Melanie Cusson and Ted Hajdu ride their bikes along 224 Street on a cold and wet November morning, looking for anyone who could use their help.
Cusson has a blue, reusable bag tied to the handlebars of her bike filled with mitts and toques, and Hajdu has Naloxone kits.
As they pass a bus stop, they spot a man sitting in the shelter, holding a piece of tinfoil and pipe on his lap, leaning to one side.
Cusson asks him if he is all right and if he could use something warm to wear.
A toque would be good, says the man, and thanks Cusson as she pulls out a black one from the bag.
For the past three years Cusson and Hajdu have been cruising around town helping those in need.
They weren't always on bikes. This past summer they had a ride – Cusson's 2004 Chevy Ventura.
Every time they needed to go somewhere, though, they had to jump start the engine, and replenish the oil regularly.
They would carry water, blankets, harm reduction supplies, and Naloxone. The winter months coffee, tarps, and tents.
Cusson, 51, said she started meandering the streets looking for people in need three days a week.
“It just got to be something I just did,” she said.
With Hajdu, they would use the van to get people out of the elements, and let them sleep inside when the weather was wet and cold.
Cusson and Hajdu would help out the people banned from the shelters to provide a place for them to go when everything else failed them and they didn't have anything.
“It’s one of the few that seats eight people,” explained Cusson of the van during the summer, when it was still running, noting she could squeeze six people in the back.
They also spent their time running people to appointments – people who were unable to travel by bus because of their anxiety and depression – who struggled to even come out of their rooms, said Cusson.
But if Cusson and Hajdu were there, they felt at comfortable, more at ease.
Jesse Sokol, with the Non-Judgemental Recovery Society, said he has known both Cusson and Hajdu for quite some time, and commended their willingness to help the community.
Hajdu does outreach for the society from 9-11 p.m. every Thursday night, handing out sandwiches and harm reduction supplies. Cusson was always lending a ride. Once she drove someone to Chilliwack to visit their mother, on her own dime, Sokol noted.
“If someone needs to go anywhere, she’ll get them there,” Sokol said. “She is always willing to help out all our people on the street here, where ever they need to go."
Cusson and Hajdu find tarps and blankets are much needed during both the winter and summer months as they help keep people warm in the winter, but they also give people a barrier from the hot concrete and direct sun during the warmer months.
Water is also important to hand out, said Cusson, who used to carry two big jugs with her in the back of the van.
She said sometimes people on the streets need to be reminded to get a drink.
Cusson and Hajdu know what it's like.
Both are addicted to drugs. Cusson was once addicted to cocaine, but has been using crystal meth for the last three years. Hajdu has been using meth for the last decade, and alcohol, because he has an issue with chronic pain. But, he doesn’t use that often, he said.
Even though they still use, they have gotten to the point where they are slowing down, and don’t want the drugs on some days.
Hajdu, 47, says he has seen a lot of change in the town, noting there is a genuine need for services and outreach – a gap the pair feel they are filling.
And, he said, they feel like they get no help from the government, noting that sometimes they provide for people what little they have out of their own pockets, or they have to step into the roles of outreach and overdose response.
“These platitudes of promises of help, and you get nothing,” he said of local politicians.
Just before the cold, wet weather hit, Cusson's van finally died, and she is now saving up money for a new ride.
However, this has not stopped their drive to help out.
Until Cusson can get her hands on another vehicle, the pair are committed to riding the streets – on pedal power – and giving out as much as they can take with them.
Anyone who would like to donate can drop off their donations at Garibaldi Ridge, 11749 Burnett St., with the label 'Out Reach Program'.
