Kallan Lyons (she/her)

One moment can change your life. For Roan, that moment became a possible death sentence.

When a video of a local gay party he attended was shared online, Roan knew his life was in danger. The native Jamaican was immediately terminated from his job, ostracized by his family, and chased from his home.

“It cost me my entire life,” he shared. “I was attacked several times, I was beaten. I went to the police, but they did nothing.”

Roan fled to Kingston, Jamaica’s capital, hoping to find support. Instead, he found himself living on the street and squatting alongside other gay men in the same situation.

“It’s been hard having no source of family support. There is nothing that I have not done just to survive.”

It’s National Volunteer Week, and over the past two years we’ve really missed our amazing volunteers! Lianne Mauladin started volunteering at Savards Women’s Shelter in 2015 and remains a long-standing supporter of Homes First. Read our volunteer spotlight below!

In her spare time, Toronto teacher Lianne Mauladin loves giving back to her community and making people laugh. Lianne performs as a standup comic across North America and has even appeared on ABC’s The View. But out of all the audience

Dr. Arielle Nkwinkwa always dreamed
about becoming a meteorologist. Hailing
from Cameroon, Nkwinkwa received an AIMS
scholarship to pursue her PhD at the University
of Cape Town. She has witnessed the impacts of
climate change across the world: from speaking
with communities in Benin faced with severe
erosion, to visiting melting glaciers in Norway,
and most recently, seeing the destruction of
South Africa’s largest harbor, Richards Bay, due
to extreme rainfall. Her travels inspired her to
take action.