Carl DeLine

When Jason Stuart was 21, he was homeless. By the time he was 25, he owned his own home.

His remarkable transformation began when he walked through the front door of The Back Door, an amazing grassroots community group that helps young people who are down and out beat the street and lead productive lives.

Jason, now a 30-year-old head chef at an upscale Calgary pub, points out that homelessness is more than a lack of shelter. It is often an all-encompassing culture that is as hard to crack as the toughest combination on a bank vault.

For three years, Jason was essentially homeless. By day, he was scamming his way on the streets to get money for his drug habit; by night he was sleeping in the Salvation Army’s shelter for men.

It was there that he learned about The Back Door.

“To be quite honest, the reason I went is I heard they pay you $15 for each contract step you make — up to $120 a month. The free money was definitely the bait and hook that got me there,” he admits.

For the first six months, Jason says he was just going through the motions. He told staff at The Back Door that he would try to get a better job, find a place, you name it, just to get the money.

After six months, he looked at his contract and realized he hadn’t progressed at all but recognized that he wanted to.

While he realizes now that Marilyn Dyck, The Back Door’s executive director and co-founder along with Carl DeLine, knew what he was up to, they never judged him.

Marilyn just trusted him to make the right decisions for himself. And eventually he did.

“Marilyn is by far the kindest, most gentle person I’ve ever met in life,” says Jason, his voice cracking slightly.

“She is now a part of my life — always will be — she came to my wedding last year.

“I can honestly say, if it wasn’t for her and this program — which is supported by many donors — I wouldn’t be this far ahead. I might still be in that life.”

Sitting in the humble though restful surroundings of The Back Door, at 2808 Ogden Road S.E., Marilyn explains how warehousing the homeless at night and feeding them in the day — while necessary — does not solve homelessness.

Indeed, on the street, the new Calgary Drop-in Centre’s homeless shelter in downtown Calgary — while called the Homeless Hyatt by the media — is referred to as the $14-million drunk tank by many of Calgary’s homeless.

“The Back Door looks past the issues of food and shelter,” points out Marilyn. “The street,” she adds, “is a distinct culture. Leaving the street is like moving to a different country. Our participants have to learn a whole new way to dress, speak, interact.”

The Back Door was started by Carl DeLine and Marilyn in 1988 and has since entered into contracts with 700 youths — 70% of whom get off and stay off the streets. In other words, so far, 490 lives have been transformed from street kids committing crimes into productive, law abiding, tax-paying citizens.

Their very first participant was an 18-year-old raised in the child-care system. She had mental health and drug abuse issues and wound up on the street. Through the contracting process she realized she wanted to go back to high school. She eventually graduated from the University of Calgary in nursing and is currently working as a nurse and is living in a stable marriage raising two children.

With the help of The Back Door, she broke the cycle of dysfunction in her family.

“It’s one person, one choice at a time,” says Marilyn. “But the ripple effects of one life changed are enormous.”

Indeed, the ripple effects are spreading into the United States. DeLine has relocated to Minnesota and a Back Door program just opened there on Tuesday.

As Homeless Awareness Week comes to a close on Oct. 3, it’s time for Calgarians who want to help to think beyond the issues of shelter and food.

Much more is needed to break the trap of street life.

Jason and hundreds of others like him are proof of that. All they had to do was make that first choice — to walk in through the front door of The Back Door.

Originally published September 29, 2001 by the Calgary Sun (Calgary, AB), credited to Licia Corbella.