Mary Ann plays the long game
Mary Ann hadn’t been to our Parkdale drop-in in about 15 years when she returned this summer.. On her first day a drop-in worker asked if she wanted to shoot hoops on the court behind the building. “Jess just came up to me and asked if I wanted to play. I said, sure, that’s totally my jam,” Mary Ann says. “It totally reeled me back in to coming to PARC.”
Mary Ann is now downstairs at the drop-in for breakfast and lunch most days. “My dominoes game has gotten a lot better,” she says. She’s also working with PARC staff to map out the next decade of her life.
Finding each other at the Parkdale drop-in
Mary Ann moved to Parkdale around 2009 and has lived in the same apartment ever since. Soon after she arrived, she started helping prepare and serve a free community lunch at a nearby church. An older woman in the neighbourhood offered her an invitation: “Come to PARC, it’s a lot of fun.”
Back then, the drop-in was a place where people met each other, and the relationships that started there carried on well beyond its walls. For Mary Ann, that community formed on the ice and the field. She played hockey and soccer. Members helped assemble a bag of gear so she could keep coming back every week.
Ten years out and one step at a time
Mary Ann has a plan, and it’s ambitious.
“I’m looking 10 years ahead. There are so many things I want to do. I want to be a family physician. I want to be a TTC special constable. I’m working toward all of it step by step.”
Tara, who works in the drop-in, gave her the full list of programs at Toronto Metropolitan University. Mary Ann has her eye on more than the classroom. “I’m thinking about TMU, because scouts watch the basketball players there. So I can learn while continuing to play basketball.”
The groundwork for Mary Ann’s plan is physical too. She dreams of playing for the WNBA, and is starting a weight-training routine at a local community centre. She’d also like to become first aid certified.
She knows what makes the planning possible. “PARC is totally helping me out. Being here one day at a time, eating my meals. Maybe I’ll grow, maybe I won’t. All I have is time. But today is good.”
Strength on screen and songs on paper
During a hard stretch in her life, Mary Ann’s mom handed her a newspaper article about Angelina Jolie. “She turned my life around,” Mary Ann says. “My mom gave me a newspaper article about Angelina, so I went on a treasure hunt, bought all her movies, and watched them. I saw the strength in her characters. I started watching movies, getting out, and playing basketball again.”
The admiration hasn’t faded. “I’m going to make it big, and I’ll ask her and her kids to come to my game and grab dinner after. And we’ll see what happens! I’ll send them tickets to my first game.”
Mary Ann writes music as well. What started as writing in high school became songs once she settled in Parkdale. “I’d strum, sing, record myself, and they became songs,” she says. “I made seven of them into a CD and translated them into Tagalog.”
Joel, who works with PARC’s member volunteer team, is helping her write the songs out as sheet music. “Joel already did that for one of my songs. We’ll see how many more we can do.”
The next shot
Mary Ann admits her basketball skills still need work. “I keep talking like a big shot. I want to be in the WNBA, but I can’t even shoot that far.”
She practises anyway, in her own way. “Every time I walk past a court, I do a kind of meditation. I picture myself shooting threes from all around the line.” Then she gets to work. “After I finish here, I’ll go to the weight room and do a couple of sets.”
Mary Ann also has a goal of opening up her own place just like PARC, where people can get together to hang out. We promised to help her achieve that as well.
Learn more about the Drop-in at PARC.
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Mary Ann is a member of the PARC community. PARC (Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre) is located at 1499 Queen Street West in Toronto. PARC has served the Parkdale community since 1980.
Photos and quotes shared with consent.
