{"id":4571,"date":"2019-11-19T13:53:30","date_gmt":"2019-11-19T20:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dixonsociety.ca\/?p=4571"},"modified":"2020-06-10T17:36:54","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T00:36:54","slug":"donor-feature-keith-metcalfe-and-traction-guest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dixonsociety.ca\/donor-feature-keith-metcalfe-and-traction-guest\/","title":{"rendered":"Donor Feature: Keith Metcalfe and Traction Guest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the summer of 2019, a team of 45 employees from Traction\nGuest came to assemble brand new dressers for the units at Wenda\u2019s Place, our\nSecond Stage Housing program. Since then, they\u2019ve also hosted a coding workshop\nfor the kids at Dixon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDixon came into our view on the Traction Guest side of\nthings because we have a belief that we have to impact more than just our\nshareholders, employees, and customers,\u201d says Keith. \u201cWe also want to make an\nimpact on our community, by giving our time, skills, and resources.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

We have been so grateful to have had their support. We sat\ndown with their CEO, Keith Metcalfe, to chat more about Traction Guest\u2019s \u201cGuest\nfor Good\u201d program, their relationship with Dixon, and his experience with and\nunderstanding of the terrifying reality of domestic violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Traction Guest volunteers after assembling brand new dressers at Wenda’s Place<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Keith originally learned about Dixon from a news article on\nFacebook, announcing Dixon\u2019s approval of funding for our housing project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The housing project caught his attention. Providing a house,\nor space, for women fleeing violence is not a theoretical impact on the community:\nit\u2019s tangible. A person needs housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo that was something simple that made a lot of sense to me,\u201d says Keith. \u201cThen I thought, hey, we\u2019ve got this Guest for Good program, and we want to impact the community. Is [Dixon] something we can get around?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\nAnd that\u2019s exactly what they did. \n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team-building events for staff\u2014ping pong and the like\u2014are\ngreat and fun, Keith acknowledges, but there\u2019s something really meaningful\nabout contributing to organizations like Dixon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen people get to do something tangible and see the result of their work, it\u2019s really gratifying,\u201d says Keith. \u201cIt was enjoyable to do something, and be able to think\u2014I can see a room here, I know people live in here, I know they have a dresser, and maybe they didn\u2019t before. There\u2019s something really satisfying about that, given that our work [at Traction Guest] is largely around assembling ideas and giving them to people to use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Traction Guest volunteers (Keith on the far right) assembling a dresser at Wenda’s Place<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Keith adds that it was also great to rally people around\ndoing volunteer work because and the employees can see the values they talk\nabout being embodied in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve also had some personal exposure to people experiencing\ndomestic violence situations,\u201d shares Keith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s because of that exposure that Keith knows that leaving a domestic violence situation is not so simple. \u201cI think some people hear about these situations and have thoughts like: We\u2019re in a country where people can go and get a job. Why don\u2019t they do that? Why don\u2019t they leave? [But] then you get exposed to it, and you realize there\u2019s emotional, financial, and physical obstacles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keith has seen situations where people don\u2019t have any\nfinancial means to leave, on top of having to consider the children involved,\neven if the person involved knows that they should leave the violent situation.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also the problem of the legal system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I ever get into a place where I can revamp [the legal\nsystem], I would,\u201d says Keith. \u201cIf you\u2019re a woman trying to leave a bad\nrelationship, legally, it can be a weapon against you. I\u2019ve seen it, and it\u2019s\nugly. I\u2019ve seen situations where people have to go through multiple lawyers.\nThey\u2019re having a hard time dealing with the legal process because they\u2019re just\nin a space of protecting themselves, so then the abuser gets the opportunity to\nuse the legal system against them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keith knows that the legal system can be used as a tool to\npurposefully delay process, and prolong abuse. It seems profoundly unjust: the\nlegal system should be protecting people who are vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd then there\u2019s the emotional side: often, social networks\nare all tied together. Not only would you be leaving [an abuser], you would be\nleaving your entire safety net and social network,\u201d adds Keith. \u201cAnd then there\nare the physical threats to leaving\u2014and maybe not just to you, but to children.\nAnd when you start appreciating that, it\u2019s not that simple. The idea of leaving\nis terrifying. And maybe not even possible.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keith observed that a warm, safe place to go is probably the\nnumber one thing in mind for women fleeing domestic violence, and that\u2019s what\ndrove him to donate to Dixon Transition Society in the first place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot having a safe place to go is probably the number one\nobstacle to leaving\u2014so for me, I thought that it was something I could help\nwith. Abused individuals are often in a state that they just need to get away\nand decompress, first and foremost, and don\u2019t necessarily want to be around\nanybody trying to fix them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also the benefit of being around women who have been\nthrough similar experiences and \u201ccome out the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust the idea that it\u2019s possible [to move on] is inspiring,\nand maybe less hopeless,\u201d Keith says, \u201cso going to an environment where there\nare people who can say, \u2018Hey, I\u2019ve done this. You can, too,\u2019 would be really\nhelpful. And I like that about Dixon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re so grateful to collaborate with individuals and\nbusinesses in our community, including Traction Guest. These community\nsupporters donate valuable time, money, resources, and effort, and these gifts\nhelp make Dixon successful. Without you, we would not be able to do the work\nthat we do of supporting women and children as they rebuild their lives after\nviolence, so thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you so much to Keith for taking the time to chat with\nus about his experiences, and thank you so much to Traction Guest for your\ncontinued generosity and support for the women and children we serve!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the summer of 2019, a team of 45 employees from Traction Guest came to assemble brand new dressers for the units at Wenda\u2019s Place, our Second Stage Housing program. Since then, they\u2019ve also hosted a coding workshop for the kids at Dixon. \u201cDixon came into our view on the Traction Guest side of things …<\/p>\n

Donor Feature: Keith Metcalfe and Traction Guest<\/span> Read More \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88890,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\nDonor 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