The inspiration behind the Calgary Dream Centre can be summed up in one word – transformation. It’s a word that not only refers to the homeless, disenfranchised men who call this place home. Transformation also figures largely in the life story of the Dream Centre’s Executive Director, Jim Moore.
Jim Moore, Executive Director, Calgary Dream Centre
Moore was born and raised in Calgary, attending Western Canada High School and later the University of Toronto. His career path began in banking, but his entrepreneurial spirit led Moore to become owner of a number of Dairy Queens in Calgary. He later started his own successful real estate firm, Jim Moore and Associates, and enjoyed a stint as President of the Calgary Real Estate Board.
After Canada Trust offered to buy his company, Moore found himself as Vice-President of the western region for the bank’s real estate division, eventually moving with wife Molly to Toronto to become President of Canada Trust Real Estate. But hometown and family ties were strong, and soon Moore was back in Calgary, working as a consultant for the bank.
Then, while attending a conference in Victoria, Moore felt a pain in his chest and was taken to hospital, where he suffered a massive heart attack. A few days later Moore was recovering from triple bypass surgery, with a changed outlook on life.
“Almost everyone has a life-changing experience at some point,” says Moore. “Mine happened to be a heart attack.”
Shortly after, Moore heard about First Assembly Church’s vision for the Dream Centre, a place where homeless men, on the fringes of society, could find community. As well, they would be receiving life management skills, career development training and spiritual care, restoring their dignity and equipping them to become productive citizens. The idea struck a chord with Moore.
“I’ve always loved building things, putting things together,” says Moore, “and pouring my energy into people, as well. And I know from my own experience you can’t get to where you want to be without help.”
Friends and family counselled Moore to slow down after his heart surgery, but as Moore recounts, “retire is not a word in my vocabulary.” He was asked to help put the real estate deal together that brought the Dream Centre into being. A thirty year old hotel on Macleod Trail was acquired, and work began in earnest.
“We basically gutted the building,” says Moore. “It had two strip joints and five bars. The police were always raiding it. You wouldn’t believe how many hypodermic needles we found in there.”
After three years of planning and hard work by countless volunteers, the Dream Centre was dedicated on Oct. 18, 2003. It wasn’t long before Moore became its Executive Director.
“Sometimes people ask what a businessman like me is doing here,” says Moore with a grin. “When I was a ‘suit’, I would look at homeless people and think they were lazy. Now that I’ve sat down with hundreds of these guys and heard their stories, I understand that many of them have come across such despair in their life, and turn to drugs or alcohol or gambling to take the pain away. They come here and we love them and care for them and protect them. We make sure this place is safe for them, with zero tolerance for violence, alcohol or drugs. Our expectations for the men are to clean up on the inside, clean up on the outside, reunite with their families, change their way of thinking and write a new book for themselves. And it’s working.”
There are 300 men going through Calgary Dream Centre’s specially designed programs at any one time, which includes an Addiction Recovery Program, Transitional Housing and Long-Term Supportive Housing. Almost 5000 men have been through the Dream Centre’s specialized support process. A new Dream Centre initiative this year, in partnership with The Calgary Foundation, focuses on young men aged 18 to 24.
Christopher Coyne, Calgary Dream Centre
Christopher Coyne is one of the Dream Centre’s innumerable success stories. He spent many years, as he puts it, “addicted to cocaine, homeless and broken”. Finally at the point of total frustration with the way his life was going, Coyne joined a group of men going through the Dream Centre’s programs.
“The Dream Centre picked me up when I was down, helped me to believe in myself, and gave me the necessary tools to deal with life on life’s terms,” says Coyne. “Since graduating from the program, I have been able to reconnect with my family, and was blessed to see my Mom again after 10 years.”
Coyne is now a Case Manager at the Dream Centre, serving men who are in the same place that he was a short time ago.
Moore insists he couldn’t do anything without the strong team he has built around him. He is proud that the Dream Centre has become self-sustaining, receiving support from all three levels of government. Calgary’s entire faith community has rallied around them, along with many other donors, volunteers and stakeholders.
“We’re involved with many community action groups working on ending homelessness,” says Moore. “No one has all the answers, but when people with the same passion work together towards a goal, things happen. Homelessness is going to be eradicated in Calgary. How? By showing compassion, one life at a time.”
For more information about the Calgary Dream Centre or to find out how you can get involved, visit their website at www.calgarydreamcentre.com or phone 403-243-5598.
