Flo Tracy might be the only Director of Residences in the Western Hemisphere with a hookah in her office. I mustered up the guts to ask Flo about it as my interview with her drew to a close. She replied, laughing, "What we did with a group of student leaders once—we went to Nefertiti down by Concordia, and you smoke apple tea. One of the student leaders that year was from Jordan, so when she came back from Jordan the next year, she brought me that. So I display it proudly, because what Director of Residences would have one of those in her office?"

What might seem to be an out-of-place object in Flo’s office actually attests to her dedication to the community of McGill and beyond as well as to the connections she facilitates through her job. Bringing diverse sets of people together and offering immense amounts of time for the benefit of others is what Flo is all about. Flo says she has been blessed, but one comes away after meeting her with a sense that, if she has been blessed, it is a well-deserved fortune she has amassed through her countless volunteer activities (including sitting on two other boards for benevolent organizations voluntarily)as well as her paid job as Director of Residences.

Flo’s association with the Yellow Door has been a long and continuing one. Since 1980, she has been a volunteer board member and, as Flo puts it, "it’s just been part of my being ever since." She has served as President and Vice-President of the board over the years and is currently the Chair of the Personnel Committee.

Flo seems to see both the McGill community and the surrounding community as a sort of overlapping, larger community, especially through the portal of the Yellow Door, a place she is proud of her attachment to. "It is important to McGill because it provides an opportunity for McGill students to volunteer, and to reach out, for young performers to perform in the coffeehouse. So it provides a good service to McGill students, also to the community around. It’s a friendly place, it’s a warm place, and it’s open to new ideas." She sees its purpose as "being a community organization that reaches out and touches people. It really does a lot for just a little organization with a small budget." I asked Flo if she could recount any remarkable stories from her experiences at the Yellow Door, and she recalled a touching memory of a funeral for a Yellow Door client. "The only people at her funeral were Yellow Door people. So that was very touching and that showed the service that we give." She also spoke of the hundredth anniversary of the Yellow Door, when Penny Lang returned to sing. "It was really very touching that this notable singer would come back, and just sing for us at our hundredth anniversary."

So how does Flo Tracy find time for her volunteer work? She replies modestly to this question, "Well it’s just important, I think, to serve the community. But after 25 years, it’s family more than a community service. Volunteering is an important part of my aspect, my life."