to Trudy with Love
Remembering Trudy Beaulne
Trudy Beaulne passed away suddenly on Friday, January 5, 2018 at the age of 63. She was an activist who genuinely loved her community, her neighbourhood and her mission. She worked tirelessly to advocate for those suffering, especially from the effects of poverty, physical disabilities and mental illness. She was the Executive Director of the Social Development Centre Waterloo Region, formerly known as K-W Social Planning Council. I met her sometime in the mid nineties and she was a big fan of my vision to use primary schools as the central community hub of neighbourhoods. This was a radical idea at the time and met with strong resistance. Her loving heart and strong, tenacious personality set the example that I needed to draw from to navigate through the many obstacles to come. Innovative partnerships were formed with Toastmasters, Katimavik, the Food Bank, Region of Waterloo Public Health & the WCDSB to provide lunch hour and after-school programming at Smithson Public School in Kitchener as part of a pilot project to explore the school/community hub model. The project had a huge positive impact on the children who benefited the most, but was ultimately shot down. The seed was planted, but the ground proved infertile. Trudy’s guidance gave me the courage to plant anyways, no matter what the outcome.
This video is a collection of photos taken during the Festival of Neighbourhoods Celebration & Awards Ceremony at City Hall. Trudy “hired” me as the event photographer from 1997 to 1999. These photos were doubles of my prints uncovered on Valentine’s Day in a shoe box and scanned yesterday afternoon to create this slideshow.
The soundtrack “How I Got to Memphis” is one of my favourite songs by Soulstack, recorded live off the floor at the Boathouse in Kitchener on December 9th, 2017
Like Soulstack on facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Soulstack/
Trudy’s signature…
Anti-Poverty Activist – Stood Up For Others
music & musings 