That's a Wrap

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop. ~ Lewis Carroll

My term as Chair of West Toronto Community Legal Services came to an end at the Annual General Meeting held tonight. It has been a long and challenging two and a half years. I joined the WTCLS Board as Vice-Chair in June 2009. The previous Clinic Board had resigned en masse leaving my friend Judy, the Executive Director, in a tight spot. She called me late one afternoon to tell me what had happened. She had less than twenty-four hours before she was required to appear at Legal Aid Ontario to present a plan for a new Board or risk defunding of the Clinic. She needed four people to create a Board with quorum. Though it seemed like an impossible task, by ten o'clock the next morning, I accompanied Judy to LAO. Between the two of us, we had managed to put together a Board.

Over the course of the next months, the new Board spent hundreds of hours working to get the Clinic on a solid footing. We recruited additional Board members, implemented new policies and cleaned up old problems. Changes to our Board last June resulted in my shift from Vice-Chair to Chair of the Board. I long ago lost track of the inordinate amount of time I spent on Clinic business.

The end of my term tonight came, admittedly, with mixed emotions. I'm extremely proud of the work we did. I'm honored to have had the opportunity to support housing help and poverty law provision for members of the West Toronto community. I'm happy to be handing over the reins to the very capable team that comprises the new Clinic Board. I'm a little sad that I may not again see a couple of the other outgoing BOD members with whom I've spent so much time these past couple of years. But mostly, I'm relieved. It is done. I was ready for the end.