Pushing for a change
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There were some old friends and a group of supporters awaiting Joe Roberts when his Push For Change campaign made a pit stop in Belleville Wednesday.
Roberts pushed his shopping cart up Front Street and on to Market Square in Belleville, one of more than 400 community fundraising events he will attend in support of his 9,000-kilometre, 517-day trek across Canada, ending in Vancouver in September 2017.
Roberts, formerly homeless but now a rehabilitated drug addict, has set an ambitious $17.5 million goal, with about $125,000 of that target achieved to date. Every cent raised goes toward the cause, with Roberts’ travelling expenses covered by sponsors.
“We want to leave a part of it in the communities we trek through,” he said. “The other portions we want to invest in school-based prevention models.”
The 49-year-old is no stranger to Belleville.
“I kind of had tears in my eyes coming into this city today,” he said. “About 25 years I came here via Kingston Detox, to a residential treatment program on Foster Avenue called Serenity House. That’s where I started to rebuild my life.”
Roberts landed here, after escaping the grips of addiction and homelessness in Vancouver. His drug and alcohol counsellor encouraged him to enrol at Loyalist College. Following four years of study, Roberts graduated from the marketing and sales program with honours.
“I went out into the business world and I began to apply myself with the skills I learned in this city,” he said. “In less than 12 years I went from a kid entering a treatment centre, to being on the cover of Macleans Magazine, as a celebrated entrepreneur.”
Roberts was driven to use his success story as a motivational tool for youth struggling with homelessness.
“We decided to walk across Canada pushing that symbol of homelessness, the shopping cart, talking about what we need to do to better protect young people” he said.
Roberts is in support of preventative measures aimed at reaching at-risk youth, some who may be battling mental health and addiction woes, at a stage before they end up on the street.
Family conflict was behind what drove Roberts toward the streets, as a teen.
“I didn’t have the skills to manage,” he said. “That’s the case for 35,000 young people every year in this country.”
John Wendlyng, one of Belleville’s community champions, met Roberts at Loyalist College in 1992.
“He started a couple companies out west and now, to give back, he’s walking across Canada,” Wendlyng said. “Myself and somebody from community policing will sit down and decide which agencies will benefit from what’s raised here.”
Coun. Garnet Thompson is championing one of the causes to benefit from the funds.
“I belong to a group trying to organize a transitional home with some shelter beds,” he said of the program being operated in conjunction with the John Howard Society.