How a Halifax-area encampment plans to celebrate the holidays amid ‘heartwarming’ support

Residents of the Cobequid Road ballfield in Lower Sackville, N.S. are still finding reasons to celebrate this holiday season, thanks in part to an outpouring of community support.

Living in a tent encampment is difficult at the best of times, but it’s especially rough during the winter, when it’s hard to find respite from the biting cold and wind.

But with the holidays around the corner, Josh Punk, a resident at the Cobequid Road ballfield in Lower Sackville encampment, said the season has been “surprisingly heartwarming.”

“There’s a lot of really excellent involvement from community members. There’s a lot of donations, there’s a lot of kind wishes,” he said.

“Just a lot of support from random folks that I’ve never met before, I’ve never seen before, coming by, just being supportive and kind.”

Punk, 34, is one of 33 people currently staying at the ballfield. He’s been there “on and off” since the summer and has been there pretty much full-time for the last two months.

“It’s been cold, it’s been harsh,” he said.

“I would like to have some sort of permanent housing that I can afford… That’s something that I would like to see for everyone here,” Punk continued. “I believe that everyone here deserves to have a nice home… It’s just a ridiculous situation that we’re all in.”

Two recent back-to-back storms have “wreaked havoc” at the ballfield, said Nikki Greer, president of the Gated Community Association, a volunteer group dedicated to assisting the residents at the ballfield.