These are my words from today's dedication ceremony in honour of Ian....

Welcome and thank you everyone for coming today. I am Anne Brown, Chair of the Board of Directors of Kingston Youth Shelter. I would like to offer a special thank you to Deputy Mayor Neill for attending today.  We have many of Ian’s family and friends here today to celebrate his contribution to Kingston Youth Shelter. It saddens me that Ian is not with us today. I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to his family for their recent loss of Ian. I take heart in the fact that he knew we were going to honour him today and he had planned to be here. Ian had a positive outlook on life and he would be the first to say carry on.

I would like to share a bit of Ian’s history with Kingston Youth Shelter. Ian started his volunteer career with Kingston Youth Shelter by teaching a half day workshop on budgeting to the young people who used the shelter on Brock St. He often spoke of how much he enjoyed that experience and of how those youth affected him. Ian always found fun in his experiences and enjoyed the fact that he included a budget line for tattoos and smokes when he taught this course. In his own words, after teaching that workshop, he was hooked. That was in 2001.

After teaching that workshop, he continued his efforts by serving on the Board of Directors for the Shelter. In those early days, the organization struggled financially. Meeting payroll was a challenge. He stuck with the organization during those lean times and saw it mature into much more financially stable times. And then, he was here through exciting times of growth.  Our past executive director, Jason Beaubiah describes Ian as “someone who could always be relied upon. He has been a great support and was always there when you needed him.” Ian served on the Board of Directors until November of 2017 when his health dictated that he resign from his role as Chair leaving some very large shoes to fill.

Under Ian’s leadership as Board Chair, Kingston Youth Shelter purchased this house in the fall of 2014 with a mission to provide supportive transitional housing to youth, giving them the skills and confidence to live independently. Today we honour Ian’s service to Kingston Youth Shelter and indeed, we honour his life by dedicating this house to him. This plaque will remind all who come through the doors of this house of his hard work and dedication and the impact he has had and will continue to have on the lives of Kingston youth and ending youth homelessness.

Thank you Ian.