Gift for Glass

For nine years, Sister Alda Brady worked on the front lines as a support worker at Home Base Housing, dealing with homeless people suffering mental illness and addiction to drugs and alcohol. It was an often harsh and violent world. After almost a decade of making great strides at Home Base, she has decided it’s time to move on.

She leaves with great satisfaction; comfort in the knowledge she’s achieved all her goals at the homeless shelter. The Perth born Sister helped create a drop-in centre, a shelter, and her crowning achievement — the construction of a 14 unit rental building to ease the transition from homeless to independence.

Sr. Alda needs time to re-energize and eventually return to a mission with children where she feels God is calling her. Until then, she’s helping out in the gardens at Providence Motherhouse.

“I like the earth and I’m learning so much about the seeds,” remarks Alda.

Two years ago, she tried her hand at stained glass, and the hobby now consumes much of her free time. It quickly became her favourite way to pass the time in the winter because she was too busy the rest of the year.

She likes to use pieces that have meaning.

“If I’m making an object for someone, I think about the individual and reflect on how they’ve been involved in my life.”

She not only produced a Guatemalan scene for Sr. Julia Hamilton, but made the pattern herself. For Sr. Anne Hudec, Alda made a Saskatchewan scene complete with wheat and harvest moon.

Her creations are gifts for friends and family. But judging by the interest on the day the art was on display for this story, it won’t be long before Sr. Alda starts to get orders.