Stories like this still make me believe in Winnipeg/Blue Bombers

[kelownabomberfan]

http://www.winnipegsun.com/2015/12/23/santa-rises-from-ashes

This is why I still believe.  25 years and counting.
 

Quote

 

On the morning of Sept. 20, Kelly Butler woke up homeless and nearly without a possession to his name.

And yet the former Winnipeg Blue Bomber asserts, as he was face-to-face with a life-altering catastrophe, he woke up that morning "feeling loved" and undeterred in chasing his dreams.

Twenty-four hours prior, a fire gutted Butler's Crescentwood apartment and left him suddenly without a place to call his own and uncertainty ahead in a city in which he was not born, but has nevertheless become his home.

Butler was the recipient of an outpouring of support from all corners of Winnipeg in helping him get back on his feet.

At this time of year when family means so much, Butler found he had one that stretched city-wide.

"It was such a feeling of warmth and appreciation that people truly care and want to help people through adversity," he said. "That was a defining moment.

"The following day it had set in, it was real, but it set in that regardless of what happens, you're on the right path doing the right things."

Butler is not big on lament or regret -- he calls the fire "a speed bump" -- and, in the days following, he focused his energies not on woe or worry, but rather on his latest life work: helping mould and mentor at-risk youth through his budding program Dream Chasers. In that program, which falls under Butler's Playing 4 A Purpose initiative, Butler and friends reach out to youth in the Manitoba Youth Centre to help guide them post-custody.

"We all, somewhere in our life, are going to face adversity and it can be good or bad and you don't know when it's going to happen," he said. "In my case it was a fire, but it allowed for me to go out there and tell a lot of young kids who have faced a lot of adversity that you still have to get back up, but this time you have some supports."

As Butler gives back, he's fully aware this Christmas is a special one for him.

"This Christmas signifies a lot, man," he said. "I feel like Winnipeg gave me a gift I can never give back. That feeling of being loved and embraced is something that I'll always be indebted for."

He bought a new home in the south end and called it House of Purpose, a foster-care home whose doors, he said, are always open, especially during the holiday season when some might not have a place to go.

"I'll play Santa I guess," he said with a laugh. "If someone doesn't have somewhere to go for Christmas, my doors are open because people opened their doors for me when I had nowhere to go."

 

 

[Bigblue204]

That really is a great story.