SCN Premiere

Wednesdays at 8 pm, beginning March 14,2007
Featuring Suzanne Claire Olaski, May 16, 2007

A documentary series produced exclusively for SCN television, each episode focuses on influential Saskatchewan people who have made significant contributions to their community, to the province, and beyond. Learn about their lives and accomplishments through their conversations with veteran writer and broadcaster, Bruce Steele. Other notables include Former Premier Grant Devine, Jack Mollard, Jacqui Shumiatcher, Ernie Walker, Andrea Menard.

To order a copy of Suzanne’s Single Episode, (dvd format) please send request to Box 572, Dundurn, Saskatchewan, S0K 1K0 – please include cheque or money order for $12 to cover cost, shipping and handling. Thank You.

VOLUNTEER SURRENDERS LIFE TO THE LORD

Suzanne Claire Olaski believes in miracles. Her two pet projects are providing food to the needy and Cedar Lodge, a 60 room hotel overlooking Blackstrap Lake where volunteers simultaneously run a treatment facility, house of refuge and a hotel convention centre.

Neither project would have succeeded without Suzanne’s endless faith in God.

“There’s no other way to explain the miracles which picked me off the floor in a health crisis in 1974 and later provided an unbelievable gift, virtually out of nowhere, to help us launch Cedar Lodge.

The Ontario born woman was enlightened by her experiences as a paralegal in Toronto in 1965. “I was old at the age of 18. A close personal friend became a prescription drug user and I became involved in her fight for life. About the same time my employer’s niece became an addict and I was asked to help. I just kept meeting people who were tormented by addictions. It was apparent that people were addicted because of codependency and they were losing touch with reality. I knew the users couldn’t be free as long as their codependency continued.”

As much as she worked to set people free from their addictions, Suzanne was about to face her own battle for life. She met Les Olaski in Calgary, they were married and settled in Saskatoon. “After giving birth to my second son in 1974, I was diagnosed with breast and lymph cancer. In those days, 30 years ago, anyone in that condition was pretty much sent home to die. I was told I may have between three and six months to live and here I was, the mother of two small children.

I was in excruciating pain, curled up in a ball on the floor and I began to talk to God. I told Him if it was His decision that I die, I could be ok with that. Of course, I didn’t understand but I clearly surrendered to His decision. The next morning, I woke up with no pain and no nausea. Within two weeks, I had gained 14 pounds. It was clearly like the scripture that if you ‘lose your life, you will gain it.’ And it was just one in a series of miraculous moments which changed my life,” says Suzanne.

The family moved to Ontario in 1975 and for the next 20 years, she was virtually a transient. She twice lived in Ontario, returned many times to Saskatoon and then embarked on a unique experience of becoming a street worker with Young Voice Mission, a black gospel organization in the heart of Oakland.

“Life in Oakland was full of miracles too. My life was threatened but I survived. I was in the middle of a black community, there was a gun shot every 15 minutes, stores guarded by barbed wire and pit bull terriers, young men were standing outside the liquor stores, seemingly bent on violence.

“I was able to change some of the thinking at the mission. They were giving free meals to the hungry if they attended the service. I told them we should give the free meals first, and then hope they would stay for the service, and that’s exactly how it unfolded”

Suzanne returned to Saskatoon again in 1995 and was working for a small ministry on 20th Street where she began a soup kitchen.

“All that we are doing now could have never begun without Sandra Howarth who was willing with finances and Linda Laird, a champion in the
kitchen.”

Now more than 20 volunteers contribute their time, energy and finances to keep the candle burning.

“When we began our food distribution program, we started with five families and grew to a data base of 1200 names by sheer word of mouth. Yes, there were other agencies. But many needing food could barely walk due to illness or substance abuse and we literally had to go directly TO them. For some, it was just too much to load up the kids on a bus and come downtown to get their supplies.”

Her volunteers filled a major need in Saskatoon, “thanks to unbelievable sponsorship. We also serve ministries in North Battleford, Prince Albert and Big River and visit several reserves.”

The Cedar Lodge Chapter in her life began in 1995. “A friend in Saskatoon told me about the availability of the lodge, which had been built by The Seventh Day Adventists some 25 years earlier. It was sitting idle.”

During three years of negotiations, Suzanne pressed on without money but never lost faith. And then another miracle happend. “Three days prior to closing the agreement that we had finally struck, a woman came forward and said she had been wrestling with the Lord about Cedar Lodge and the Lord had shown her that she was to be the one to give us $100,000.00″

Suzanne had other obstacles to overcome. The pool wasn’t working, water wasn’t flowing into the building, the mortgage payments were high and so were the utilities and the insurance. The volunteers needed food and other necessities to open the building.

As new owners in 1997, we started cleaning and within a month, we had a call from someone who wanted to book a three day retreat for 30 people. We didn’t even know what to charge. The person on the other end of the line said they’d pay us the same price they’d been quoted by a Saskatoon hotel.”

Since then, the lodge has been booked by hundreds of orgnaizaqtions for 1500 events because it has amenities like rooms, banquet facilities, a dining room, indoor swimming pool, an outdoor lake and park attractions. Sunday buffets are now available by reservation. Dinner theater on Fridays and Saturdays are planned in August.

“What we earn as a convention centre permits us to fund our food programs and addictions counselling. We help women in distress or abuse situations, children or families who are victimes of drug and alcohol addiction. Our counsellors are volunteers but professionally trained.”

Suzanne has been a contributor to Saskatoon and district life in many ways. She was co-chair of the Canadian Cancer Society in Saskatoon, an area co-ordinator for United Way, a participant in the founding of the Saskatoon Womens’ Network, among others. She was a finalist in the lifetime achievement category at the 2004 YWCA Women of Distinction awards dinner.

She once challenged for the Progressive Conservative nomination in Saskatoon East, during the Brian Mulroney emergence in 1983, lost out to Don Ravis but recalls “it was one of the largest constitutency nomination conventions ever held in Saskatchewan.”

Her two sons are close at hand. David lives with his wife and three children at Cedar Lodge where he assists with audio visual work and computer graphics. Michael operates a computer graphics business in Saskatoon and participates in web design and marketing needs for the lodge.

“People ask us why we do this on a volunteer basis? If you came with us to deliver food, you would know immediately. People are hungry, they live in places without furniture and when we bring in the boxes of food, you see relief in the eyes of the parents, gratitude in their hearts and great big smiles from the children. The work is hard but the rewards are incredible.”

by ML Whittles
Posted in The Outlook, Kenaston News
Monday March 1, 2004

If you are very lucky, every once in awhile throughout life’s journey you will encounter something or someone which will truly give you pause. I have just had such an experience and I wish to share it with you.

Cedar Lodge Hotel and Convention Center, situated on 67 acres overlooking Blackstrap Lake is just moments from a provincial park and only 37 kilometers south of Saskatoon. With 60 rooms and abundant space, Cedar Lodge can accommodate up to 240 overnight guests.

To date the Lodge has catered to national and international events, including the 2001 World Ice and Snow Sailing Championships (WISSA), private bookings, weddings, banquets, reunions, retreats and dinners.

Walking into the large dining room, one is first drawn to the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the lake. Cozy nooks are dotted throughout with couches and chairs for that added bit of privacy. In one corner of the large cathedral-style room a wood burning stove is suspended in place by chains from the ceiling adding to the ambience for those cold winter evenings.

In the past, Cedar Lodge has limited its ‘hotel/convention/dining’ business, but are now in the process of opening its doors to the public. Notwithstanding the catering, specialty bakery and home cooking provided to guests, a large indoor wading and swimming pool, two hot tubs, a gymnasium and theatre room with large screen with surround sound is available. A Sunday smorg is now available upon reservation and nothing leaves the kitchen without a taste test by administrator, Suzanne Claire, to ensure the quality of excellence.

Cedar Lodge is run strictly by volunteers and at present there are 15 full time residents. Their mandate is to generate sufficient profits to enable them to continue running several programs. One of these is a food distribution program and the other is to provide assistance to those suffering from co-dependency issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, family and spousal relationship problems.

Cedar Lodge originally housed those in treatment but the increased demand for these services has necessitated the formation of two separate entities. Treatment will now take the form of group homes off-site in local communities and on farms within the rural municipality.

Open letter to:
Premier Lorne Calvert, Health Minister John Nilson and Social Services Miniter Clenn Hagel:

I am writing to alert you to the fact that Cedar Lodge Addiction Center at Blackstrap Lake, Dundurn, is struggling for survival.

Survival is perhaps too strong a word because they are able to continue operating with the work load they have. However, they are not able to serve their ever-growing waiting list to the extent they would desire.

Administrator Suzanne Claire reports they are turning away two to six requests for service every day. She said “We are in great need of assistance for two very critical reasons: 1. To remain open and 2. to meet the needs of the people who require our services we could more adequately serve if we had finances to hire staff.”

Suzanne reports that Health Canada has informed them that they are the only treatment facility in the province that is dealing with the issue of codependency. Currently such cases are being transported at great expense to other provinces and even the United States, Kentucky for example.”

Codependency is a term used to describe a variety of addiction problems. It could be alcohol, drugs, gambling (substance abuse), however, anorexia and bulimia are also in the same category. Suzanne says, “any of the above addictions will be related to personal experiences. Everyone requires individual consultation and therapy and at the beginning it could be for as many as two hours a day.

Cedar Lodge is a beautiful building located on 68 acres of land beside Blackstrap Lake. It has 60 rooms and a dining room that seats 350 people. They is a nine hole golf course across the lake, it’s five minutes from Blackstrap ski area where there is skiing all winter, the lake provides an opportunity to fish in winter and summer. It is a very attractive place for meetings and retreats.

Suzanne describes their addiction center as follows:

“Cedar Lodge is unique in the fact that everyone who serves is a volunteer. The core group of volunteers simultaneously runs the treatment facility, house of refuge, hotel and convention center. Individuals seeking to be healed are able, as their own healing progresses, to be involved in the active ministry around them. Thus one can personally experience the presence of God’s love. It is His desire for us to embrace the servant heart of God which ultimately makes us free. All of this combines to bring restoration to individuals, families and communities. This ultimately restores us to God’s original plan – to be in fellowship with Him as we seek His will for our lives and the lives of those around us.”

In the few times I have stopped to visit, I have been aware of a strong spiritual presence in a non-denominational way. Obviously it requires strong spiritual convictions to volunteer your services day after day, week after week and year after year. Asking for help is a new approach for Suzanne. They have been operating with volunteer help and survived on donations plus the income from providing accommodations for a great range of organizations who hold meetings or retreats there.

Since the demand for services has outgrown their ability to supply, support must come from additional sources. Cedar Lodge supplies two major services to our community:

1. Cedar Lodge Hotel and Convention Center
2. Cedar Lodge Restoration and Recovery Rehabilitation

Suzanne says that people show up at Cedar Lodge when they have exhausted all their options. She says ” We have truly established a reputation for success with high risk, long term addictions. Generally, long term addicts have burned every bridge behind them and by the time they make it to Cedar Lodge, there is not one bit of funding available to them. Even friends and family will by now have stopped being a part of their supply, not wanting to be known as a ‘rescuer.’

Unfortunately for us, this has meant that we have taken in, time and time again, those who are not qualified for any kind of social services or disability. Certainly there are no personal funds whatsoever in this case scenario … and these are the cases in direct need, and the group to which we cater.

This is where we have walked in faith on these issues, believing that whomever came forward for help that God had called them to be with us. It is our desire to turn no-one away, although there have been times when we were forced to do so.

Even when a long term situation has been completely turned around, it has been pretty much standard procedure that not one person in the family has come forward to financially reimburse us, though they might be able to well afford it.

If a client comes to us who has been previously on social services, we will only be granted $270 room and board and the client received no personal funds whatsoever.

With such a small amount of income per person, those who provide the caregiving also must run the retreats and conventions which is the main source of our income. Although this part of the business also provides ways in which those in recovery can learn skills that they can take with them to the workplace, our desire would be to ultimately hire people to do that work so that those of us trained in co-dependency relief can do what we do best.

For $270 per month a person will have their own private room, fabulous meals, an indoor pool and gymnasium, 67 acres to roam … you will not find a better accommodation anywhere … in addition, out of this same $270 it is somehow expected that needs must be met such as tobacco, tubes, personal hygiene, 30 minute drives to and from Saskatoon for a variety of appointments, long distance telephone calls, prescriptions, clothing, etc … added to this, in-house counselling will take place in the wee small hours of the morning when the client is unable to sleep.

It is our desire to refrain from administering drugs to our patrons, but rather, take every opportunity to address those issues that brought them into a co-dependent lifestyle in the first place. It is easy to see why conventional facilities in other provinces charge the amounts they do. We have reached the stage where, in order to continue being the provider for which we have gained a solid reputation, more financial support must come forward to meet the needs of the people.

We have gone ahead on faith in order to prove the work; the work now having been proven, we are looking only to garner the support from the various sectors of society that are affected by the roots of co-dependency. Since addictions are rampant in this country, running at epidemic proportions, and since all avenues of recovery services are seemingly scratching their heads because of their lack of success, we believe that Cedar Lodge has carved a place for itslef in the heart of Saskatchewan.”

Not all addictions are related to liquor and gambling. However, I sincerely hope your government while expanding its gambling facilities and opening more liquor outlets remembers that Suzanne Claire and staff are working hard to look after the casualties of liquor and gambling and give them support.

I have personally written this letter to seek the support of the community and the government to assist this project that I believe is worthy of support.

Elmer Laird,
President, Back to the Farm Research Foundation