Our blog
Walking together: What Steps for Life means to Jeniffer
Has a stranger ever seen you struggling with a heavy pack or grocery bag and offered to help? Being able to share that weight probably made both of you feel better. That’s the philosophy behind Threads of Life’s annual Steps for Life events.
Volunteer Profile: Durham Region Steps for Life Committee
Since 2011, the Durham Region Steps for Life committee has been building a great team to support their growing event. Here’s how they’ve been doing it!
Gathering this fall with online workshops
Families affected by workplace tragedy have an opportunity to gather virtually each month for FamiliesConnect, uniting us from wherever we are–both geographically and emotionally. Here are the sessions planned for this fall.
Threads of Life Family Forum: What to expect
Attending your first family forum can be very emotional. Hang in there, you are not alone. You may have anticipatory feelings bubbling up, and maybe even wondering what you’ve signed yourself up for. You may ask yourself what am I doing here?
Celebrating Our Partners’ Support: CannAmm Occupational Testing Services
Like many of Threads of Life’s partnerships, the relationship with CannAmm has evolved over time. Here’s how CannAmm Occupational Testing Services is supporting a mission to help families heal through a community of support and to promote the elimination of life-altering workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths.
Sharing the Weight of Workplace Tragedy
For Threads of Life, 2022 showed over and over the value of sharing the weight among many. We saw family members help one another carry their burdens; volunteers walk along with us; partners and donors concerned and committed enough to join us on the trail and shoulder some of the weight as well. Here are few highilights.
Living with loss & grief: Just one story of many
by Jolene Gust / We all have dates of anniversaries that we will forever remember, and April 28th is one of mine. This is the Day of Mourning, a day we remember workers who lost their lives, were injured, or became ill due to a work-related tragedy. This is a day that I personally get to reflect upon as my dad, Ken Wiebe lost his life due to a work-related fatality.
Plugging into the Volunteer Family Guide Program
Not all of us have good supports after a workplace tragedy. And even if you do, there’s always value in growing that network of people you can rely on. That’s where Volunteer Family Guides (VFGs) come in.
Finding solace and support in prevention
June 21st, 2013 is a day that our family will never forget. It was a beautiful, sunny Friday and it was George’s and my 33rd wedding anniversary. I had just returned home from work for the day but George wasn’t arriving home for a few hours yet. I began puttering around the kitchen when suddenly an OPP officer showed up at our front door with news that no parent should ever hear.
Let’s say ‘Thank You’ and not good-bye
As I approached my retirement date on June 16th I found myself reflecting on how fortunate I have been in both my professional and personal life.
Steps for Life walkers and teams who STEPPED IT UP!
There is no doubt that 2023 was a very big year for Steps for Life. The enthusiasm and support roared as we headed back to the parks for traditional Steps for Life events — crowds of families, friends, and coworkers proudly wearing their yellow T-shirts in declaration of safe work for all of us.
Are we celebrating?
As we prepared to honour Threads of Life’s 20th anniversary in 2023, we all struggled with language – are we celebrating? Or simply marking a milestone?