Posted: Apr 19, 2021 9:34 AM AT | Last Updated: April 19
Snake said he’s proud to have helped build Freedom Kitchen’s new building outside Knox United Church.(Elizabeth Chiu/CBC)
Deep in the forest near the Hefler lumber mill in Middle Sackville, N.S., was the place Snake called home, surviving 11 months living rough in 2019.
A victim of poverty and the Halifax region's affordable housing crisis, he turned to the woods instead of a men's shelter or living on the street. CBC has agreed to identify Snake, 56, by the nickname he uses with his friends.
"I didn't honestly think I was ever going to get out of there and get back on my feet," he said in an interview on Friday. He thought back to how hygiene was his biggest problem. He would wash in the river or at the library.