Jonathan Desjardins is an imposing figure. You’re likely about as tall as the bottom of his beard, which in itself weighs as much as your head. He has some history as a doorman at nightclubs in Ottawa, and that experience has served him well as Operation Come Home’s newest regular volunteer, our greeter.
Jonathan was not the bouncer who roughed up a patron and tossed them out the door in some show of force. The experience that serves him well is more in the line of conflict resolution. Jonathan is a mediator. When a situation arises, he has many tools at his disposal to see that it gets resolved quickly and in a satisfactory manner.
Very few people have walked into Operation Come Home and made an instant connection with the youth. It takes a long time to become a respected member of the team, no matter how much shared experience you have. And Jonathan has more shared experience than most.
A year and a half ago, Jonathan was celebrating one year clean at narcotics anonymous, when he and his sponsor started to get recruited by others in the program to track down friends who had disappeared. They would search out the addicts who had been pulled back into the scene, and try to pull them out. These missions would usually pass through the Mission, the Salvation Army, and the Shepherds of Good Hope shelters downtown.
In effect, it was a form of outreach. Soon, Jonathan started thinking that he’d like to do official street outreach as well, and asked around if there were any volunteer openings for outreach to youth specifically. He was directed to Lynda at OCH, and has been there ever since.
Jonathan has served in a wide variety of volunteer roles. He’s worked at the drop-in, on the Bottleworks truck, and he organized a major fundraiser for OCH at the Liquid Impact Tattoo shop this past summer. Now he is at the door. A lot of youth connect with him over his many tattoos, one of the favourite topics around the drop-in. It took a while for them to warm up to him – he is an intimidating presence after all – but now everyone is happy that Jonathan is the first person they see when they walk in the door.
None are happier than Jonathan himself, who says he feels privileged to be the first person youth see when they come to OCH. He has seen tragedy and triumph from his vantage point at the door. He chokes up when he talks about a wonderful young man who suffered an epileptic seizure just outside the building a month ago. But he also has joy in his voice when he talks about a young woman he sees now. A young woman he used to see when he was with his sponsor tracking people down. Back then, he says, she was in bad bad shape. But now she stops and the door and they talk about tattoos. Her complexion is clearing up, and Jonathan can see she’s on the road to recovery. And he should know.
Having a volunteer like Jonathan is a boon to OCH, as it would be for any organization. The first time someone walks into OCH and are greeted by this enormous man, there is a little bit of apprehension. By the third time they walk in, the apprehension has been replaced by a sense of comfort. Jonathan is easy to be around, he’s charming and friendly and polite the way few people are. With him around, Operation Come Home has become a welcoming safe space for staff, for visitors, and most importantly for the homeless youth of Ottawa. Thank you Jonathan, for everything you do!
