The Anglican
The newspaper of the Diocese of Toronto
June, 2007. Page 13 by Henrietta Paukov

Hiker Helps People Get Off the Street

PAUL Mackle said "Hello" to a man at a street drop-in centre. The man responded angrily: “Oh, why don’t you psychoanalyze me?”

“He was really mad,” recalls Mr. Mackle. I said: "Oh, I don’t do that, I just hike. Want to go on a hike?" He started laughing. Then he sat down and we got talking. He showed me his pictures. He had been on a hike a while back, and I said: “Come on another hike.”

Mr. Mackle’s approach is low-key, but the impact of his work can be profound. Through a nonprofit organization called Street-to-Trail, he takes street people on hiking, camping and canoeing trips on the Bruce Trail and in the Kawarthas and Muskoka. St. James Cathedral and The Anglican Foundation sponsor the program, as does Mountain Equipment Co-op.

When he began leading the trips six years ago, Mr. Mackle was seeking to spark motivation in the homeless people he was meeting. “I was volunteering at Sanctuary, cooking and other things, but also always going on my trips, canoeing and hiking,” he explains.

“I’m a hike leader for the Bruce Trail Club. And all the people there who go on trips tell me how good they feel for days afterwards. And I thought there’s something here. People in the drop-ins were telling me how lousy they feel. So I thought I’d put the two together and see what happens. Take them on the trail and make them feel good. And once they feel good, then they are motivated to do other things. A hiking trip is a goal. Once you’ve done something like that, you’ve challenged yourself. And challenges gives you a chance to change.”

He lets people know about the program through various drop-ins in the city: “I sit there and I just talk to people,” he says. “I have my pictures up on the table so everyone can see them.” He does two hikes a month and can take about 12 people on each trip. Last year, he took out 148 people and says the numbers increase each year. He refers people for professional help when appropriate, depending on what they need, from medical care all the way to a social worker to talk.

Mr. Mackle has seen a number of his hikers get motivated to get jobs and places to live. “I used to be a builder,” he says. “I built houses, and now I build lives. I’d rather not have ‘social worker’ or any label on me, because a lot of street people reject that. I’m just a hiker.”

http://www.street-to-trail.org/