News

Circles, Part 3: A friend in need

POVERTY: Circles builds on personal contacts

by Shawn Jeffors

Editor's note: This is the third in a five-part series about the Circles Poverty Reduction Strategy and the participants whose life it is changing. Lambton County is the first Canadian municipality to launch the program.

Ed Wolsey Jr. can admit it. Pride held him back.

Now, sitting in a quiet meeting room in a south Sarnia church, he says he knows he can pull himself up out of poverty. But he can't do it alone.

"When you're in a rut,...

How are they doing?

Readers have been asking how individuals profiled in the five-part Circles series concluding today have fared. Following is a rundown:

• Crystal Fach was featured in part one Thursday. She has been sober for more than three years and again has custody of her two sons. She has completed high school and begun work apprenticing as a hair stylist. Fach said she told her story to make the community aware of the dangers of drug abuse.
• Ed Wolsey Jr., featured in part three Monday. He is contemplating a...

Sarnia Observer: Local Circles Program Turning Heads

by SHAWN JEFFORDS (article from The Sarnia Observer)

Toronto might be able to learn a thing or two from Sarnia-Lambton about battling poverty.

Just a month after the official launch here of the Circles poverty reduction strategy, Metro Toronto Literacy wants to implement the program in the capital city, said local co-ordinator Gayle Montgomery.

"It's really great news. We're being seen as provincial leaders in poverty reduction," she said.

Lambton County was the first Canadian municipality to adopt...

UPDATED: Circles co-founder attends local launch

Editor's note: This is the last in a five-part series about the Circles Poverty Reduction Strategy and the participants whose life it is changing.

by Shawn Jeffords

Scott Miller isn't a beach person.

The co-founder of the Circles Poverty Reduction Strategy spent his 25th wedding anniversary with his wife in Hawaii, a place he'd long wanted to visit.

"Towards the end of the trip I couldn't wait to get back," recalled Miller, who was in Sarnia for the official launch of Circles on Tuesday.

When he...

Sarnia Observer: Some Squaring the Circle

POVERTY: Anti-poverty program first in Canada

by Shawn Jeffords (article link)

Editor's note: This is the first in a five-part series about the Circles Poverty Reduction Strategy and the participants whose lives it is changing. Lambton County is the first Canadian municipality to launch Circles, which has had considerable success in the U. S.

Crystal Fach struggles under the weight.

The 29-year-old mother of two boys stands in the middle of a circle of people in a south-end church basement, smiling...