Anyone who has been around Rossbrook House for the past several years has likely seen Tim grow up… Tim started coming to Rossbrook House with his older sisters when he was 5 or 6 years old.

He attended all 3 of the Rossbrook House alternative school programs. When you look at photos of past events at Rossbrook House there is a young Tim with the governor-general, with various staff members, with Santa or other participants, acting in a play, playing soccer and football, dancing in the Pow Wow, going to Disneyworld with Dreams Take Flight… you name it!

Tim’s memories include going to Manitoba Moose games and then, after the return of the Winnipeg Jets, going to Jets games. He says that he wouldn’t have gone to as many games without Rossbrook House in his life. And Tim is very grateful for this because to him, “Hockey is life”. He is an avid hockey fan who likes to play each week with the participants from Rossbrook House. He plays and skates as often as he can. His dream job would be to take care of a rink. “To get up in the morning and to be at the rink all day would be awesome”, he said.

Tim started working part-time at Rossbrook House when he was 12 as a Junior Staff (or LET Youth) member. He spent days in Eagles’ Circle school followed by evenings working a shift at Rossbrook House. After he graduated high school he began working full-time. From 2015 to February 2018 he worked as the Kitchen Supervisor.

Community

Tim enjoys walking through the community and having so many little kids know him by name when they say hello. Working around young children taught him patience, and he also learned how to talk to people, and he said; “how to respond when you see someone is having a bad day”. The people at Rossbrook House are like family to Tim. He learned life skills and “learned a lot in the kitchen that you can take with you”.

His message to today’s teenagers is to: “Treat people how you want to be treated.”

Support

Tim gives credit to where he is today to Rossbrook House. He looks up to many of the older staff he worked with. He says they are more like uncles than colleagues. He grew up with staff members; Terry, Lloyd, Kerry, and Danny watching him grow up, and that’s where he learned his work ethic. He says he learned “a full time job is a commitment” from the people that he worked with like Lloyd and Terry who never miss a shift.

Goals

“If I could get a shift, I would take it,” Tim said. His goal was to be able to get his own place. And he did. And then his next goal was to buy a car. And he did. In 2017 his goal was to get his class 4 license so that he could work overtime and be a driver of the RBH vans for outings.

“You get what you give, you put in hard work, you get results,” Tim said.

In November 2017 he received a scholarship from Rossbrook House and the support to pursue his dream of becoming a long-haul truck driver. He took a 38-hour class 1 prep course with Buffalo Driver Training. He took his road test and passed, on his first try, on his birthday Jan 12, 2018. At the end of February 2018, he left Rossbrook House to start working for Bison Transport.

Message for Rossbrook House

“It’s one of a kind. I don’t know if there is anywhere else like it but if there was one in all cities for all youth, it would be awesome. It makes for great community. Kids come right after school. It’s the spot to go, the safe place to have fun and make friends, since the beginning of time,” Tim said before saying goodbye to Rossbrook House.

It’s not really goodbye. Tim has been a volunteer at the Wi Wabigooni winter camp every year since he graduated from grade 6. He hopes to continue this tradition. And he will be stopping by to say hi, to attend various Rossbrook House events, and, no doubt, will be taking Rossbrook House with him— in his heart.

“Give back to where you came from, to your people. It will be exciting to start a new journey. Rossbrook is my people. I will miss it for sure.”