Why I Care So Much About the Homeless

Heather Ferguson, President, The Hearing Foundation of Canada and Director, The Empire Club of Canada; Stephanie Lovering, Grade 12 Student, North Toronto Collegiate Institute; Reverend Millie J. Hope, Rector, St. Martin's Anglican Church, Bay Ridges; Patrick Gagnon, President, Parliamentary Group, Ottawa; Colleen Taylor, Mother of Hannah Taylor; Hartley T. Richardson, President and CEO, James Richardson & Sons, Limited; Verity Craig, Principal, Carmichael Birrell & Co. and Director, The Empire Club of Canada; Gail Asper, Managing Director, The Asper Foundation; Shelly Rae, Vice-President, Human Resources, The Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company; and Charles S. Coffey, Executive Vice-President Government Affairs, RBC Financial Group and 3rd Vice-President, The Empire Club of Canada.

Introduction by Bart Mindszenthy

Ladies and gentlemen and all of our younger guests, all of you who are all about the future, we're delighted to have you here with us and hopeful that you'll build a better world for yourselves and all of us aging ones.

Now, this is for the aging ones like me.

Think back to a Broadway musical that became a 1958 film. A movie called "South Pacific." I was 12 years old when I saw that film. And there was a song I seemed to have memorized instantly and will remember for a lifetime. A song called "Happy Talk."

Remember "Happy Talk"?

Can you remember some of the words?

I'm looking for just three lines of that song. Can you guess which lines?

Yeah, you're right. The lines are:

"You got to have a dream.

If you don't have a dream,

How you gonna make a dream come true."

Those are the lyrics that played through my mind when Charlie Coffey suggested many months ago that we invite this little giant of a person called Hannah Taylor. Because the more he talked about her, and the more we learned about her, and the more we watched videotapes of her magical, meaningful, passionate, and powerful presence, the more I sure wanted to have her come to address the Empire Club.

Well, she's here today.

And so is an exceptional man from Hannah's hometown of Winnipeg, whom we asked to come and tell you a little more about this amazing nine-year-old.

Hartley Richardson is the seventh consecutive Richardson to lead his family-owned corporation founded in 1857.

I think for the sake of our focus today, we should simply extend an invitation to Mr. Richardson to come address the Empire Club sometime in the near future because his personal range and scope of endeavours and achievements rival those of many esteemed Canadian businessmen.

Today, Mr. Richardson is here in his capacity as a member of Hannah's Ladybug Foundation Board of Directors.

Pretty amazing stuff.

And now, we're going to watch a short video presentation. Then Mr. Richardson will tell you a bit more about Hannah and her dream coming true--about Hannah, the little giant.

Hartley Richardson introduced Hannah Taylor.

Hannah Taylor

Hi everyone.

My name is Hannah Taylor. I am nine years old and I have started the Ladybug Foundation to help the homeless.

Ladybugs are good luck and they are my mascot.

What I came here to talk about is why I care about the homeless and why we all must care about people without a home.

When I was five years old my mom and I saw a man eating out of a garbage can. I was very sad and felt sick about that. I asked my mom why he had to do that. She said because he was down on his luck and was homeless and hungry. I felt so sorry for him.

For a very long time I thought of that man and worried about where he was and what he would be eating. I talked to my mom about homelessness a lot. Why, why, why I asked. If everybody shared what they had, could that cure homelessness?

Then I started school and one day when I was coming to school, I saw another homeless person. Everything she had was in one grocery cart.

Now my heart was too sad.

That night before I went to bed I wished I could cure homelessness. Everybody needs a home. I love my home.

My mom told me that sometimes when you worry and feel sad about things, if you do something to help change the problem your heart won't feel so sad.

She was right. I don't worry so much anymore because I know I can help and so can you.

Over the past three years, I have learned a lot about homelessness and I have had the chance to teach people about homelessness.

I have talked to thousands of people. I believe that if people know about homelessness--that there are people living without a home--they will want to help.

They have! Everyone from my Prime Minister to my friends in Winnipeg making ladybug jars, and lots of other people have listened and helped in a million ways.

We still have a long way to go. Together we can help--we all have sooo much. We just need to share a little of what we have and care about each other always.

I have made many friends, but there are three very special ones I want to tell you about.

One man named Rick lives in Winnipeg. I met him at a homeless shelter where he goes for food and love. He is a beautiful person and when I met him he cried. I asked him why he was crying and he said because I was hugging him and looking at him and talking to him.

He said they were happy tears.

Now when I see him he doesn't do that so much.

I have a picture of us together. He wore his best shirt the day they took our picture. He is just like you and me. He just needs someone to care about him.

I told him I care about him and I always will.

My next friend lives in Toronto. I met him when I was on a holiday there. He was working on a street corner. I stopped to fill his asking cup with money from my purse. I dumped all my change in his cup, hugged him and I walked away.

Twenty minutes later he came up behind us. He had been looking for me all that time. He had my ladybug good luck charm in his hand.

I had accidentally dropped it in his asking cup. He wanted me to have it back.

I hugged him and asked what his name was. He said, "My name is Carey," and then he said that no one ever asks him that.

We talked for a while and I asked him if he works here everyday. He said most days. I said I would come back and visit him every day I could. He was so skinny and he had hardly any teeth, but he had the very brightest smile.

My third friend's name is Brian and I met him at one of my favourite homeless shelters. He is the kindest person I have ever met and I want to tell you why.

At Christmas time I went back to visit him for dinner. He was sitting across from a homeless man who seemed very sad. Brian had just got a beautiful winter vest to keep himself warm with for Christmas. When Brian sat down and looked at his friend who seemed so sad, he took off his new vest and said, "You seem to need this vest more than I do--Merry Christmas." Brian gave his new Christmas vest away to the sad, sad man. When I saw this, I knew Brian was the kindest man I had ever met.

We all need to be kinder to each other. I know some people are afraid of homeless people, but they are great people wrapped in old clothes with sad hearts. Don't be afraid of them--just care for them and be kind to them.

When I do work for the Ladybug Foundation, I think of my three friends and how we all need to care about them and each other.

I get asked a lot of the same questions when I go out to teach people about homelessness so I will answer a few right now.

The number-one asked question is: "Am I scared when I speak?"

No, I am not scared because no one can see my paper so they can't tell if I make a mistake and everyone is friendly and caring and they just want to hear about homelessness and how they can help.

The next question is: "How many ladybug jars have I made?"

Well, I have made with my mom about 1,000. I make the ladybugs and she does the dots and my dad and I deliver the jars around for people to fill with their spare change.

"Will I ever stop helping the homeless?"

No, not even when I am 90. I will always help and I will always care.

"How did I feel the first time I met the Prime Minister?"

I was expecting a man with a crown and golden robes because of the way all the grown-ups were acting. He came in and looked just like a papa; he was kind and he had a cold. He was just a regular human with a good smile and a kind heart. I liked him right away. We both spoke and ate lunch together. I have been back to visit him in Ottawa. We have work to do, he and 1.

"What is your best book?"

I have a favourite book called "Family of the Earth" by Schim Schimmel. It is just terrific. You all should get it to read. It talks about how we are all connected in the world--how we may seem different but we all breathe the same air and deep down we all need the same things. I think we need to remember this when we think about homeless people. They are just like you and me, and we need to know and remember that always.

One other question is: "How do I feel when someone doesn't want to help the homeless or fill a ladybug jar with spare change?"

It doesn't hurt my feelings. It does sort of confuse me a little, but I believe that people have their own minds and my hope is that if they don't care about homeless people, they will care about something or someone else.

People often ask me who my heroes are. Well, my nana has always been one of my heroes. She is brave, loving and kind. She has always said I could do anything I put my heart to.

My nana showed me how to be strong because she is almost blind and still can do almost anything. I read to her so she can see the story in her head. She has helped me to believe I can help our homeless people and not to be afraid to try. She is beautiful to me and the best part is that my hero loves me.

I look up to her and someday want to be just like her--just not blind because that would be too hard.

We all need a hero because they help us to know all that is good in the world and what we can be.

One final thing people always ask me is how they can help. You can help homeless people in lots of ways. You can share what you have by donating food, clothing and some of your money, but mostly what you can do is be nice to them. If they are cold, share your mitts. If they are sad, say "hi" to them and give them a hug. If they are hungry, lend them a sandwich and just love them like family. They need that most of all.

So many people have already helped me make the Ladybug Foundation. We will all need to work together forever to help our homeless people.

I will keep teaching people about what our homeless people need and I believe we can make a difference.

We all need to care about each other and share a little of what we have. If you want to help, just call us at the ladybug foundation, or go to our Web site at ladybugfoundation.ca.

So, from my heart to your heart and your hearts to their hearts--thank you sooo much!!

The appreciation of the meeting was expressed by Charles S. Coffey, Executive Vice-President Government Affairs, RBC Financial Group and 3rd Vice-President, The Empire Club of Canada.