Taking safety to the streets

An everyday hero helps create a super community

Vanessa Folster's son Lord, 11, considers his mom a real life superhero.

"She wears a costume," he says, of Vanessa's red fleece vest with "Volunteer Parent Monitor" embroidered across the back. "And she carries utilities," he says of her two-way radio and the identification that hangs around her neck.

Most importantly, she helps keep the neighbourhood safe, Lord says.

Vanessa, 34, is among several volunteers who monitor children walking to and from inner-city schools as part of a program developed by Mount Carmel Clinic with support from United Way of Winnipeg.

The "superhero" label really stuck about a year ago, when Vanessa found what looked like a bag of wet sugar about a block from William Whyte School. It turned out to be crystal meth.

"I don't know what kid who could pass up what they thought was sugar," says Vanessa. "It horrified me. I was so grateful I found it and not someone else."

Vanessa says children in the area see much more than they should. She's even had to physically stand between a group of young kids and a drug delivery in the middle of the street.

"One kid said, 'What's the big deal? It's just a drug deal.' " Vanessa says. "A 9-year-old should not be speaking like that."

Vanessa says she feels good knowing adults in the neighbourhood can depend on her just as much as the children. On one of her patrols, an elderly woman flanked by two young girls beckoned her - for directions she thought.

"The woman asked if I could please come over and told me these two young girls were trying to take her purse and threatening to beat her up," she says.

She immediately radioed the school for assistance and the girls were caught.

"It feels good to know that the children and even the parents in this community look at me as a safe place to go," she says.

Helping others has made an incredible difference in her own life as well, says Vanessa. She's lost 40 pounds since becoming a parent monitor. It's also led to regular part-time employment at William Whyte school with both the Early Childhood Development Initiative and as a speech and language educational assistant.

"My life has dramatically improved," she says. "I have gained self-confidence that I never had before, my living conditions have improved, I'm happy.

Vanessa is living proof that we all have the power to make a difference through United Way of Winnipeg.