Trail of Hope
Deacon walks through WNY, raises funds, awareness
by ELIZABETH TAUFA
Tucked away in a residential neighborhood near the border between Cheektowaga and Buffalo sits an ordinary-looking house.

Deacon Shirley Trail recently walked 100 miles throughout Western New York to raise awareness and funds for Canaan Ministries, which serves women battling addictions. Trail walked with members of other WNY parishes, including granddaughter Remi Navy, right, and Torrey Weekley of Buffalo. Photo by John Rusac Purchase color photos at www. BeeNews. com

The Canaan House, a residential treatment house for women who are looking to overcome chemical addictions and transition back into society, has its home at 1140 Walden Ave., Cheektowaga.

The Canaan House and its ministries are run by Deacon Shirley Trail.

"After I was appointed in 1986, I started a jail ministry at the Erie County Holding Center," Trail said. "I noticed that there was a population of women who were 'recycled' through."

She was referring to women who have been jailed multiple times because they couldn't deal with addictions on their own.

Trail felt that she needed to find a way to help these women and any other women who were battling addictions. Thus was born Canaan House.

Since 1989, Trail has the been the director of the Canaan House - a job that requires a great deal of fortitude with limited economic resources.

"At the end of the year, we're always financially strapped," Trail said. "But we've always closed the books on a positive note."

With thoughts of retirement looming, Trail's current mission is to build a financial cushion for Canaan House so that after her departure, there will be security for the house.

To raise funds and awareness for the financial needs of the house, Trail had an idea. She would walk 100 miles around Western New York, stopping at various churches.

"I knew what I wanted to do, but all I had was the idea," Trail said. She called on Laurie Wozniak, communication officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York.

"Shirley came to me and said she wanted to do the walk," Wozniak said. "So, continually over the summer, we started figuring things out. It's an exciting project, and I really believe in the Canaan House."

What they conceived was a weeklong trek that would take Trail and anyone who wanted to join her throughout the area.

The walks began Monday, April 9 and continued through Sunday, April 15. Walkers reported to a specified church at 9 a.m. and followed a designated route that led them through Buffalo, Amherst, Cheektowaga, Eggertsville, Kenmore, Lancaster, North Tonawanda, Tonawanda and Williamsville. Walkers stopped to rest and eat at churches along the way.

Each day ended with a church dinner and speakers - graduates of Canaan House who have gone on to lead successful lives after overcoming their addictions.

To raise money, Trail and other walkers solicited sponsors for the walk.

"We've probably raised about $12,000 so far," Trail said.

The funds raised go to support the day-to-day needs of Canaan House, including payroll for two full-time employees and two peripheral employees from the Maryvale School District, according to Trail.

At any one time, Canaan House has from six to nine adult women from all walks of life participating in the residential program. Trail said the average age of the women in the program is 36.

"Women come into recovery later than men," Trail said. "We want to raise consciousness that women have issues with addiction. It's a disease and should be treated as such."

Trail noted that there is a double standard between men and women with addiction.

"Women with addiction problems are not a popular group in society," she said. "You see a man in a bar, and he's a drunk and it's fine. But a woman is a lush who's ignoring her family."

Participants in the Canaan House program are required to take part in one or more of the 12-step programs; go to counseling sessions with professionals; and attend classes on basic life skills, most of which are offered onsite. They are also encouraged to find their own sense of spirituality.

There are GED (general equivalency diploma) preparation and cooking classes onsite at Canaan House, and all Canaan House residents must volunteer in a workplace setting that often leads to employment after the participants leave the house.

"It's a highly structured program," Trail said. "We screen for motivation."

Trail also noted that the smaller group allows Canaan House the freedom of flexibility, and more attention can be paid to the individuals.

"We exist for them (the participants)," she said. "We do anything we can to help them."

The residents of Canaan House come from all walks of life, according to Trail, and are completely capable of becoming active members of society.

Of the graduates who were among the speakers at the end of every walking day, Trail noted the difficulty in finding women who were available because they have full, busy lives.

"This is not an easy position to be in," Wozniak said of Trail. "There's a lot of resentment directed toward her, and she bears it with grace. She is one of the deepest, most spiritual people I know.

"She's just got a unique confluence of talents and abilities to bear the hardness and deal with it on a realistic level and at the same time reflect the love of Christ," Wozniak said.

Trail, however, remains humble in the face of praise.

"This is God's call for a solution to a problem," she said.

For more information on Canaan House or Trail's walk throughout Western New York, call 892-1563 or visit www.episcopalwny.org/100miles.

e-mail: etaufa@beenews.com