Sharron Hamilton retires from the Day Programs management board

Sharon Hamilton is stepping down from her position as chair of the management board for the Anglican Day programs.

“Sharron has been a key person in the process that has brought the three Anglican Day Programs of Ottawa under one management board and one executive director, which will bode extremely well for the future of these programs,” the Rev. Canon Dr. PJ Hobbs, director general of the Community Ministries, told Crosstalk. “She has managed the change with remarkable calm, critical questioning and an undying commitment to the work of the ministries.”

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It was Hobbs who first asked Hamilton to apply to join the management board of The Well in 2015 when he heard she had retired. “Sharron was a parishioner at Christ Church Bells Corners, where I served as Incumbent for 12 years… It was very evident that Sharron had great leadership ability but also had the respect of so many people in the parish, and I think that has come to be true in the Community Ministries and the Day Programs,” he said. “When I came into this office and we needed members for the management board for The Well, I immediately thought of Sharron because I knew what a difference she could make.”

At that time, The Well was planning some strategic planning, “Strategic planning was one of the things I did at work as well as project planning, so having just retired I was looking for volunteer work,” she said. “It was such a good fit.”

Then in 2017, the chair of management board of The Well stepped down and Hamilton became the new chair. 

Not long after, however, the executive director of St. Luke’s Table left. The Well’s executive director Rachel Robinson was asked to be an interim director for St. Luke’s while the Community Ministries Committee set up a task force to determine whether they should hire a new director or merge the two agencies under one executive director and management board. When the board decided in favour of the merger, Robinson stayed on as executive director of both The Well and St. Luke’s Table.

At the time, Canon Monica Patten chaired the management board for St. Luke’s Table, so she and Hamilton worked together to merge the two management boards. “We had two separate strategic plans and different priorities, so we had to work together and determine a way forward that still met the needs of The Well and St. Luke’s Table,” says Hamilton. When Patten stepped down at the end of that year, Hamilton became the de facto chair for both “The Well and St. Luke’s Table.”

It was only about a year after that when the executive director for Centre 454 left to take another position, and the committee had to decide between hiring anew or merging Centre 454 with the other two agencies. “We had proved that merging two day programs worked really well,” Hamilton said. The committee decided to merge all three day programs. For a time, Hamilton co-chaired with Centre 454 chair the Rev. Rhonda Waters until Waters too stepped down, making Hamilton the chair for all three agencies.

And then there was the pandemic to contend with. Hamilton points out that typically when organizations merge, time is needed for  planning, prioritizing and organizational development, but there was no time for any of that because when the pandemic hit, Robinson and the staff suddenly had to figure out how to care for participants and provide food outdoors.  Hamilton has high praise for Hobbs, Robinson and all of the staff. “They rented a van and went out and delivered the food to our participants on the street and in their homes, still serving those most vulnerable in our city,”

When asked what she has enjoyed most in her roles, Hamilton says it is the opportunities to see the ministries in action first-hand. “When I was working on the board at The Well… I loved to go in, especially at Christmas time, and serve lunch to the participants, …talk with them, be of service and have a meal with them…. learning more about what each of the day programs offer to each of the participants and how much it is needed and how much it is appreciated.”

Hamilton said this is a good time for her to step down. “The board is in a really good place. They have a really good plan to move forward, so I feel good knowing that I did my part and it is in good hands.”

Hamilton continues to volunteer at Christ Church Bells Corners, her parish for almost four decades, and she has agreed to be assistant lay director for the Cursillo Movement.