Neighbourhood rallies to welcome Eva Rothwell Resource Centre
October 29, 2007
Wade Hemsworth The Hamilton Spectator (Oct 29, 2007)
The little ribbon across the front door didn't stand a chance.
Once the people of Hamilton's hard-luck Keith community decided to turn their old Robert Land School into the new Eva Rothwell Resource Centre, there was no stopping them from reaching Saturday's ribbon-cutting.
It hadn't been easy, but they didn't do it alone, as evidenced by the philanthropists, corporate and community partners, politicians and hardworking neighbours who cheered the grand reopening of the decommissioned school, which closed in 2004.
The building on Wentworth Street, just south of Burlington Street, is in the centre of Hamilton's poorest neighbourhood, where pockets of homes are set among factories and railway tracks far from the nearest bank, grocery store or bus route.
The people who live there decided they would have to save their own community -- and that's just what they're doing.
The old school is now a busy 48,000-square-foot community hub -- serving as a gathering place, a tutoring and mentoring facility, a free store for furniture and clothes, a recreation centre, a day care and a community police office.
The long list of programs running there is still growing and changing.
The man holding the scissors that cut the ribbon was Edward Palonek, a former student at Robert Land and the son of Eva Rothwell, who herself had been a student at the school and went on to raise her family in the neighbourhood. She died in 1993. Now her name is over the door and her portrait hangs in the lobby.
"I'm feeling all kinds of emotions welling up," Palonek said as he stood under the gaze of that portrait.
"It's great to be here, to see the school again and to see the stuff going on here."
Palonek, now a property developer living in Panama, contributed $100,000 toward the purchase of the building from the public school board -- nearly one-third of the total cost.
Buying the 1914 building, however, would only be the beginning for the Robert Land Community Association.
After 90 years of use and a period of emptiness after the school closed, the grounds and the building were in rough shape.
Of the hundreds of people who brought the old school back to life -- including students from Mohawk College and Redeemer University College -- one public face emerged:
Don MacVicar, president and chair of the community association, who was named Hamilton's 2006 Citizen of the Year for his efforts to rally the people and the money to save a neighbourhood.
"Anything Don MacVicar wants me to do, I do. I will follow him to the ends of the earth," said Larry Paikin, a Hamilton businessman and volunteer at the centre.
"This man ... is one of the most nobly motivated men I have ever known in my life."
Though Palonek was living far away from Hamilton, Paikin knew he'd want the chance to be involved in helping his old neighbourhood and introduced him to MacVicar.
"Without Ed Palonek's contribution, we wouldn't be standing here enjoying this moment," said a beaming Paikin.
On Saturday, young people who use the centre entertained guests with choral singing and dramatic native drumming and singing.
"There's fresh air in the community again," MacVicar said. "Hamilton has a great community spirit, and it's so great that we care for our neighbours."
