Fran Kitson has been with the Mustard Seed for almost 32 years, long enough to see three generations of clients pass through its doors.
“I’ve seen the moms come through, I’ve seen their children come through with babies that are now teenagers. We have to break that cycle.”
Behind her desk is a cork board pinned with a collage of photos, a human timeline of the people she has helped.
She points to a little girl of about three with pig tails and a red dress.
“She’s second generation. She comes here with her kids now.”
Kitson remembers the day she started volunteering: Aug. 15, 1983. By 1989, she was staff — volunteer co-ordinator, then outreach advocate.
It was her late husband who convinced her to start doing outreach at William Head Institution in 1990.
Kitson visits once a month, sits in the prison chapel and meets with inmates. She counsels them and tries to come up with a plan for their release, letting them know what supports exist in the community.
Many of the men have committed horrible crimes — Kitson once counselled a man who killed someone she knew. She said it was her faith in God that allowed her to accept and help him.
“It’s somebody’s brother, it’s somebody’s son,” she said. “Everybody, if given a chance and a friend … can change.”
Kitson remembers one man who was in crisis in the lobby several years ago. She listened patiently as he talked about his problems, offering advice when he was finished. He later asked why she had done so much for him.
“Because you’re worth my time,” she said. The man broke down in tears, replying: “Nobody’s ever told me I’m worth anything.”
Some people pay the help forward. This month, Kitson accepted a donation of more than $300 from two young children, who had sold some of their toys to make $170, an amount their father matched.
Kitson recognized the father: He had been a client eight years ago, living on the street and relying on the food bank. He wanted his daughters to give back.
“Those kinds of stories encourage me to keep on going,” said the 68-year-old.
Kitson was raised in a good, middle-class home in Victoria. Her father was a truck driver, and her mother stayed at home to look after Kitson and her brother and sister.
She married her high-school sweetheart at 16 and had two sons. Her husband died of cancer in 1996.
Brent Palmer, food bank director, has known Kitson for 30 years, since he started with the Mustard Seed.
“She’s taken people out of the bowels of despair and able to walk with them and rebuild their lives,” he said of Kitson. “The moment she establishes a relationship with a person, she becomes a solid pillar for that person and she never ever leaves them.”
The situation on the street has gotten worse over the past three decades, Kitson said. Twenty years ago, people were addicted to alcohol and marijuana. Now it’s crack cocaine and heroin.
“When I first started, I thought people came here and they were survivors. Today, I think they just exist. We have to catch that one in the lineup that has no identity. We have to let them know that they can exist and they are worth it.”
Kitson believes the Mustard Seed has always been more than just a food bank — it’s also a clothing bank, a family centre, counselling centre and church.
“I would not want to imagine this city without the Mustard Seed.”
