Windsor Youth Centre Touched By A Random Act of Kindness

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Handout photo: Windsor Youth Centre

Guest Article by Rebecca Abray

When Fahrhall Home Comfort Commercial HVAC specialist John Bortolotti walked into the Windsor Youth Centre to access damage to the buildings heating ducts he recalled a recent article mentioning the youth centre celebrating their two year anniversary.

He also remembered reading that the centre is benefiting from an Ontario Trillium grant however the funds are only enough to cover half of the centre’s yearly operating costs.

After speaking with Tamara Kowalska, the youth centre’s co-founder and board chairman, John was surprised to learn that the centre assists 1,200 homeless or at-risk Windsor teens each month – 40 to 60 every night.

He also learned that Friday, December 6th is Windsor-Essex National Housing Day – a partnership between the City of Windsor, the County of Essex and Canada Mortgage and Housing – celebrating achievements in housing and homelessness from this past year and the launch of a 10 Year Housing and Homelessness Plan for Windsor-Essex.

Tamara mentioned she is excited to be attending the event and said “One of our youth will be speaking. She is our first youth member to be on the board of directors and she’ll share her experience with us”.

Moved by their story and wanting to help support the centre, John thought the centre could benefit from a Fahrhall Random Act of Kindness.

Tamara was shocked when she found out. Especially considering John never mentioned a word to her.  She was expecting to pay for the repairs. While Fahrhall installer Nick Walton was working on the repairs she asked if he could leave an invoice with her before he left.

Nick completely took her aback when he said “I don’t have one with me. The work order says Random Act of Kindness”.

“I walked up the stairs from the basement where the new ductwork was all nice and shiny, like a silver wrapped Christmas present. I thought to myself its kind acts like this that ensure our youth a warm place to spend the evening and keeps our volunteers coming back week after week. Fahrhall represents home comfort and that’s exactly what they’ve done for us because the purpose of our centre is to provide a comfortable home away from home for those who need one.”

When asked about the Random Act of Kindness John said “The wellbeing of citizens within our local community is very important to all of us at Fahrhall. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to be comfortable in our environments. It makes us happier, healthier and more productive in our daily lives. The Windsor Youth Centre is providing an important service for those needing shelter, safety and support – especially during the winter months. We were more than happy to lend a helping hand”.