Victoria Street encampment struggling with winter weather

The region has opened several additional emergency shelter spaces recently to accommodate winter overflow, just as snow and cold weather rolls in.

The Victoria Street encampment got a blast of snow Tuesday, just days after a fire broke out causing two people to be displaced from their tents that burnt up.

Cheyenne Mascoll is experiencing homelessness and was helping rebuild some tents Tuesday afternoon at the encampment. She has been living at the corner of Victoria Street and Weber Street for the past 2 months.

Mascoll said people in the encampment are struggling with the cold weather right now.

 “Everyone’s complaining about being cold right like you can’t help it, we try not to whine too much because the more you whine the more you piss each other off,” said Mascoll.

“You take what you can get and make the most of what you got,” Mascoll added.

Mascoll was residing inside a shelter in the region up until two months ago when she got kicked out, which is when she came to the Victoria Street encampment.

Mascoll said the people staying there get along well together for the most part – most are just in tough situations.

“Just driving past, you think ‘oh my god look at these fall downs they don’t care they like living like this’ – it’s not really like that we don’t have a choice,” said Mascoll.

The Unsheltered Campaign are looking for winter clothing donations for people experiencing homelessness in the region.

Donations can be delivered to The AIDS Committee Of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo & Area’s Kitchener office, located at 1770 King Street East, Unit 5. They are open Monday to Friday each week from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.