02/25/2024
Dear Ryan's Hope Community,
As you know Ryan's Hope is the legacy Tom and I created for our son Ryan and the Ryan's Hope Breakfast-To-Go program has been a labour of love for us from the beginning. We started this program to honour who Ryan was and for it to be a legacy to him.
In the three years we have ran this program it has grown so much and was becoming more difficult for us to afford. Thus in December we entered into an agreement with the churches to form the Barrie Breakfast Program Coalition in order to receive funding from the County of Simcoe. The agreement we entered into was that we would retain automy on the days we operate and this is turning out not to be the case. They have hired a paid Program Coordinator to manage the program.
Ryan's Hope is the legacy Tom and I created for our son Ryan and the Ryan's Hope Breakfast-To-Go program has been a labour of love for us from the beginning. We started this program to honour who Ryan was and for it to be a legacy to him. We have used Ryan's and our family's lived experience to help us in creating our vision, mission, and values on which we are guided. We have no interest in being managed and told how to run the program we founded in memory of our son, the program we have run successfully for three years.
This is more than a full time job for which we don't get paid. It has been a labour of love and part of our healing journey. Since becoming part of the coalition it is no longer healing, and has in fact caused us trauma.
We started Ryan's Hope due to failures in the system and to be an alternative to the system that failed our son. It feels as if we have now been swallowed up by that same system. The program we founded in memory of our son Ryan is now called The Barrie Breakfast Program without any regard for Ryan's legacy or respect for Tom and I and the beautiful community our grief built.
Without some source of funding the program is not sustainable for us to continue on our own. We have therefore made the difficult decision to hand the Breakfast-To-Go program over to the coalition. It has caused us too much pain trying to hold onto a program that no longer feels like it belongs to us. Thus as heartbreaking a decision as it is, for our own well being the time has come for us to let it go. Today was our last day serving breakfast.
Ryan's Hope will continue to support our community through our Street Outreach, Loads of Love laundry program, community dinners, and our encampment support. We will also continue with our education and advocacy work. We remain committed to work to change policy, end stigma, and save lives!
With gratitude,
Christine and Tom
