This Week’s Peeps Squeak Location: Ahrens Street West-King Street West (City Hall), Kitchener
Smack dab in the middle of a cold snap this week we headed back to the downtown Kitchener area to talk to some more folks about their holiday memories.
She said it was Santa’s magic.
Ken, 47
Ken was shoveling snow in front of a beautiful home on Ahrens Street. There was something about Ken that exuded the Christmas spirit as he reminisced about his grandmother’s 12 foot tall tree in Markham. “We went out and picked it out and left it on our porch. I don’t know how she got it so white, but every year when we came back, it was all white. Of course, she said it was Santa’s magic.”
Turns out Ken, who has only lived in Kitchener for two years himself, was shoveling a resident’s walk as a volunteer of the House Of Friendship. He explained for a small donation, anyone in need of having their walk shoveled can contact the House Of Friendship.
John was just returning from the Yuletide concert at Centre in the Square when we met him. He shared fond memories of holidays spent with his in-laws. His father-in-law passed away 10 years ago, but left behind 50 grandchildren whom John and his family still celebrate with, in Preston. John was proud to say he has 9 grandchildren of his own.
John, 71
Although Martin, 28, says he never got what he wanted for Christmas as a kid growing up near Rome, Italy, and always ended up with “something that was wrong, like a pair of gloves”—he is planning on spending part of his first Christmas in Canada volunteering in a kitchen for the homeless.
Martin is planning on spending part of his first Christmas in Canada volunteering in a kitchen for the homeless.
No sooner had Martin finished telling us his volunteer plans, when we met James, 32, who could benefit from the services of someone like Martin this Christmas. He was trying to make 10 bucks on the streets, begging for change when we met him. As someone who has been on the streets for a couple of years now, and has done so in Toronto, Cambridge, and London, James says it gets harder every day to make a dollar. “I’ve got to talk to about 400 people to get one dollar. These people in their suits, they don’t want to help you. It’s almost like you have to come up with some sort of con.”
“If people gave you a dollar two years ago, they remember you and hold it against you.” James was a guilty reminder of my own reaction to a homeless woman I ran into twice six months apart.
Dennis & Maria
Meanwhile, Maria and Dennis were across the street watching children ice skating. In Maria’s home town of Pasto, Columbia, she would run with a suitcase on New Year’s Eve. “It is a tradition which means you will travel,” says Maria, 43, who arrived in Kitchener 7 years ago.
Dennis, 40, is just taking Christmas and Boxing Day off from his job a Crawford Adjusters.
An elderly man coming out of an apartment building near King and Charles smiled at first as he recalled Christmas memories. But then he paused and said, “There’s been a few but I just want Christmas over with this year,” and walked away down the street, carrying his troubles with him.
Helen, 24, was drawn by the festive lights to travel the path to the Victoria park clock and away from the bus she was awaiting. From Nairobi, Kenya, and spending her first Christmas in Kitchener, she kept commenting on the beauty of the lights while asking if it was safe in the park. “It’s beautiful, but is it safe?”
In Nairobi, Helen and her family would spend Christmas at a nice lodge and celebrate with a barbecue. Here, she raises her mittened hands to the heavens, catching the snowflakes as they fall. “I love the snow,” she says.
We took shelter in Candy Candy Candy (I can’t let you go), on Queen Street, South, where we found obscure candy cane flavours like Bacon, Wasabi and Gravy. If you still haven’t found a present for the ultimate scrooge on your list, the flavorless Bah Humbug candy cane may be exactly what you’re looking for. “No stripes, no flavour and no spirit,” explains store owner, Dave, who just happened to be celebrating the stores first anniversary. The kid of the candy store, Dave, says he can’t remember whether he’s 38 or 39. “I stopped counting once everything was legal,” he claims. Iggy Pop fans will recognize where the store gets the “I can’t let you go” part of its name.
Dave, owner of Candy, Candy, Candy (I’ll never let you go)
Struggling against the bitter cold and the dark night with a dead cell phone, we were having trouble finding our way back to our parked car on Ahrens Street when we met Claude, who offered to show us the way since he was heading in our direction. Carrying a small grandfather clock half covered in snow which he salvaged from someone’s garbage, I sensed Claude had a story to share when he asked us for two dollars to take the bus home. Turns out the 49 year old has only been out of prison for six months, after serving 18 years in jail for drug, alcohol and gang-related crimes. “I got in with the wrong crowd,” he explained. A trained barber, Claude now struggles to find any type of work. “Once you have a record, no one will hire you.”
Claude, 49
So far, we’ve encountered as much sorrow in the streets of Kitchener as we have joy. But in this season of promised hope and renewal, we are thankful for the Ken’s and Martin’s of the city who are working to turn hardships into a little happiness for the people they serve.
Our next holiday entry will be from Victoria Park, Waterloo.
Peeps Squeak 