When naming Yorkton This Week’s Citizen of the Year, we looked for someone who has made life in the city of Yorkton better. We decided to go with someone who has been working hard to help people who need a place to call home. We have chosen Tom Seeley as the Citizen of the Year for 2016.
While he received the award, Seeley says that he wants to accept it on behalf of everyone who works and volunteers behind the scenes to get projects off the ground and improve life for people in the city. He says nothing he is involved with would work without people behind the scenes who don’t get recognition.
“I worked at SIGN for years, and the whole deal there was to get people connected to things they were interested in and let them give their gifts. I work with people at Habitat all the time, for instance, who are not in front of the cameras, and you don’t see their name in the newspaper, but they put in a whole bunch of hours. Also on the housing committee, putting in hours and hours and hours, quietly and not heralded in the community.”
While officially retired – though he admits that his wife would dispute that – Seeley is an active volunteer in the community. In recent years, Seeley has been closely associated with housing, working as co-chair of the Yorkton Housing Committee, to ensure there is enough affordable housing in the community, as well as working with Habitat for Humanity since it started in the city. Since 2009, when the program started, six families have moved in to a new home, including two in a new duplex which was completed in 2016. Seeley was also involved in the establishment of the Habitat ReStore.
“I thought a focus on housing would be important. I’m a social worker by training, and I worked in that field throughout my career, and I know that if people are well housed things go better in their lives. Their kids do better and we have a better community that way.”
Seeley was also involved in the New Arrivals Network to help connect people looking to offer refugee sponsorship in the Yorkton area, as well as the moderator of the candidate’s meeting of social issues during the municipal election.
“I thought it was an important thing to do, to have a focus on social issues.”
Seeley has also been hard at work as part of the volunteer team working to save the York Lake Golf Course, which included putting in a foot golf course this year. They are currently crowdfunding to help pay for clubhouse improvements. He is also an active member of a local racquetball club.
Yorkton This Week is not the first to recognize Seeley’s contribution to the city this year, as he was given an honorary life membership to the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce. Seeley says that while an honour he appreciates, he is more focused on what we need to do next rather than recognition received.
So what needs to be done? Seeley believes one of the things Yorkton needs is a temporary housing solution in the community, for people who need short term housing until they can arrange something longer term. While there has been a lot of effort to get the project off the ground, there has not been much progress, and he believes it’s an urgent need in the city.
He also hopes to get a full-time housing coordinator, which he believes would be an asset to the project.
“In a lot of cases, people with paid positions, it’s not really their job to do this. They’re trying to do it off the side of their desks and they don’t really have time to do it. If we had a housing coordinator, that could be a function and a number of other things they could take care of, like perhaps helping to deal with people who are really in a crisis about housing, and helping them get connected to somewhere they could have a roof over their head.”
Seeley is also focused on getting another Habitat build in progress, though they are currently waiting to see what the provincial government is doing with relation to Habitat funding. He hopes they can get building by late spring.
Beyond his work in the community, Seeley says that his first priority is his grandchildren, and they are the ones who get the majority of his time.
