Sally Henry Memorial Award Winner—1999
Carol Gulyas
by Arlene Gryfe
This year the Award to celebrate Sally Henry’s desire to make a difference in this ever changing world was presented to Carol Gulyas.
Carol started her career in Home Economics while still in college, working with Joan Fielden throughout the school year and in the summers. Because she thought that teaching would be enjoyable, she upgraded her Home Economics Diploma at Lakeshore Teachers’ College, and then moved with her new husband, Greg to Bracebridge. She began teaching Grade 3 at Muskoka Falls School, utilizing her Home Economist skills in the classroom. She also joined the Bracebridge Women’s Business Club, meeting many new people and joining committees. That first spring, Carol invited Stephanie Charron and Kay Hodgins to present a panel presentation on consumerism with her.
Carol has always considered Kay as one of her mentors because Kay was a full-time mother and a full-time Home Economist in an era when few women had full-time careers. It was Kay who connected Carol with Joan Fielden for her first job as a demonstrator at the CNE. With the ongoing support of husband and parents, Carol worked towards her BAA in Home Economics at Ryerson. After graduation, she returned to teaching, but now in the Family Studies Program.
About this time, she became involved in Women’s Habitat - a shelter for abused women and children in South Etobicoke. With her children and their schools, she coordinated food drives, fund-raisers, and mitten trees to benefit Women’s Habitat and other community outreach programs, thus spreading awareness throughout the community.
When Carol’s father retired and began donating his time to the Scott Mission, Carol and her and her family were not far behind, taking active roles in the Christmas food hamper program. Another family endeavor is Camp Kwasind - a Christian camp owned and operated by the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, and managed by a volunteer team. Carol has just been re-elected to the team for another three-year term. She uses her food and nutrition background to bring the camp’s kitchen up to the high levels of the food service industry, and the standards required by the Ministry of Health.
Carol is also a founding member of the Parkdale Out of the Cold Program, which feeds 75 to 175 homeless people every Sunday, and provides overnight accommodation for 50 to 75 people throughout the winter.
Once Carol left the teaching profession to pursue her Home Economics Consulting Service, she realized the importance of food retrieval. Many of her clients now routinely donate quantities of nutritious, delicious food to the needy.
The OHEA Board of Directors has also benefited from Carol’s event management skills at Board meetings. To Carol, it is important to support them since they give of their personal time on weekends. Carol has worked on our own executive for a number of years. Because Carol has had mentors who helped her attain professional goals, she, in turn, mentors others in order to continue the nurturing tradition of Home Economists.
Carol is grateful to her family, friends and colleagues for their constant support of the many interests for which she is being honoured.