Tears, laughter, and a deep sense of gratitude filled Connexus Church on Tuesday afternoon as friends, family, colleagues, and community partners came together to celebrate the legacy of Linda Goodall, outgoing executive director of The Lighthouse.
The gathering was less a farewell and more a joyful reflection on nearly a decade of leadership that transformed a small local shelter housed in an aged building on Peter Street into a multi-faceted, modern facility on Queen Street.
Lighthouse board chair Tim Ticknor, who MCed the event, called it “a celebration of impact, of leadership, of vision, and of legacy.”
He began by thanking Goodall’s family for the sacrifices they made to support her work.
“We’re not here to say goodbye, but to say thank you,” Ticknor said. “Under her leadership, we didn’t just keep the doors open. We expanded services, improved programs, secured funding, and, most importantly, gave people not just a shelter, but hope.”
He described Goodall as a leader who “listens before she speaks” and “always puts the mission above the spotlight,” earning the deep respect of staff, volunteers, and community partners.
“Linda has helped create a space where people feel seen, safe and supported,” he said. “You’ve shown us how to lead with integrity, humility and fire.”
Coun. Jay Fallis brought greetings on behalf of Orillia city council, and recalled his early impressions of Goodall while he was running for council in 2018.
“I remember reading an OrilliaMatters article about the Building Hope project, and peppered throughout was this character, Linda,” he said with a smile. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘I really hope one day I might be able to pick her brain on some things.’”
That chance came soon after. Fallis said Goodall became an invaluable partner on numerous city initiatives, including the creation of Orillia’s first warming centre.
“We started with a problem — people out on the streets in -20, -30 weather, nowhere to go,” he recalled. “Linda was above and beyond the leader of the pack, bringing things forward.”
The project, he said, became a model across Simcoe County.
“Seeing her perseverance and energy inspired me. It showed me what was possible and how you can really make a difference,” Fallis said. “Linda has lifted mountains for the organization, and we’re going to miss you so much.”
Lighthouse partnerships and operations director Trish Holloway and managing director Rosemary Petersen took the stage to speak on behalf of staff.
“Thank you for being here for this special occasion as we celebrate Linda, her leadership, her impact and her incredible legacy,” Holloway began. “If you’ve ever read a great leadership book, you know there are inspiring lessons to be found, and if you’ve ever worked alongside Linda, you know she’s not a chapter out of a book; she is the book.”
They walked the crowd through what they called “the seasons of The Lighthouse” — the branding season, the learning-the-sector season, the row-the-boat season, the Building Hope season, the “we got this” season of COVID-19, the organizational excellence season, and, finally, the “it’s time” season, the moment to trust what’s been built.
“Your leadership has been infused into our culture,” Petersen said. “Because of you, we are compassionate listeners, leaders who serve first, guardians of our mission, and supporters of one another. You’ve shown us what it looks like to care deeply.”
She then shared that The Lighthouse would honour Goodall by naming a wing of the facility the Linda Goodall Wing.
When it was her turn at the microphone, Goodall smiled and quipped, “Whoever this Linda is you’re talking about, I’d like to know her because she sounds pretty cool.”
She reflected on her first experience with The Lighthouse 17 or 18 years ago, when she volunteered at the old Peter Street location.
“You can go on a whim to serve food somewhere and have no idea the impact it’s going to have later on in life,” she said.
She described being recruited by Glenn Wagner and later joining full-time through the Building Hope campaign, not realizing then the journey that awaited her.
“At the beginning, I think there were six staff,” she said. “Now we have around 85, and over 150 volunteers each week. We could not do what we do without them.”
Goodall thanked her senior team — Holloway, Petersen, and human resources and finance director Teal Wise — for being her foundation through the hardest years, including the pandemic and her own battles with mental health and cancer.
“You have to have that strong team around you because not one person can do any of it,” she said.
She also credited successive boards of directors for their compassion and faith.
“The board supported me through everything, even when I needed time to heal. That took a really strong board and a really strong team,” she said.
Throughout her speech, she spoke openly about how collaboration, faith, and shared purpose made The Lighthouse what it is today.
“The partnerships, the churches, the city, the county — all of that is based on hope: hope for the participants that have no housing,” she said, “and we all have that same goal.”
Goodall also revealed her next steps include joining the Blue Sea Foundation, the national organization behind the annual Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser, as an event representative.
“I was on the board for years, and now I’m going to go work with them,” she said, smiling.
She closed with the words that had become her guiding message throughout her years of leadership, a phrase she repeated often to her team during hard times.
“In times of need, I’d tell the team, and they say it back to me now … ‘We got this, and God’s got this,’” she said. “It’s still true, and it will always be true. So, thank you.”