Restorative Justice Community Champion: Ryan Olson
‘People can definitely change’
Ryan Olson is director of food services for Salvation Army in Saskatoon and has been with the organization for 15 years. Originally from Saskatoon, he has spent time working in Fort MacMurray and for Kenny Rogers Roasters when it was in the Bridge City. Ryan regularly works with Fine Option clients, people looking to pay off tickets or complete community service hours by working for non-profit organizations that John Howard partners with.
Ryan takes on a lot of special interims as part of the Fine Options program and goes out of his way to make sure Fine Option clients are given opportunities to complete their required time and have correct work records. Congrats and thank you, Ryan!
Tell us about your work, Ryan.
I run the kitchen at Salvation Army. I’m in charge of ordering, training, cleaning. All the fun stuff. I also have a mix of part-time and full-time staff that I supervise.
How did you come to work with Fine Options?
I did a bunch of Fine Options hours years ago and then when I came back from Fort Mac and was looking for a job, I saw Salvation Army was hiring. I had done a bunch of community hours at Friendship Inn and liked it so I thought what the heck I’ll try that.
What do you find most rewarding about your work?
Just people being appreciative. They come in at a horrible time in their lives and sometimes we can make them smile or get them excited by some good meals.
What’s challenging about the work?
Seeing people come back after trying and failing multiple times. I think it’s hard to see. I have gotten to know a lot of people by working in the kitchen and now I see new generations of folks, which is sad.
What do you want your community to know about restorative justice work?
One of the things I have learned here, seeing our clients from the correctional centre, clients from the halfway house and through Fine Options coming in, you just realize people are people, sometimes things happen and people can definitely change.
