When our beloved member Margaret Trainor passed away in January 2026, our club wanted to memorialize her amazing life and service. An obvious choice was to link her name to the “Suffolk Care Collaborative” being planned by Wyndham House and Family & Children's Services as Guelph's first foster care facility. The official opening of this home took place on November 10, 2026, and it pays tribute to Margaret in several ways. The opening was attended by Margaret's family and many Rotarians.
The new foster home is located in an old Guelph house (on Suffolk Street) that has been extensively refurbished for its new purpose, so that young people in this difficult situation can now be accommodated locally rather than being housed away from Guelph. The house has six individual bedrooms providing each resident with private, dignified space. The whole house is beautifully and thoughtfully decorated to feel warm and welcoming. We thank and recognize Allana Cortese, the project manager from Wyndham House, for the inspired style, dedication and warm collaboration that she brought to this project.
Thanks to Rotary, there is a large, colourful mural (8' x 4') in the main hallway, in memory of Margaret. It was designed by our club member Ben McCarl who served as the Artistic Director for this project. We thank Ben for his vision, and for making this a truly communal effort. He designed an ingenious "paint-by-numbers" style mural, which allowed many Rotarians, friends, and family members to contribute, without the need for artistic experience. The mural includes two of Margaret’s pets, and two of Margaret's favourite sayings: CHANGE YOUR STARS and BELIEVE IN POSSIBLE.
Margaret was a force for good. She was a nurse, a businesswoman, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a volunteer, and a devoted Rotarian. Beyond that, she was a person with an unbreakable belief in the potential of others. She grew up in foster care and faced huge challenges as a teenager, yet she always chose to "Change her stars”. Her belief that we can change our trajectory and must always “Believe in possible” became guiding lights of her life.
Rotarian Helmuth Slisarenko was called upon to build a wooden frame around the mural. In deference to Margaret's passionate advocacy to End Polio, he discreetly added a purple strip in each corner of the frame.
When it came time to move the finished mural from Ben's basement studio in Fergus to the house on Suffolk Street, a call went out to Dave Weatherson, husband of our past president Carolyn Weatherson, for help with his work truck, and also to have another strong pair of hands to relocate the large, heavy artwork.
The installation of the mural at Suffolk Street was challenging. “There isn't a straight wall in this old house!” declared Helmuth, so it was quite a tricky task, but they did it. What great teamwork!
The Rotary Club of Guelph Charitable Foundation proudly contributed funding to furnish a Sensory Room, and to create two dedicated Study Corners equipped with computers and supplies. In honour of her legacy, these areas are named for Margaret.
Margaret’s time with us ended too soon, but her legacy continues here in the Suffolk Safe Collaborative.
To the youth who may call this place home for a while, we want them to know that they are surrounded by a community that believes in them. We say to them, “Margaret’s spirit is with you, and like her, you have the power to change your stars.”
THIS STORY WILL SOON BE UPDATED WITH PHOTOS