Homeless Veteran and Wife Get Hotel Stay for Christmas

Remember the Christmas story when a man and his wife were looking for a place to stay? They had to depend on the kindness of strangers. They were given shelter and were grateful for a stable. This story has it all.

A homeless veteran and his wife were not only given a place to stay for Christmas in style, they were given a community full of love.

The homeless veteran is a member of the old guard after serving 24 years. He is among those forgotten by far too many charities only interested in younger servicemembers.

If you read Wounded Times often, you'll love this story because of the strange twist that took place.

A hotel for the holidays: Ottawans get homeless couple a suite for Christmas
Ottawa Citizen
Allison McNeely
Published on: December 24, 2014

An Ottawa homeless man — who asked to be named only as Kevin — is spending the holidays in a hotel with his wife, thanks to the generosity of a pair of Ottawans.
Allison McNeely / Ottawa Citizen

Two Ottawa residents, brought together by chance and Facebook, are giving good holiday cheer to a homeless couple.

Rhu Hashemi, 21, and Angie Haddad, 26, teamed up to give two nights of all-expenses-paid rest at an Ottawa hotel to a homeless man and his wife.

It started with a chance encounter between Hashemi, a fourth-year commerce student at Carleton University, and the homeless man, who asked to be known as Kevin for this story, outside of a ByWard Market bar.

Hashemi knew Kevin, 46, as the homeless man who can do 140 consecutive pushups.

“Me and the boys, we go out in the Market and we see him,” said Hashemi. “He schooled one of my buddies in a 51 one-handed pushup competition.”

Hashemi was leaving a bar on Nov. 30, after hosting a fundraiser for the Wounded Warrior Project, when he bumped into Kevin and they got to talking. Kevin told Hashemi that he was a veteran of the Canadian Forces.

Hashemi later decided he wanted to get to know him a little better, tracking him down at the Shepherds of Good Hope, where he has been living since June.

Over a coffee, Kevin told Hashemi that he is a 24-year veteran of the Canadian infantry and he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after tours in Bosnia and Somalia. Hashemi said he was so touched by Kevin’s story that he gave the $250 he had raised for the Wounded Warrior Project to him.

Hashemi then decided to raise money for the Shepherds of Good Hope by posting a photo of Kevin in front of the War Memorial on Facebook. The Dec. 14 post got more than 1,700 shares, 300 likes and raised more than $800 for the Shepherds of Good Hope.
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