlier about the idea of sort of doing the work on the ground and your rotary club very much does that with the Josh project. So can you tell me a little bit about your rotary club and about this project? I think,

Martine Babineau: 12:42

well, the Josh Project is an offshoot of the humanity project. So the humanity project is a grassroots and when we're talking grassroots, it started with the guy with a backpack walking down Main Street handing out sandwiches to people, wow, okay, um, his name is Charles Burrell. He is the heart and soul of both organizations and the Josh project was named after his brother who passed away. Okay, so, essentially, the work of the humanity project works with people who are unhealth, who are homeless, who are working poor in the mountain area, mostly. And they run a, I guess you could call it a soup kitchen. It's much more than that, but they feed people. Essentially, it's the central part, five days a week. Five days a week, all volunteers. It is an amazing thing to see. We volunteer regularly there. And so off of that, a few years back, there was a need for an out of the cold shelter, which the humanity project stepped up through that that experience, they saw how many people, and I don't have the number for you, there are videos still on Facebook, if you happen to go look up the humanity project on Facebook, there are videos of Charlie as everybody calls him, indicating he's filling Naloxone syringes and he is indicating how many times he has had to bring people back from the brink of death, and through that experience, it just spurred him on to make the Josh project happen faster, because it was always part so the Josh project is located just outside of Moncton. It is about 23 30 minutes outside of Moncton, it is a large farm property that they were able to acquire that offers the opportunity for people to get off the streets get the help they need, physical So, health care, mental health, spiritual community, education, all of these things. They're all it's an all encompassing project, in the sense that they don't they treat everybody as an individual, and they never talk about clients. They never talk about patients. Everybody's a friend. Okay, there, even at the humanity project, everybody is a friend. And the principle of Charlie's idea is that he didn't want to put time limits, and he didn't want to put one size fits all structure so people move in to these. The first step is, is little bunk houses, okay, that we actually help to the final stages of building? To say we help build them would be, would be an overshoot. We, we really, we helped in the final stages. And they are these lovely little bunk houses. Are equipped with a bed with a dresser with a small little mini fridge. They all have an individual lock for each individual person. And so imagine you've been spending time on the streets, and you're constantly in a fight or flight, you're constantly cold, you're constantly looking for your next meal. It's a full time job surviving, right? And then you're able to get to a place where suddenly you have a roof over your head, and you don't have to worry about the cold, about your food, about if somebody's going to steal any of your thing, and it's quiet, yeah, because it's out in the country, and so you're not hearing siren and you're not hearing screams, and you're not hearing any of the the noises that in that can, you know, contribute to all of that. And they are. As soon as they get there, they are. They have their eyes tested, their dental work done. They see doctor if they need prescriptions. If they need they, you know, everybody needs mental health when they when they get there, it's just the nature of the beast, right? And so they, they stay there until they can move up to a different step. And so the project is in its early stages. People have only been on the site for a year or two, and so what we want to help them do, and everything is is built there to be self sustaining. So that's their goal. So they have a farm there. They have pigs and cows and goats, and they're growing their own food, and so we want to help them in in their endeavor to be truly self sustaining. So we are looking at global grants and projects that would give them the ability to have geothermal or greenhouse capabilities so that they can grow fresh vegetables year round. So we are looking at projects like that, for for them. So there's, there's two different avenues that we're looking at right now, both the geothermal and the the greenhouse. Okay, so it's a matter of looking at which one's more urgent, which one is feasible and more sustainable. So those are that's where we're at right now. Otherwise, we just did a district grant that it was to help furnish their therapy space. So their therapy space has physical training equipment, so like weights and such. We also got them two sewing machines and a bunch of patterns and fabrics and everything, so that they can learn dexterity, because when you've been spending a lot of time out on the streets, your fingers get very you lose a lot of dexterity. Essentially, your fingers get stiff and such, which is something I've never I had never considered, considered,

Peter Tonge: 19:53

right? Yeah, I actually had clients over the years who did you know lost fingers and toes because of front. Crossbite and stuff like that when they were unhoused, right? So yeah, and

Martine Babineau: 20:05

we also purchased musical instruments for some music therapy. So they've got, they've got a full, full pen going on there, art supplies. So there's it. Was essentially anything that you can think of that can help, that can be therapeutic to either the mind the body to the Spirit, is really taken into consideration. There

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Peter Tonge: 21:04

I like the the sort of whole wraparound, wraparound package to support people in the way they need. Now, does the does the farm sort of follow a sober first model? Or do, or do people come and get care as they need?

Martine Babineau: 21:20

Absolutely So if people do go through, if there's the need for that, they do go through rehab or detox before they go so very often, he is picking them up from detox and bringing them to the farm. So that is definitely something. It is sober first, and there is a wait list, and there are parents calling him constantly saying, when's my child's turn? Mm, hmm, right. And people are coming up to the humanity project and asking him, when's my turn. So it's, it's not that people don't want to it's that they definitely, and that is the comment, because his whole family is involved in this project. His mother is there. She is one of the main forces on an ongoing basis there. It's like they all inherit a mother, right? Sure, absolutely. And she said that the list is basically, you look at it and it's you just people need support. They just need support.

Peter Tonge: 22:35

And how do people get selected, or how do folks make it onto the list? Well,

Martine Babineau: 22:41

the the very beginning of this is stems from their experience in that winter right of running that out of the cold shelter. And essentially they're looking they they are prioritizing the people that they feel will not make it right. If they do not get help, they will not make it. So there are, there are quite a few people in that in that stage, and anybody can, can really make it there. It's not a matter of time. It's not a matter of any particular criteria other than they do want to have. They want to have the greatest impact and get to the people who need it the most. Otherwise, I'm sure there are a number of different criteria that they do look at that are maybe case by case basis, honestly, but at the end of the day, with their philosophy of actually knowing people, getting to know people, and treating them like friends. When you go to the humanity project, Charlie is not in an office somewhere. He is outside. We go there on Sunday mornings, mostly. And he spends five minutes inside saying hi to everybody and saying thank you to everybody. And he spends an hour outside talking to everybody and getting to know the people outside, because they're the ones who really matter, right? So it's at the end of the day, it's really through having an a personal knowledge of all of these, of these individuals that they know, who is ready to go and who's who's going to be successful as well, yeah, and building

Peter Tonge: 24:41

supportive relationships as well, right? Obviously, that's, that's the key to this success, though, that's, that's amazing. We talk when we talk about rotary projects, we talk about projects and boots on the ground. This is literally, literally boot on the ground, right at the at the farm, I think. So amazing. So if folks are listening to this podcast and they and they want to provide support, how can they do that?

Martine Babineau: 25:07

Yeah, if they we do have the Josh project listed on our club runner page. So our club runner page is Rotary, a, I p.com, okay, so that is how you get to it, and when you get to our main club runner page, you'll see the Josh project is featured prominently. You can also see us on Facebook, again, Rotary AIP. We tend to use the acronym more than the name, because the name is long and bilingual. So

Peter Tonge: 25:49

yeah for sure.

Martine Babineau: 25:52

So and you can also find the Josh project and the humanity project on Facebook, and if you are a customer of Bell Media, you can find a series that was done on Charlie. The first part is actually available on YouTube. It's called a man named Charlie, okay. And the second part was just released on Bell Media. We had, we got a viewing in in mountain of the premiere. And so the first part explains the humanity project, and explains the beginnings of the Josh project. And the second part is focused on the Josh project, and you get to see the success stories, and you get to see the people that have been and you see it over time, where they when they get there, and a few years down the road, and it's been very interesting. So those are the best sources for information, and you can always send us a message through club runner or through our website, our Facebook page, and we'll be happy to to talk to you further,

Peter Tonge: 27:11

absolutely. So when I'm when I'm putting out the socials for the podcast, I'll certainly put those those links in the social so people can can find it easily, because I think it's such a it's such an impactful project, right? As I say, literally, working directly with with people, and approaching a problem that's that's so big in so many of our cities, right? Moncton is a relatively small city, but has has all of the same challenges as the bigger cities as well.

Martine Babineau: 27:45

We definitely do. And the great thing with this project, and one of the reasons that we have been supporting it from the get go, is we see the possibility of reproducing this. There's no there's nothing specifically unique to Moncton that makes it so this would only work here, right? This project could work anywhere in Canada. You could make this happen anywhere in Canada. There's no reason it. The resources are there,

Peter Tonge: 28:17

and we and we know the need is there before you know that that's already established for sure. Now what one of the things that that I like to ask Martin, all of my guests, is we all have this, this sort of aha moment in rotary where we stop being club members, and we really become Rotarians, and it becomes part of what we do. I assume that you've had at least one of those in your life, and I'd like to hear about it,

Martine Babineau: 28:47

yeah, well, quickly, to not make this a life story. Is I joined rotary actually in initially, in 2011 okay, I was invited to attend rotary meetings, and I officially became a Rotarian in 2012 in February 2012 when my club was chartered. So I joined in 2011 a new club. We got our charter in 2012 and then life happened, and I had to step away, and I was in a relatively new relationship and with someone who was just giving tons of time. He was leading meditations, giving all his time away, just asking people to bring, bring food for the food bank, and that's, that's going to be your payment. And I looked at and I said, you know, all of these people that are coming to your meditations are, you know, they're, they're people that have the means to actually pay for meditation services they have. You're giving all this time. Why don't you look at organizations that could really. Use your dedication. And I told him he should look into rotary. And so I wasn't a member at the time, right? And so he joined, and within a few months later, I think he joined in May, and I came back in November, and that was the moment that, that was the Yeah, yeah. I think I became a rotary and when I started recruiting people, even though I wasn't part of the

Peter Tonge: 30:30

Yeah, that's pretty good recruiting. Yeah, if you join, I'll join up. Too good, almost too That's amazing. It really is, let's, let's just circle back a little bit, and I'm thinking to myself, what does the humanities project look like five years from now?

Martine Babineau: 30:49

Oh, wow. You know I so I know what Charlie's plan is, okay? And so the humanity project itself, I think could definitely, like it said, with the jaws project, this is reproducible, and the project, it's all of the aspects of it is really grassroots. So in five years, I think that the Josh project is really the central piece. It's the humanity project between becomes a means to an end. And I really feel that at the end of the day, they're going to teach people how to they've already started in Moncton teaching people how to see each other instead of seeing the car, instead of seeing the the house or the level of privilege, Right? Is to see each other better to to really look each other in the eye and in concrete terms. I see that becoming a village, becoming a real like a real community in in of itself, where the the people who have benefited come back to help the others come back to be peers, because that's really how it's designed, the evolution of the plan. I could sit here for 20 another 20 minutes and tell you about the evolution of his plan, but it really is to build community.

Peter Tonge: 32:37

But ultimately it's community building and bringing people back around the circle. I think that's perfectly we if I'm not going to be articulate enough to say this properly, but I mean in when we're designing rotary projects, that's exactly the kind of results that we want to have to be self sustaining and to have have people sort of come back around from those being helped to those that are doing the helping. I mean, that's, that's the ultimate Right,

Martine Babineau: 33:05

exactly, exactly, and that's, you know, that I I'm throwing capes around everywhere. I really, honestly, I think they all deserve their own cape, for, for saving themselves and for and they're really, they're working on multi generational healing as well, because some of the people that are there have kids and they do work with

Peter Tonge: 33:38

them. Yeah, of course, been impacted by all of that? Yeah, wow. It's, it's, it's, so it's interesting, because so many of these things start with with one example or one champion, right? And that's what you found. But now this whole network is built around it, which is, which is ideal. I think it's, I think it's amazing. So happy to hear about it, hey, it's, it's

Martine Babineau: 34:03

be proud. Give your story, right? I think is the the whole it's membership drive right now. So keep inviting people, and the people that you don't, don't assume that the person you're talking to, would never want to become a rotary, right? That's

Peter Tonge: 34:25

exactly. And I mean, that's, I often say to people you know, tell, tell your community, tell your family and friends about what we do, and ask them, ask them to be part of it, right? And it's, it's, it's people, people want to have an impact, right? So let's, let's give them a pathway to do that,

Martine Babineau: 34:45

absolutely. And I think we really need to continue working on making rotary more accessible in all senses of the word. It's, it has been hard to access for a lot. Of people for far too long, and so I think we need to work, continue to work on making it accessible, financially, time wise, and really reminding everyone that every little bit counts. Don't have to be a 24/7

Peter Tonge: 35:21

you don't, you don't have to run, run a huge rotary program. Making a contribution is so important. It is just, as you say, one person can have such a such an impact, right?

Martine Babineau: 35:32

Even if it's the one person who knows, the one person who makes everything happen, right? Yeah, that can be your contribution. Sometimes it's maybe just your connections, maybe just your

Peter Tonge: 35:46

network. Yeah, you and I have talked about that in the past where, I mean, we go to these rotary events, and it's the people that you you meet, and the resource that you find, or the piece of information that you find, that helps move things forward, right? Always so interesting because, because we are a huge global network, so let's, let's make use of that, right? Exactly. Cool. Martin, thank you so much. This has been fantastic. Yeah, I really appreciate you telling me about what you do and about the humanities projects in the Josh project, I think they're both, they're both amazing. Happy to happy to share us with with the people that listen in. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me. My pleasure. Take care of you. You applause. Thank you so much for joining us on another great episode of talking Rotary. We would love to hear from you. Please send us your comments and story ideas, and you can share with us easily by sending us an email At feedback, at talking rotary.org let's keep talking Rotary. You

Unknown: 37:20

you.