She began life in a place few travel to - Saskatchewan. Growing up in snow blizzards, utility outages and setting aside enough food in case of being snowed in were all considered normal. Perhaps it was her early days of learning that when everyone helped, the world was better, or perhaps she was born with an actual need to assist people. Whatever the reason, Linda Debelser-Owen, is a woman who must help.
Growing up helping and planning formed the foundation to fashion an excellent Executive Secretary. Linda is an excellent administrator and has made a difference in the lives of all those she assisted and worked for. For the majority of the world, this is an excellent contribution in and of itself, and makes a difference to the world. However, for this Canadian woman, nothing ever seems to be enough.
In the early part of the 1980's, Debelser-Owen worked at a local school in Edmonton. It was during this time that a five-year old little girl went missing. Mothers were terrified and the school system tried to decide how to educate young children about the dangers of strangers, without scaring them. This is when Linda began what would become a fourteen-year mission. In 1984, she and her husband and children moved to Ontario, Canada and while shopping at a nearby mall, Linda picked up a brochure about a new project that had begun in Alberta in 1983 - Child Find. The brochure was asking for help to build the organization; Linda could have made a sizable donation. Her memories of that little five-year old in Edmonton helped her decide to volunteer.
Taking her own typewriter (no laptops back then), she would climb the three flights to the Child Find office. The office was basically a large closet with one file cabinet and one chair, and Linda would type letters - to corporations, letters to governing bodies, letters to newspapers - seeking money and help. She wrote letters and she wrote education and she wrote solutions. Child Find began to grow. Actual programs to assist the police and inform communities were put in place. The "not-enough"woman then became Secretary of the Ontario Branch as they grew larger, while the original Child Find in Alberta began to grow smaller. Again, Linda pushed forward, becoming Vice President and, then, President of Child Find Ontario. What many of us take for granted in the U.S., Code Orange, all-points-bulletins for missing children, a national clearing house for missing children, and neighborhood watch programs, did not exist at that time. It is because of the Linda Debelser-Owenses of the world that many children are saved and many never taken.
Child Find Ontario knew that a National Program was what was needed next. Of course, Linda was the woman who began to set this up. She became the first National President of Child Find in Canada. All of this work was volunteer. All of this work was draining. Ms. Debelser-Owen has stories that still wake her up at night. Children never found, others found with missing body parts, and others who may have been rescued, but were severely damaged. These are memories that never leave and these are memories that eventually had Linda decide to step away from Child Find, leaving her work for others to continue.
That is of course not the end to what she has done. Divorced in 2000, Debelser-Owen began to take some classes through the Toronto Arch-Diocese of the Catholic Church. Wanting to heal from the pain and destruction of her own divorce, she was soon leading many of the classes that she had recently taken. A Certified Spiritual Divorce Coach, Linda began to dream of places throughout the world where divorced individuals could stop in and have a place to heal. Tiers of Healing was born. The program, originally designed to assist individuals with divorce, has been expanded to include all types of significant loss.
Linda Debelser-Owen is a grandmother, a mother, a master gardener, and is newly remarried. Currently she is living in British Columbia where she oversees the lives of her friends and loved ones. Her home is never empty and her phone never silent. The word has gotten out, Linda heals. She listens. She has a contagious laugh and a full kitchen. Above all, she cares for the human race and needs to help. We are blessed.
Action Taken: The inner need to help anyone who is hurting, lost, hungry or alone.
Linda Debelser-Owen a woman who always says yes. You can reach Linda at ldebelser@shaw.ca
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