Keeping warm and making a difference

University transfer student Tamara Dancy is pursuing a career in social work because she wants to make a difference. She’s already gotten started, spearheading a winter clothing drive to help keep the unhoused population of Lloydminster warm after they lost all of their belongings.

“I volunteer for an organization called Lloydminster and Vermilion for Equity and we had a huge need for winter clothing,” Dancy explains. “There were some unhoused individuals who had all their belongings taken and I wanted to help. I just don’t want anybody to freeze this winter.”

She reached out to Rikki Ducharme, Lakeland’s Indigenous wellness advisor, for help setting up the winter clothing drive, collecting donations on Lakeland College’s Vermilion and Lloydminster locations. In total, the campus community gave 100 donations, including 58 coats, as well as snowpants, hats, mitts and scarves.

Dancy distributed the winter gear with Lloydminster and Vermilion for Equity, handing it out alongside the meals they usually distribute to the unhoused population, as well as other harm-reduction initiatives they undertake.

“We had no coats to give out prior to this,” Dancy says. “But we were able to hand out coats to almost everyone we saw. They were very thankful. It’s been so cold, there were some people out there who I was afraid for. I was glad to be able to help in some way.”

Before enrolling in university transfer at Lakeland to pursue a bachelor of social work degree, Dancy was studying nursing. While in that program, she realized that it was the social sciences courses that caught her attention most and she made the switch.

“It’s more in line with my interests in helping people and making a difference in their lives,” she explains. “I know nurses do that too, but it’s in a different capacity. Quite a few people that I grew up with are unhoused now and some have passed away. As someone with addictions in my past, it’s an issue that is really close to my heart.”

Dancy has been volunteering with Lloydminster and Vermilion for Equity since September, and that experience, combined with her social work studies, have reaffirmed for her that she is heading in the right direction.

“It’s giving me a new sense of purpose,” Dancy says. “I was feeling like I wasn’t sure what I was doing and then just being able to get this real-life experience made me realize that social work is the path for me. I just really want to make a difference. I want to help people get back on their feet, get into transitional housing, and get through what they’re going through.”