Howl at the Moon Cafe Chronicles One Year!

#019 - Focusing on the one-year anniversary of Howl at the Moon, a sober cafe in Thunder Bay, Ontario. They reflect on the journey of establishing the cafe, the community support it has received, and its role in aiding those in recovery from addiction. Jody shares personal experiences with addiction and recovery, emphasising the cafe's impact on the community and his plans for future programming, including a new initiative called Stepping Stones to help those in early recovery navigate resources. The conversation underscores the importance of community and purpose in recovery, and the vision for Howl at the Moon's growth and continued contribution to individuals' healing journeys.

Transcript

 There's a lot of things that I'm looking forward to in the upcoming year. Now that I feel like we have a pretty solid foundation built here I'm looking forward to using that foundation to grow this space into even more of what I envisioned.



All right. Yeah. Okay. So today  we're not spilling any coffee. Yeah, that's the plan. That's the plan. And and so just just a bit of a history there. The last time we recorded, I spilt a good solid, like full cup of coffee onto my laptop. On your laptop, bro. And I've been wanting to buy a new one and I had it checked out with a local repair here in town.

Actually soft sell. They repair everything. And so I brought it there and it's not really salvageable at this time, but I wanted to hear that. So I went ahead and ordered another laptop that I had my eye on for a few months now. All of a sudden a a want turned into a need.

Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. And before we started recording, I told you a little story too, that Something similar happened to me a few years ago. And I was also extra diligent, just like I know you are when you're drinking coffee around your electronics, trying to make sure I don't spill, but sure enough, accidentally I dumped a full cup of coffee on my laptop and same outcome, bro, the the laptop was toast and I had to go get another one.

So 

 I had the SIPA mugs on me for a long time. Like I think I was. 10 years old, and I was still rocking those SIPA mugs. And a lot of it had to do with me having Trett syndrome and I would just twitch and my drink would spill. So my mom kept me on the SIPA mug for a while because of that reason.

Maybe I need to bring that back for you. There is, yeah, I don't know, a 37 year old man, as long as no one, yeah, you know what, there's a story to tell. If someone sees me with the SIPA mug, there's a story behind it. A hundred percent. 

And I know how diligent you are around your electronics and how seriously you take your equipment your.

All up on top of that, whereas I have no idea, so it was obviously a complete accident and it but it happens and it happened to you and you got a new laptop coming, man, and  life goes on. 

Yeah, definitely. And we got not just a brand new laptop for the podcast coming, we got we got some promo material coming up as well. You and I went back and forth on a graphic. We came to a consensus on a look. And yeah, I'm excited about the poster that's coming out to promote this podcast. And we got some business cards as well. And they all have QR codes, which will make it a lot easier for folks out there to find the podcast using their cell phones.

Exactly. I love the finished product. I know we were back and forth a few times With these posters and business cards and they're ready to go and I'm really excited about them so we're going to share them on our social media platforms but we're also going to print off a bunch of them and have them put up around Howl at the Moon and maybe at agencies in different places around town that that may want to put a poster up for our podcast. 

I like the idea. It's lot of our listeners are based out of Northwest Ontario and Thunder Bay and so with that it's it makes sense to push the outreach here. A hundred percent. And let's grow this audience and  there's a lot of messaging there around addiction and how to get out of it.

Cause we do bring those stories to the table and we have guests that come on that share their experiences as well. 

Exactly. And more so moving forward, we're going to have guests, not necessarily limited to Thunder Bay, but we certainly are going to have lots of local guests, which I'm excited about because a lot of our guests are well known in the community too.

And they're going to get to use this podcast as a platform to share their stories too. 

Definitely. And I was looking at my calendar this weekend, it's a long weekend. A lot of folks in Ontario and Thunder Bay have the Monday off. They had the Friday off as well. There's still.

People that work,  correct me, if I'm off here, but this is your one year, like this weekend here, like what's Tony 

actually now, today we're recording and it is a Sunday, March 31st. This episode will be released this coming Thursday, but as we record right now is a Sunday, March 31st exactly one year since we opened the doors for the first time here at health, the moon.

So super exciting time. I'm overwhelmed a little bit as to how quickly this first year blew by and trying to take a little bit of time in the last few days just to reflect on the last year and some of the things that have happened and yeah, but one, one year.

So today is Health Moon's one year birthday slash anniversary.  

Phenomenal. And what did you have go on this weekend?   Let's take it to Friday night. Like, how'd you ring in this one year? 

Yeah, we've had live entertainment here all weekend celebrating this event.

So we had Tim Albertson and his country band come in and perform live on Friday night. They put on just a stellar show, really awesome country music. And they're going to come back again sometime soon. We're probably gonna make that a pretty regular occurrence. They were really well received here. So we did that on Friday night.

And then of course we had our our regular Saturday night karaoke event last night too. And it was like packed house. Like it was pretty much standing room only in here last night.

Something about  karaoke. You're looking to put on another night as well. Yeah. Start well, starting 

next weekend. So karaoke has been like really popular ever since we opened, it's probably been one of our biggest draws. When we first started karaoke, we were running it exclusively on Thursday nights and we were getting pretty good turnout right off the hop and people were asking for a second night.

So we introduced a second night on Saturday. So we've been running this. Thursday night and Saturday night karaoke for probably about six months now. And there's been some interest in a matinee karaoke event. So we've decided starting next weekend this upcoming Sunday that we're going to start running karaoke on Sunday afternoons from one till five, in addition to the Thursday and Saturday night karaoke.

So you'll be able to come out and enjoy karaoke at Halton Moon three times a week, Thursday night from eight till midnight, Saturday night from eight till 1am. And then again on Sunday afternoon from one o'clock in the afternoon till five o'clock in the afternoon.  

It takes me to the days I used to drink and then wake up on a Sunday morning.

Usually hungover and looking for that brunch meal, that meal, which was probably going to put me to sleep. It's nice to have these alternatives, that people can go to. And I find even being sober like on Sundays, if I'm not here, if not, if we're not recording in the morning on a Sunday, I'm usually doing writing or I'm usually like working on something to, to personal, like to enhance my personal development, for sure.

And so I think having this like option for people out there, whether they're like wanting to get sober or they are sober and they want to have this festivity. What a great time to put it like. In the heart of the afternoon. 

I think so too. It wasn't my idea, I just had people asking for it and I think it makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons.

A lot of my friends too, they have kids or teenagers and maybe it's not always conducive to come out at night time for them so this gives them an option to come and enjoy the space and sing some karaoke in a sober, safe setting during the day time on Sundays.

Beautiful. Back to the the one year anniversary.

I think that's a huge milestone as I'm talking to you. I'm writing down questions to ask you  and and so I'm going to start with this what was your favorite memory from the past year and why? Oh, 

wow. There's been so many things that have happened to narrow it down to one memory is going to be really tough.

 There's been so much that's happened here in, in this year, so many highlights and so on. For me I'm just I'm really happy that we're still here and that we're still standing a year in, because when we when we launched this project last year is , we just didn't know how it was gonna go over.

I knew there was lots of support for it. I knew that there were people who wanted this. I believe in myself. I believe in the vision, but I wasn't sure if we were gonna be able to pay the. I just, I wasn't sure we took a bit of a risk and, uh, and now a year later, like we're still standing and to me, that's just amazing.

And it's almost even a bit overwhelming and I get a bit emotional when I think about it, we're still here and I really feel like we've built a really solid foundation and a good base. And I feel like we're going to grow from here and that includes this podcast too.

We introduced the podcast around what, November of maybe early December or late. And we're growing this arm of health and then as well as for one thing that stands out, geez, I don't know it can be any memory that stands out. I think that one thing that, that really hits me every single time happens and it's happened a bunch of times since we opened is when people come in here who maybe have really thought, uh, we're not going to make it out of their addiction, and they show up and they're like, Hey Jodi, I'm, I'm here. I'm alive. I'm sober. I've been sober for a week, 16 days, a month. And it just it just hits me in the feels every single time I see that, because that's really why we opened this place was to make a difference and help people and give them hope and their recovery.

And I, that's happened at least, I don't know, 10 times in the last year where people who, not that I'd written them off completely, but I just, I know their dark history and their dark past. And, you think they might never make it out of that rat race and they show up here at the front door at half the noon and it just, it, I start crying almost every single time that happens because it's so inspiring to see people come back from those really dark places and it gives me hope and makes me think, People can do this if they want it.



Yeah,  one thing about this project and there's several, but one thing that really stands out to me is that kind of check and balance system or a space where people can hold each other accountable because.  We might see them at a certain phase and then you see them come back through and they're at a different phase in their journey.

And it's a space where. There's just hours in the day for people to come in and have those interactions. It's 

amazing, like some of my friends who I'm referring to I knew them when I was still working downtown Fort William. And I know how deep into their addiction they were and they were really struggling and having some really rough times.

And it's nothing short of miraculous when they show up here and they're sober, and they're working on themselves and they're making progress in their recovery. Like to me, that is just unbelievable. And that that drives me when I see that. It just motivates me and pushes me and wants me to makes me want to push even harder here with Health of Moon and make sure that we can keep these doors open. 

Jody, you talked about, um, areas that, that are challenging when it comes to running an establishment like this rent being one What are some other areas that that you have found challenging throughout running this Sobre Café establishment? 

The biggest challenge for us and I know I've talked about it on past episodes, but the biggest challenge for us is just making sure that we're paying all our bills, and that includes rent. It's tough, right quite frankly, selling hot dogs and coffee is it just isn't enough. It doesn't cut it. We we can't do it. The numbers just don't work just on, on concession sales. But where we've been really lucky, and this is, this is what's so amazing about this place is like, there's been such a community effort.

So many people pulling together to make sure that this place, stays open. And that includes like agencies utilizing the space for programming.  We've got so many community sponsors. I know that I've talked about them in the past, but the  Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Center has been a huge supporter of this project for quite some time now and hope Metawa Onwa, these are big agencies here in town who have really stepped up to, to help this project and without their help we probably wouldn't be open anymore.

And then additionally, like we've had community support too, like we recently had Sandy Lake First Nations step up and sponsor the project. But it sounds like Pic Mobert is going to be stepping up very soon and matching that sponsorship.  And we're advocating for other communities across the north to step up and support this project too.

Because that, that truly is the biggest challenge, is just making sure we can pay our bills. Down, we've got a, an awesome location right in the heart of downtown Port Arthur. But, it's, there's real rent here and there's real expenses involved with running this business. And and then, it's not just the agencies though and the communities, although that's huge, but we've also had individuals in the community step up and offer sponsorship for the project.

That's happened multiple times now. And in addition to that I've got a small army of people who come in here and volunteer and help me because they know I don't have a huge budget for payroll. I've got people who come in and help me to clean. I've got people who come in and run my karaoke shows.

We've got bands who have performed here pro bono. Almost every single act that's come through the doors has performed here pro bono just because they believe in what we're doing here. And they understand how important this space is and how important this project is. And for me, I see I'm so grateful for that, right?

Because.  Health of the Moon is different than Jodi. There's Health of the Moon and then there's Jodi. And Health of the Moon is way bigger than Jodi. I'm the guy who took a bit of a chance and got this ball rolling. But this project is way bigger than me. And we've had just this amazing We've had a significant amount of community support come forward to support the Howl at the Moon project, and the Howl at the Moon project is an important project for Thunder Bay.

There's no doubt in my mind, and I think a lot of people would agree with me who are listening, who have been here. This project in this space is making positive, impactful change in people's lives here in Thunder Bay. We are a city in the midst of a drug and alcohol crisis, and this space is critically important.

And when I say that, I'm not talking my own book. I'm talking about the space and the project. Thank you. It's, it's something that Thunder Bay needs and it's amazing. And I think that's why we've had so much community support and so many people step up in so many ways, because they believe in this vision and this dream that I have, they understand how important this project is to to our community and to helping people, and.

There are some nights where I just I'm able to take a step back, in a moment of maybe where it's, I've got a bit of a break between guests or whatever,  and I just look around the room and I see in real time, people. Loving the space and enjoying the space and benefiting from the space.

And it's just amazing. I'm just really grateful for the opportunity to be involved here.  I'm really grateful for for what this has become and what it's going to continue to grow into. It's it's just a really incredible thing. 

Yeah, there's so many ways that this project has thrived in the last year and 

what's one thing or not even one thing, what are some areas that you've worked on for yourself and what have you learned about yourself and what's something that you've thrived in that you've worked on over the last year? 

For me, like I'm in recovery. I think most of the people listening to this podcast understand that, like I'm a recovered alcoholic and a recovered cannabis addict.

And so the programming and the things that happen here are also benefiting me as a person in recovery. I'm here for all the groups and I'm here every single day. So I probably get the most benefit out of anybody, because I'm here to to enjoy and utilize all the resources that happen here every single day.

So it certainly helps me to manage my own recovery. I've met some amazing people who I who I didn't know before Halt the Moon, who are also on that recovery journey. So for me, it's also been a great social that way too, a great way to, to build my network and meet other people.

And and then in, in addition to that, like it just, like the place just feeds my spirit. There's a lot of things that I could be doing outside of Halt the Moon or instead of Halt the Moon, but there's nothing I'd rather be doing. And this place. It makes me happy, it makes me happy to be able to to do this.

A lot of times in the meetings and programming that we have here, or when we have elders come in, they, one of the common threads that we talk about is having purpose in our life and how that helps us in our recovery from our addictions when we recognize what our purpose is. And Health Moon gives me purpose.

It makes me feel like I'm doing something proactive to help and That feeds my spirit beyond, anything else 

 nice. I, I remember when I used to drink, I used to be extremely impatient and even like early sobriety, like now that I'm getting close to 10 years sober, um, I've progressed and like slowing things down and working on certain things, doing it well, moving on to the next, allocating certain time throughout my day.

 First designated tasks rather than doing 10 things at once, that's something I'm still working on today. But when I go through certain experiences in life, certain projects, certain conferences I go to, it's like it helps me reevaluate where I am. So I guess what I'm trying to ask you  is there a character defect that you've had once in the past, but over the last  You've actually really worked on it for yourself something that you've tweaked up for yourself because of this project.



I think maybe part of it has worked in the opposite direction, too, for me, because I've been so busy working here that some of the things that I like to do in my spare time that I used to do to feed my spirit and help keep me on track, I've had to take a bit of a backseat. So maybe that's a bit of an odd way of answering this question.

My commitment Right now is 100 percent to how the moon  and to making sure that in its infancy it gets all the attention and time that it needs to grow. As a result, some of the things that I love to do in my life that I used to do to help stay sober and to work on myself have taken a bit of a backseat running, I love to run and I haven't been running nearly as much.

I love to go to the bush. I haven't been going to the bush nearly as much. But I recognize that those things have to take a bit of a backseat right now because this project has to take priority. And I know there are always people telling me that, I need to do those things, and I certainly understand that I do need to do those things.

But right now, first and foremost, is making sure that Health Moon is on sturdy, steady footing, and that that we've achieved that sustainability. Certainly I've benefited lots from being involved with Howl at the Moon in such a full time capacity, for sure. It's taught me so much about people.

It's taught me lots about effectively running a business and how to manage my time and so on. But it's also taken away from other parts of my life temporarily. I don't think that's always going to be the case because I feel like We're going to get to a point that this project is on firm footing where I'm comfortable to take a bit of a step back and I can get back into some of the things that I also love in addition to Hall of the Moon, but but right now it just it's important to focus here, and and I understand what I signed up for, so I'm not I'm not resentful in any way that, that some of my other passions have taken a back seat right now.

I knew that was going to be the case, when I decided to open this business and, I'm the kind of person that when I decided to do something I take it very seriously and I put in all the effort that's necessary, I think that if you're gonna, if you're gonna bite off a project like this and become an entrepreneur you better be prepared to to make some sacrifices in your life because there's only so many hours in a week and there's only so much time to do things.

And I just recognize that right now, at this particular point in my life, how at the moon needs all of my attention, my full attention, and I'm prepared to give it that attention because we're going to continue to build this. place into something that has staying power and sustainability, and that's the investment that I'm making early on, is sacrificing a few of my other loves and passions temporarily to make sure that that health, the moon gets to where it needs to be. 

What's something you're looking forward to in the year to come? 

There's a lot of things that I'm looking forward to in the upcoming year. Now that I feel like we have a pretty solid foundation built here I'm looking forward to using that foundation to grow this space into even more of what I envisioned.

I feel like we're making pretty solid progress here. I like where we're at a year in,  but some of the things that I want to want to do and that I look forward to doing are building this podcast for one. I love this podcast, and I love what we're doing with it here at AZ. I want to grow the listenership for this podcast.

We're going to get videos as well. Yeah, 100%. It's common. It's common. Yeah, videos. We're going to be on YouTube as well, and that's going to be part of that growth. But I love the idea of having a platform to share relevant topics related to addictions and recovery here in Thunder Bay and across the North, and I also love the idea of having a platform to bring on people from the community.

So for the opportunity to share like we've talked about many times. And so growing this podcast is definitely on my, my top priority list this year. And that's what we're going to do. And we're also going to we're going to get a sponsor for this podcast. That's something that that I'm committed to to getting as well, whether it's a treatment center or a community or maybe a non alcoholic beverage company or whatever, we're going to get sponsorship for this podcast.

And I'm excited about that. In addition to that, there's more programs. I'm going to talk a little bit about the programming that I want to incorporate into Health of the Moon 2. 

  So one of the things I'm really excited about is a brand new program that we're going to be offering here at Health Moon in in collaboration with the. Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre. It's another working business partnership that we have.

And we're going to be launching a program here that's groundbreaking in my opinion, and it's going to be called Stepping Stones. And Stepping Stones is a program that's been developed to help people in early recovery navigate some of the resources here in Thunder Bay, because we've we've been come to the conclusion that it can be really hard sometimes to to find who to call, where to go, who to contact with regards to certain needs.

So what Stepping Stones is gonna do is it's gonna bring all of those resources together at a resource hub here at Health Moon, and we're gonna be able to connect people through Health Moon with these resources that exist around thunder B. We're going to be offering a daytime program that's going to run three days a week in the morning and what it's going to do is it's going to feature a basic needs assessment.

So we're going to figure out what people need, where they're at in their recovery, what, what they want to do, what their goals are, and we're going to try and connect them with people who can help them make sure that those things are taken care of and that they can meet those goals that they've got.

Through a centralized resource hub here at Thunder Bay, we can make connections and referrals to resources across Thunder Bay, including things like harm reduction and relapse prevention access to culture and elders. We can help them with their ID requirements. We can help them with food bank and clothing assistance requirements we can even get them referrals to housing and referrals to inpatient treatment programs while they're in early recovery waiting to, to get into treatment, and nothing like this has ever been done in Thunder Bay.

And I know that a lot of people have really struggled in early recovery because there are resources here for sure, but they're scattered, and if you don't know where to call or who to call, it can be really frustrating and I think it can  lead to just people giving up because, they just, they throw their arms up.

They don't know where to go, where to get the help that they need.  And what Stepping Stones is going to do is it's going to give them that ability to come here and we can put them in touch with all of these people that they need to talk to.  And in addition to that Janet from the Friendship Center is going to make a record for an individual person.

So for example, like if somebody comes to Stepping Stones and they're, they get started on their journey and they start to make a few phone calls, right? And then they end up maybe relapsing or they leave the program for a little while and then they show back up a few weeks later and they're like, you know what I'm ready to get back on track here.

Do you remember where we are? You know what, let's just take a look here and let's take a look at exactly where you are and we'll have that information and we'll be able to say, all right, so we've already called these people, we've made these connections. This is where we're at with this part of the program, this is what we need to do and we can just carry right on where they left off.

Nice. Which is really, I think, gonna be a, an effective tool and I think it's a really awesome addition to recovery tools here in Thunder Bay and I'm excited to be offering that out of this space. So that's definitely something I'm excited about offering in the upcoming weeks and months now.

If someone is interested in that or wants to sign up for it, where do they go?

Yeah. So  

That program is gonna launch later on in April. And you do need to register for that program and you can register by contacting myself here at Howl at the Moon HowlTBay at gmail. com, or you can talk to Janet McQuaid, who is the treatment and aftercare coordinator at the Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre and her number is 807 345 5840, extension 9063, and I'd encourage people who are thinking about getting into recovery or who are new to recovery to take advantage of the Stepping Stones project because I think it'll be really helpful.

It takes a lot of the guesswork out of where you need to go and who you need to talk to. We're going to help to navigate that that system for you rather than leave it to, chance and guesswork. So that's one thing that I'm certainly really excited about in addition to the the podcast AC and then something else that I'd really like to do moving forward too.

Which I'm not sure when exactly we're going to launch it, but I'd love to do some land based therapy as well. So obviously, we can't do the land based therapy at Health Moon, but Health Moon would still be the the driving factor behind it and a sponsoring force.

But I'd love to, like I've got a passion for the bush and I love to go hiking and so on. And that's been so helpful for me on my recovery journey. I'd like to organize groups and maybe take a, take some trips to maybe the sleeping giant for example, and take people  on day hikes, get them out in the land and get them to connect with the bush and the land and get them out in that open air because I know so much healing comes from doing that as well.

At least it has for me and my recovery. So that's something that I'd like to launch into the summertime or later on this fall as well. Just so many places that I want to grow from this foundation that we built here in the first year. 

Very cool. Yeah, a lot going on there. I it's fascinating.

It's fascinating to see where You know what your goals were last year versus your vision for this upcoming year. And that leads me to like my last question I have for you is what's one goal you want to reach before your second anniversary?  One. Just one. Just one. Yeah. If you were gonna put one on a pedestal so we can all look at it right now.

Sure. You know what I, 

I know what that is because these things that I just talked about are all important and I want to accomplish all of these things that, that I've just talked about. But one thing that, that that I'd really like to do a little bit more of too is I want speak, and I wanna share.

A little bit about my own journey I want to talk about my addiction. I want to talk about my recovery. I want to talk about the time that I spent working as a bartender in downtown Fort William. I want to talk about what motivated me and led me here to opening Hell at the Moon. So you know, I really want to get some keynote speaking gigs and I've had a few and I've really enjoyed them and but I want to do that more.

I'd really like to travel into some of the some of the flying communities and share my experience working downtown Fort William working at Ground Zero for Thunder Bay's drug and alcohol crisis. Also, the the knowledge that I've gained about gangs and the dangers for youth when they come to Thunder Bay here regarding gangs and drugs and alcohol.

And I'd like to share a little bit about about Howl at the Moon and how Howl at the Moon can can help people who are coming to Thunder Bay, whether it's youth coming from northern communities or whether it's adults who are coming here to work or live. . 

I'm excited about the new year. Is there anything else that you'd like to add before we close it down? 

Again, I just want to thank everybody who's been so supportive over the last year, right?

I know some of my friends saw me at the beginning and there were moments where I had some stressful times, because I just wasn't sure if we were going to be able to make this work. And like I alluded to earlier in the conversation I did believe in myself and I did believe in the vision, but I just wasn't sure if we were going to be able to make ends meet and keep the doors open.

And it's been truly such a a community project I'm just so grateful. I'm overwhelmed. Like when I stand back now at the one year mark and I look back and I think about how many people have helped this place in so many different ways, it's all, it really is overwhelming because it's been just an army of people who are just like wishers and who just really want this project to thrive and succeed.

And I just want to make sure people understand how grateful I am for that, because without you guys coming to support the place, without you guys bringing your special skills here to help to to maintain the place I wouldn't be here because I can't do this on my own. And really that's what makes Health Eminence so special to me is the fact that so many people are involved in so many different ways, cause I know there are people who feel ownership in this project and they should, because there's so many They've really stepped up and done a lot of work here in their own unique way, offering their own unique talents and their own unique skills, just whatever contribution they can make.

And it's been like  such a team effort. Like it's been a small army of volunteers who are responsible for our success so far. And I just want to make sure that I'm being completely clear.  And forthright with the amount of gratitude that I feel towards all the people who have stepped up and helped me because without you guys there, there wouldn't be health, the moon.

And here we are when you're in and we're still standing, we're still here and I'm excited to see where we can take this project. In this place, uh, it's beautiful and it's magical and it's very special. So thank you. 

Jody, always a pleasure sitting down with you on a Sunday 

yeah. Likewise. I always enjoy this too easy. Another great conversation. 

Sounds good, Jody. I'll see you next 

week. You bet. Thanks. Bye now.