At 69, Patrick is a retiree with many hobbies. He’s an avid gardener. He’s a car enthusiast, taking his mother’s 1965 Mustang to car shows throughout the Lower Mainland. And he dedicates time and resources to his community, most frequently to organizations including Simon Fraser University and Union Gospel Mission, where he’s been a donor for 35 years.
His passion for contributing was sparked during his childhood, where he saw firsthand what it meant to have enough. “I grew up in the Canyon Heights area in North Vancouver. We were five minutes from Grouse Mountain; we went skiing every day after school.” Recreational activities like skiing were recent for Patrick’s family: his father had immigrated to British Columbia from Ireland at the age of six and lived in poverty, moving from house to house when the family couldn’t make rent. Patrick’s father instilled the values of service and caretaking in his own children, even after the family was comfortable.
It was in his mid-40s that Patrick hit his own low season. “If I had an addiction, it was workaholism,” he recalls. When his first marriage came apart, Patrick experienced depression and took time away from work, drawing on his disability insurance and seeing a psychologist. “Had I not had that disability policy, I too would have lost everything. When people think of themselves as removed from the problems in the Downtown Eastside, it’s important to remember all of us are a divorce, a job loss, a personal tragedy away from similar circumstances.”
It’s the desire to lift people out of hard seasons that led Patrick to become a Legacy donor, including UGM in his will and ensuring his giving will continue to benefit families in his community. He’s familiar, too, with life having new seasons of transformation: after the disappointment of his divorce, Patrick remarried, and now lives with his wife in Port Coquitlam. He’s built caring relationships with his wife’s two adult children. As he looks back on the second act of his life, he’s grateful, and he’s determined that everyone should have a chance to rebuild.
And rebuilding takes help. “If you’re in a situation in life where you’re in a position to do something, do it. Get involved. Give back. Gratitude begets gratitude. You never know when that one meal will bring someone inside, connect them with other people. And all of a sudden they have shelter and food and you know, that’s the gift. You don’t need all the money in the world, you just need boots on the ground.”
