On Saturday, May 31, with rain making its presence felt, some members of our community gathered to honour the life of Cheryl Folden who died last year because of her addictions.
After her death, retired teacher Stuart Westie was compelled to do something to keep her memory alive. Westie met Folden and eventually invited her into his home so she’d have a place to stay because at that point she was un-housed.
His exploration of options culminated with the installation of a bench in Herb Gardner Park with several information boards around it.
Tribune reporter Ruth Lloyd has written about Folden and Westie's friendship along the way. Lloyd was the first one to share the story and during the event Saturday, Westie thanked Lloyd for her ongoing commitment. Today's paper has Lloyd's coverage of the event.
With our mayor still away at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention in Ottawa, it was great to see our city council represented by councillors Sheila Boehm, Angie Delainey and Joan Flaspohler. One of Folden’s two sons attended and her sister travelled up from Nelson to be there as well.
Growing up, Folden’s life was rough. She was sexually assaulted as a child and adult.
Her addictions, however, did not stop her from being a kind, caring and honest person.
The display boards include some of Folden's own writings as well as thoughts about her penned by others.
If you haven’t checked it out yet, please do.
Westie's efforts remind us that no matter what, every single human being deserves to have dignity and be respected for who they are and that people living on the streets are there for a reason.
Thank you Stuart Westie.
The timing is important too because we are at a crossroads in Williams Lake. We are grappling with the issues of addictions, homelessness, open drug use in public and vandalism to businesses and public washrooms.
Williams Lake, however, is not alone.
There are so many other communities across this country dealing with the same things. I edited an article this week about vandalism in band shells and park washrooms in the North Thompson Valley.
My hope is that we can lead with compassion to make concrete decisions to help our community in a way that benefits all. There are many organizations and individuals doing good work, so it's a case of knowing what more should be done.
It’s time to come together, not be divided.
