Media release
Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022 – Giving Tuesday
A documentary shot in partnership with A Better Tent City by EarlyBird Films now streaming on YouTube.
Helping make a better tent city, even better
In October 2021, David Butler, Partner of Alair Kitchener/Waterloo and Aurora/Newmarket, responded to an urgent need to help the homeless in his community. Fifty residents living in 42 Tiny Homes were being relocated from an open parking lot of a major event centre that had been sold. The owner of the lot, Ron Doyle, was a well-known local philanthropist and visionary of “A Better Tent City ” who had passed away. The concept was just that; a step up from a tent, a hard roof over the heads of the chronic homeless – primarily individuals with mental health and addiction issues.
With major support from The City of Kitchener, “A Better Tent City” was granted access to a new location, an empty grass field loaned by the local school board. Once the Tiny Homes were moved by a group of volunteers throughout a cold day in the winter, David Butler stepped in.
With major support from 25+ trade and product suppliers, they worked together under the emergency housing act transforming steel sea cans into laundry, washroom (flushing toilets and running taps), and shower facilities as well as constructing donated classroom portables into a commercial kitchen and communal eating and lounge area
– all of which were craned into place. Prior to the individual amenities and shared communal area, residents were using outhouses and eating under a vinyl tent outdoors. There was also the major challenge of ensuring power and hydro was accessible. David donated 150+ project management hours and Alair Ontario contributed an additional $6K cash gift to the cause, but nothing could compare to what Team Alair received in return. The level of impact was nothing anyone could quite have expected. The experience was ‘eye opening’, humbling, and something we will never quite forget or look past in the future. We are proud to have provided not an entire solution for these deserving individuals, but something better.
David has become an essential part of building this ‘city’ capturing positive local and national media attention as well as interest from cities like Hamilton and Kingston, Ontario wanting to pilot the design in their communities.
A Better Tent City transformation
Celebrating the completion of a commercial kitchen
On Monday, September 26, 2022 Team Alair visited A Better Tent City celebrating the recent completion of a long-awaited commercial kitchen, following the site’s incredibly unique transformation, by sponsoring a lunch for 50 residents catered by local fav., “The Big Jerk”. This kitchen was the final touch to Alair’s support of assisting with the building of amenities (flushing toilets, showers, and laundry facilities) to help the residents live better.
Individual acknowledgements
Jeff Wilmer, Laura Hamilton, Nadine Brown, and Father Toby for continued inspiration of their selflessness and admirable volunteerism.
Corporate sponsors
We also thank the following companies who sponsored product/services to the project.
| Navacon Construction Inc. |
Sewer and Water, John Abel Sewer and Water, Peter Drexler |
| Conestoga Electric Inc. | Electrical, Clayton Schneider |
| Carpenter Union Local 785 |
Decks and Framing, Matt Kwasnicki Decks and Framing, William Harth Decks and Framing, Claude Bernard |
| Twin City Tile Co Ltd. | Flooring, Brain Edissi |
| Bau Mechanical Inc. | HVAC, Brad Bauman |
| Paint, Kevin Donaldson | |
| Copa Engineering Inc | Mechanical Engineering, Costas Pashartis |
| Mighton Engineering | Electrical Eng., Michael Jepson |
| Converta Boat | Portables, Bert Oliver |
| Alloy Casting Industries Ltd | Bathroom Container, Mitch Fortier |
| MTE Eng |
Engineering, Paul Slater Engineering, Lynn Ingram |
| City of Kitchener |
City official, Robert Shipper City official, Mike Seiling City Official, David Paetz |
| Alair Ontario |
Public Relations, Jacqueline Tyler Promotion, Justin Thompson |
| St Mary Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows |
Volunteer, Fr Toby, |
|
Volunteer, Jeff Wilmur Volunteer, Nadine Brown Volunteer, Pat Murphy Volunteer, Paul Rappolt |
|
| The Big Jerk Inc. |
Food, Kevin Thomas |
| Early Bird Films |
Video, Jon Mayer Video, Noah Campbell |
