About Us
The Dayna Elizabeth Karle (DEK) Addiction Recovery Foundation, also known as “DEK Foundation” was founded by Carolyn Karle in June 2022. Carolyn lost her beautiful daughter, Dayna to an unintentional drug overdose on September 19, 2021. Dayna was sober for over 9 months. This tragedy empowered Carolyn to establish the DEK Foundation.
The DEK Foundation is a community of trust, compassion, and unity, creating connection among all those impacted by addiction. DEK is built on the value of activism by creating change, ending stigma, and providing nurturing spaces for people living with addiction. DEK demands everyone is treated with dignity through kindness, respect and understanding.
A community free of stigma surrounding addiction where everyone belongs and is valued.
Dedicated to supporting and improving the lives of community members impacted by addiction.
Meet the Hearts Behind Our Mission
Our dedicated team is driven by a shared commitment to support and empower individuals in their recovery journeys. With diverse backgrounds in healthcare, advocacy, and community services, each member brings unique expertise and a personal touch to our foundation’s work. Get to know the passionate leaders who are guiding DEK Foundation towards making a significant impact in the community.
Carolyn Karle
Founder & President
Janice Thompson
Vice President
Cindy Orr
Secretary
Linda Hutton
Director
Karen Hutton
Director
Kyle Arnold
Director
Katie Bortolin
Director
Michelle Kolobutin
Director
Michael Dunn
Director
Trevor Atkinson
Director
Crystal Pickering
Community Connector
Carolyn Karle
Carolyn Karle is the Founder and President of the DEK Foundation. Carolyn is also a devoted Mom, Partner, and semi-retired Hair Stylist (40 plus years ) born and raised in Thunder Bay.
On September 19, 2021, Carolyn, Randy and their family suffered a loss that no parent or sibling should ever endure. Their beautiful, funny, charismatic, vibrant and talented daughter/sister, Dayna Elizabeth Karle, died of an unintentional drug overdose after a lengthy period of sobriety. Conceptualized by Carolyn, out of her love for Dayna, Team DEK is Dayna’s legacy; “a way to make a positive impact on the drug crisis faced in Thunder Bay”.
Carolyn has firsthand experience with the many ongoing challenges that victims, including addicted individuals and their families face in overcoming addiction-related illnesses. Limited services, long wait times, gaps within these services, and a range of stigmas leave addicted individuals vulnerable to relapses, leave families feeling isolated and hopeless, and ultimately contribute to senseless deaths and ongoing trauma.
Carolyn hopes, through Team DEK, in Dayna’s honour, to bring awareness and increased services to better support addicted individuals and their families. Showing that people DO care about those who struggle is a first step towards making a difference!
Janice Thompson
I’m retired and value the time I now have to be involved with Team DEK helping our community.
With our dedicated board members and so many supporters, the Dayna Elizabeth Karle (DEK) Addiction Recovery Foundation will make a difference!
I also enjoy reading, gardening, Toronto Blue Jays and am a dedicated member of Caring Hearts Cat Rescue.
Cindy Orr
Cindy Orr is a lifelong resident of Thunder Bay and takes pride in all our community has to offer.
Cindy has worked in community development most of her career and has joined a wonderful organization as part of the support team at Anishnawbe Mushkiki.
She is passionate about volunteering and has been involved with many organizing committees to bring large scale events and multi-sport games to Thunder Bay.
Her experience on various committees and boards will help build and support the DEK Foundation and she is honored to be part of such important work.
Crystal Pickering
Crystal Pickering is Team DEK’s first Community Connector. Crystal is from Sault Ste. Marie. She arrived in Thunder Bay in late 2016 to start her journey into recovery. Making the decision to leave her hometown and start over again in Thunder Bay was a turning point for Crystal. She now works as a Peer Support Worker at People Advocating for Change and Empowerment (PACE). She enjoys her work and shares her experience with clients, tells them she’s been there and they are not alone. She meets people where they are at in their recovery and celebrates their successes, large and small.
Crystal lived at The Lodge on Dawson where she met Dayna Karle and Dayna’s mother, Carolyn. When talking about Dayna, Crystal shares “When she first met me, Dayna was scared of me, but she always tried to talk to me and include me. I tried to push her away, but we became friends because she never made me feel like I was bothering her. Dayna and her mom were a big deal for me, to go from a life where people always make me feel like I was bothering them to being around people who always cared for me and make me feel loved was a big deal.”
Her lived experience and persistence are assets to the work and vision of Team DEK. She is a champion in the recovery community and is looking forward to joining the DEK team.
Karen Hutton
Karen has worked as a Personal Support Worker both in long term care and assisted living for over 20 years.
She has fostered and rescued dogs and cats and has travelled to beautiful places to stay in touch with family. With retirement pending, paid caregiving changes to volunteering.
The DEK Foundation will work to help those struggling with addiction in honor of our beloved Dayna.
Kyle Arnold
Kyle was born and raised in Victoria, British Columbia. He moved to Thunder Bay in 2018 to begin his recovery journey after 17 years of drug use. Kyle is a well-known and trusted individual among the vulnerable population of Thunder Bay, largely due to his lived experience with addiction and the criminal justice system.
He is passionate about helping others struggling with addictions to find a better life and supporting individuals in exiting gangs and human trafficking.
Kyle takes his recovery seriously and takes part in a 12-step program. He brings practical expertise to the board as someone who has gone through the system and has first hand experience of the barriers. Kyle is a fierce advocate and continually works to tackle the stigma of addiction and brings the voices of the individuals, families and the children of people living with addiction to the forefront and ensures that they are heard.
He is proud to be supporting the work of Team DEK.
Katie Bortolin
Katie Bortolin brings 16 years of frontline and management experience in the homelessness sector to the DEK Foundation. She is the Director of Housing at the Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre (TBIFC). She is TBIFC’s housing lead on the Indigenous Youth Transition House and the Dibinawaang “Shelter from the Wind” Outreach Program.
Her work is marked by her commitment to challenging outdated systems that push people to the margins and creating new sustainable pathways out of homelessness. She is an advocate for harm reduction, ‘rights over rules’ approaches, and two-eyed seeing practices in housing policy development.
Coupled with lived experience with substance misuse and incarceration, Katie holds a Social Service Worker diploma, an Arts Degree, and a Post-Graduate Human Resources Management Certificate. She is registered with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers.
Michelle Kolobutin
Michelle Kolobutin is a mother, advocate and community connector born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Michelle has been working in the field of Mental Health and Addictions for 15 years. She completed her Masters of Science from the University of Waterloo and went on to work in the field of HIV Case Management and Street Outreach in Hamilton, Ontario, coordinating the Van Needle Exchange Program. She worked with the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre to locate and educate the under and never screen population to screen for high risk cancers, working with urban, rural and remote communities in the Northwest to increase access to cancer screening.
For the past 5 years she has worked in Thunder Bay in the field of Equitable Food Access, Harm Reduction and Managed Alcohol with a special interest in supporting women involved in survival sex. She is passionate about health equity, increasing access to quality food and bringing in community members and people with lived experience to guide and participate in the work she does. She is looking forward to working with the Team DEK Board.
Michael Dunn
Michael was born and raised in Thunder Bay. He is a father to two beautiful children. One of which who lost his mother due to addiction at five months old. Michael has had his own struggles with addiction as well, dating back to the age of thirteen years old. With support from his family, multiple services and a fellowship of like-minded people who had found a solution, he finally found the strength and willingness to seek recovery in 2017.
Ever since entering recovery and with the loss of his son’s mother, Michael had always dreamt of being involved in something like this. He is very passionate about this opportunity and is honored to offer his time and energy to this foundation. Michael believes that it is his purpose, and has dedicated his life to helping people who struggle with addiction, both professionally and personally.
Michael believes that every person who struggles with addiction is worthy and deserving of recovery. With the right kind of love and support all those who may suffer from this disease can be successful.
Trevor Atkinson
Trevor was born in Oshawa, and grew up in Nipigon and Thunder Bay, he is a member of Lake Helen First Nation. He is a father of two beautiful children. Trevor has recently achieved his Social Service Worker diploma and has been working in the helping field for 3 years. He has battled with his own substance abuse issues in the past and struggled through the grips of addiction for over 15 years. He knows the challenges that individuals face when seeking out recovery from addiction and understands the hardships that follow in early recovery.
Trevor found his own higher power and “The Way Out” of substance abuse issues in 2019 and has since rebuilt his life. Always maintaining that his recovery comes first, even before his own family. He is a proud member of the Thunder Bay community and works hard at helping individuals who are struggling with mental health and addictions issues.
Trevor is very proud of his work in a local recovery home and strives to provide a therapeutic relationship with his clients to allow them a safe and meaningful experience. The reintegration process is very important to him and he provides services to ready his clients for many different opportunities such as, school, employment, training, family, community, and on-going supportive services.
Trevor believes that society can change the outlook on addiction from morality to reality. Ending the stigma around, and marginalization of people who struggle with substance abuse disorders.
Kimberley Wark
Kimberley Wark is currently Director, Finance and Administration with Anishnawbe Mushkiki Community Health & Wellness. A Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA), Kim has over 25 years’ experience working with nonprofit organizations serving vulnerable populations. This experience has
given her a deep appreciation for how nonprofits seek to improve the quality of life for those living in
Thunder Bay, one kind gesture, or supportive program, at a time.
Kim is a mom to two boys, and in her spare time can be found hiking the trails around Thunder Bay with
her sidekick, an adorable dog named Finn.
Our Testimonials
Hear Our Stories of Hope and Recovery
Brittany C.
Community Member
“I was struggling with addiction for 20 years of my life. I came to treatment here in Thunder Bay. The recovery community in Thunder Bay is amazing. They welcomed me and all newcomers with open arms. DEK Foundation has given us ladies in the recovery community great experiences. I was scared to lose the “fun” part of addiction but Carolyn and the DEK is always giving us opportunities to experience, fun in recovery. I am extremely grateful to be in recovery and to have the opportunity to experience life. I would like to thank the recovery community as well as the hard work that DEK Foundation does for the people struggling with addiction in and outside of recovery.”
Robin J. C.
Community Member
“I allowed active addiction to steal three and a half decades of my life. And since being in recovery, Carolyn and the DEK Foundation have allowed me to experience some pretty incredible 1st experiences. And I am so extremely grateful I want everyone to know how incredible this foundation is and what it has done in my life and what it could do for theirs.”
Sharon D.
Community Member
“When I first heard about the DEK Foundation and what happened to Dayna Elizabeth Karle, I was unbearably sad and heartbroken. But now, the DEK Foundation reminds me that hope exists. It’s a beacon that shows no one has to recover alone—a mechanism to combine resources and ideologies. It highlights the huge gaps between in-patient addiction treatment facilities and affordable safe sober living options. I love that the DEK Foundation provides opportunities for women in recovery to build bonds and share experiences. When I feel overwhelmed by addiction and its collateral damage, the DEK Facebook page always lifts my mood. I don’t know what the future holds for DEK, but I look forward to being part of it.”
Latest News
Articles For You To Read
Healing Together: Community Support’s Role In Addiction Recover
Discover the power of community in the healing journey, and how DEK Foundation’s support groups provide a cornerstone for lasting recovery.
Empowering Change: Success Stories from DEK Foundation Graduates
Be inspired by the triumphant stories of women who, with DEK Foundation’s help, have turned their lives around and are now thriving.
Advocacy in Action: How Team DEK is Shaping Recovery Policies
Discover the power of community in the healing journey, and how DEK Foundation’s support groups provide a cornerstone for lasting recovery.