THUNDER BAY – Dina Gazzola initially set out to help the city’s at-risk youth capture images that reflected their perspective of life in Thunder Bay.
Little did she know the photo voice project would help raise $5,242 to help Shelter House fund its Street Outreach Service program.
Gazzola, stunned by the pictures brought back by participants in the project and inspired by her brother-in-law, began looking for a way to display the images beyond a one-day exhibit at city hall. She quickly hit upon the idea of a calendar and photo album, which she sold at various locations around town to benefit Shelter House.
“The entire printing was sponsored by several businesses around town,” she said. “We sold the books and calendars at Superstore, Intercity (Shopping Centre), craft markets and the farmer’s market. All the proceeds are going to the Shelter House SOS program, because that was one of the focuses for the youth during the photo voice project.”
The images were selected to make people think, said Gazzola, who undertook the project as part of her role with Leadership Thunder Bay.
“They have some symbolic meaning to the youth who have taken them,” she said.
“You have to kind of look at the pictures to actually get to see what their perspective may have been. Some of them have (words with) them, but not all of them do because the purpose is actually to look at the photos and try to imagine from their point of view what they see around town.”
Gazzola said she focused on people aged 17 to 24 with the photo voice project because across Canada it’s this demographic that often falls through the homelessness cracks, more than 65,000 youth calling themselves homeless or living in shelters.
Thousands more are at risk each year, she added.
“It’s still a crucial time in their life,” Gazzola said. “They still need support.”
Michelle Jordan, the acting executive director at Shelter House, said the money is crucial and will be used to help replace the SOS van, which recently went out of service.
Every little bit helps, she said.
“Thunder Bay is amazing for that. We have a lot of our community partners that do events like this or put on these types of projects that really impact our people,” Jordan said.
While Gazzola said she’s stopped selling the calendars and photo books, they are available at Shelter House for a limited time.
