“The biggest change since the 1980s is the high amount of mental health and addiction issues in the community (even though) it hasn’t changed in size,” said Suzanne Lajambe, executive director of the John Howard Society in Sault Ste. Marie.
Lajambe has been with the organization 37 years and her long-time commitment was reflected this week when her daughter Jenna Stortini came from Toronto to hold, of all things, a pop-up fitness boot camp.
Stortini — a fitness enthusiast and after-work instructor — said her friends in her hometown of Sault Ste. Marie have been bugging her for fitness lessons and so, on this visit back, she held three days of classes in Bellevue Park.
This week also happened to be her mom’s 60th birthday. So, she thought, why not also turn the series into a fundraiser for the John Howard Society and make it a birthday tribute to her mom.
On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week, Stortini is putting on Sweat for a Cause — one-hour sessions that ‘focus on body weight’ and emphasize ‘movements that improve strength and endurance’.
At Thursday’s event, Lajambe talked about her career with the John Howard Society.
Lajambe said the organization's goal is to help people that have risk factors that lead to crime through programs that assist offenders, the abused, addicts, and the unemployed.
The Sault branch of the organization began in 1968 and in 1980 Lajambe was hired on in their Bail Verification and Supervision program.
These days, the organization has some different problems to tackle than back then.
“In 1980, we didn’t see the number of people dying from hard drugs and we didn't see as many people suffering from the combination of mental health and addiction, which often go hand in hand. (We also) didn't see the number of needles that are found on the streets of this city,” she said.
Lajambe said that if the sort of problems we face now — with opiates for example — were going on, they were much more hidden and didn’t effect the younger demographics as much.
“You see it in the obits, young people dying from overdoses,” she said.
The reason Lajambe has stayed with the John Howard Society for so long is that she feels they are actually making a difference.
“The support we receive from the community… they see a value in what we do,” she said. “(In 37 years) I have not seen another organization I’d like to be in.”
Sweat for a Cause is still on one more night.
The outdoor fitness class will be held at the north east end of Bellevue Park from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. and is pay-what-you-can with all donations going to the John Howard Society.