The homeless shelter and Project Northern Doorway residents will have a great Thanksgiving dinner, thanks to Owen Settee.
Settee, a teenager from Thompson, is best known for his work with the homeless shelter, and Manitoba Heroes, an organization that recognizes people that have made a change within the province. Providing a hot meal for the homeless and transitioning residents at 95 Cree Road was something Settee wanted to do. With the help of Pearl Roberts from Family Foods, Owen ended up with turkeys, hams, and all the fixings to give the holiday meal.
Roberts matched Settee's donations, and gave him 10 per cent off his purchases. Settee says it's because of the help from others he was able to do this. “Without the support of Thompsonites, this initiative wouldn't be possible. So with this I would like to say happy Thanksgiving to the clients at The Thompson Homeless Shelter, and also the staff at the CMHA.”
Paullette Simkins, executive director for the Canadian Mental Health Association of Thompson, says Settee is like no other. “I think it's awesome. I wish we had more young individuals that had the same compassion and willingness to help. He's been a tremendous voice for the homeless clients.”
As well as donating food to the CMHA, Settee also presented Simkins with a cheque. On Sept. 27, Settee attended the Manitoba Heroes gala dinner in Winnipeg, because he was a 2013 Manitoba. The organization agreed to donate $1,000 to a charity of Settee's choice, and he picked the homeless shelter. He hopes this money can help out during the winter. “I thought it would help the CMHA to buy winter clothing for the clients this winter. We all know that Thompson gets brutally cold during the winter.”
Simkins says they were not expecting this at all. “Up until a couple of weeks ago we were unaware, so it's a great gift.”
