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Backyard Hero
By Barbara Ramsay Orr
It Takes a Village
John Frame helps make Variety Village a happy place
this will sound strange,”
says John Frame with a smile,
“Iknow
“but Variety Village is a very
happy place to be.”
Strange because Variety Village in
Toronto is a place where youth who
are challenged both physically and
mentally come for various programs
to help improve their quality of life. If
you look around the lobby, many of
the people here are in wheelchairs or
use walkers or canes to get around.
You might expect this to be a stressful
environment but John is right. It’s a
happy place.
Part of the reason it is such a welcoming
“village” is thanks to volunteers
like John.
PHOTO: BARBARA RAMSAY ORR
June 2008 • 41 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine
John spent 30 years teaching
technical subjects to special needs
students in the secondary school system.When
he retired, he had amassed
a whole skill set of strategies, knowledge
and techniques for helping special
needs students learn. When a
friend’s daughter asked if he would
help out in the pool because they
were short of staff, he knew nothing
about Variety Village or what it did,
but he agreed to help out for one
class.
Eighteen years later, he’s still
there.
The centre is a multi-faceted facility
that includes pools, gyms, indoor
tracks, three basketball courts, a
climbing wall, classrooms, and much
more.While its primary purpose is to
help challenged youth, it is also a general
membership fitness club, with an
excellent Active Aging Club and many
varied activities. It’s a busy, bustling
place.
As John walks me through a tour
of the facility, it is obvious that he is a
favourite. Staff greet him with jokes
and hugs. As we stand by the pool,
young instructors come by to say
hello or slap him on the back.
When the swimming classes run,
the instructors give the most special
students — students who really need
one-on-one attention — to John. Right
now he is working with two autistic
boys who are a challenge, both physically
and emotionally.“But every once
in a while, not often, but once in a
while,one of them will look directly at