The only shelter in Kingston exclusively devoted to youth.
OUR MISSION
We provide a supportive, stable environment, and the tools and life skills to help youth emerge from their immediate or ongoing housing crisis.
OUR VISION
We believe that together we can reduce homelessness by giving youth the means to repair relationships at home or live independently during the transition to adulthood.
The Kingston Youth Shelter (KYS) is a non-profit agency, established in 1999, that provides temporary emergency shelter for young women and men ages 16 through 24 years. It expanded its mandate in 2015 and provides transitional beds and life skills programming for youth ages 16-24.
The KYS is also running a successful program called Kingston Youth Families, providing support to families to help address family breakdown, youth/parent conflict, and general communication difficulties that may leave youth at a greater risk of entering homelessness.
Additionally, the KYS has a Prevention Diversion Worker who supports youth in the acquisition of permanent housing. The Kingston Youth Shelter provides these services through a complement of 3 separate locations in the Kingston Area.
All services provide a safe environment with in-house counselling services appropriate to reintegrating youth within the employment and social contexts. Particular attention is paid to those determinants of health critical to the support environment needed to meet the Kingston Youth Shelter’s mission.
It is the only shelter in Kingston exclusively devoted to youth.
Meet our Board
Stuart Trier
– Chair
President, ClearResults.co, Strategic Business Development.
20 years of experience buying, building, and selling companies as both a private investor and as part of larger organizations.
Today I run a successful consulting business, and manage ownership stakes in a small portfolio of companies located in both Canada and the United States.
Graduate of The University Of Western Ontario with a degree in Finance & Economics.
Member of the board of Kingston Youth Shelter for 5 years and chair of the board for 3 years
Pam Devine
– Vice Chair
Retired from 45 years working in various positions in health care.
Worked as staff nurse, nursing manager, nursing administration and hospital administration in both Toronto and Kingston.
Member of both local and provincial committees on staff scheduling, staffing complements, collective bargaining, pay equity and recruitment and retention.
Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Toronto.
Member of the Board of Directors of the Kingston Youth Shelter for four years.
Elizabeth Gaudet
– Secretary
Elizabeth is currently working as a summer law student at Miller Thomson LLP. She recently graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University.
Elizabeth is currently pursuing her Juris Doctor degree at Queen’s School of Law where she will graduate in April 2023.
Prior to joining Miller Thomson, Elizabeth worked at the Queen’s Elder Law Clinic. In this position, she worked with low-income clients to draft Will and Power of Attorney documents. Elizabeth also has a variety of other experiences in municipal, sales and marketing roles. Notably, researching policy and drafting strategic plans for a governmental organization on numerous issues, including immigration, drug legalization and elder abuse.
Elizabeth is actively involved in the community, currently serving on the Board of Directors for the Kingston Youth Shelter. At Queen’s, she is involved with Pro Bono Students Canada as a volunteer for the ID clinic, assisting low-income community members complete government forms to obtain lost identification. Previously, Elizabeth sat as the Co-Chair of Queen’s Social Impact Association and represented Habitat for Humanity Canada at the Prime Minister’s Youth Summit in Ottawa.
Dave Armstrong
– Treasurer
Dave Armstrong is a retired Information Technology consultant now living in Kingston.
He has many years of experience working on and with teams of various types and was a volunteer when he lived in Ottawa and Edmonton. Dave moved to Kingston 7 years ago and was looking for ways to contribute to his community when he discovered KYS. Dave has been on the Board at KYS for 3 years and is currently filling the position of treasurer.
Matthew Murphy
– Director
Matt is retired from the Canadian Forces, serving 21 years with multiple deployments overseas.
Matt enjoys many volunteer activities including Providence Care hospital (2020 to present), Youth Diversion (2019 to present), Pathways to Education (2017 to 2020), Katarokwi Learning Centre (2017 to 2020) and is a member of the Royal Canadian Legion.
He is a graduate of Queen’s University, Bachelor of Education, Royal Military College, Bachelor of Military Arts and Science and St. Lawrence College, Diploma in Computer Networking and Technical Sjupport.
Clubs: Royal Canadian Legion (member)
Brock Powel
– Director
6 years experience in human services field. Brock has held various positions on a range of non-profit boards and committees.
Graduate of St. Lawrence College with an advanced diploma in Child and Youth Care.
Member of Kingston Youth Shelter board for 6 months. A member of the KYS board of directors since 2018.
Anne Brown
– Past Chair
I joined the Board of Directors of Kingston Youth Shelter in 2016. Since then I have held the position of Treasurer and Board Chair.
I am currently on a leave from the Board to hold the position of Executive Director. I am looking forward to returning to the Board once we have hired a permanent Executive Director.
My career has been in student housing which spans over 25 years. I have managed student housing in many forms including co-operative housing, University residences, contracted by private landlords and most recently for Queen’s University owned properties. Working with youth has been a passion of mine for my entire career. They keep me on my toes and always learning.
Giving back to my community is important to me. I volunteered with KFLA Public Health for 10 years teaching food security skills to at-risk youth. Outside of my work and volunteer life, I enjoy spending time in the outdoors and am an avid hiker. My husband and I enjoy travel and visit Halifax as often as we can to see our son.
