Help pours in for #HaliCop street person in Halifax

The brother of Steve Gates says he's excited about the outpouring of support he's received for his brother.

Steve Gates is a familiar face in Halifax, known to many for playing violin downtown.

But he recently attracted attention after a photograph of him speaking with Halifax Regional Police Const. Craig Currie made the rounds on social media.

That's where Ian Gates saw it — on the Facebook page of an acquaintance who had posted the photo without realizing its connection to Ian.

'No way to find him'

He lives in Edmonton, and says he hasn't seen his brother in three years. Before that, it was a decade since their last meeting. 

"He is disconnected from everything. I just had no way to find him," Gates said. "I didn't know who knew him or anything."

Gates says he would typically reach his brother by connecting to St. Paul's Anglican Church in Halifax. But even then, finding his brother in person usually took some legwork.

"It was a matter of travelling around town, trying to find him and listening for the violin."

'Downhill' after brain injury

Gates says he and his brother were close growing up, but fell out of touch as they both moved away from Vancouver in their early 20s. 

In 1997, Steve Gates was in a car crash in Australia and suffered a traumatic brain injury. After that point, their sporadic communication diminished even further.

"It went downhill from there," his brother said.

Crowdfunding takes off

Gates says he and his wife have been talking for years about a way to help Steve.

But he was still amazed by the response he received after starting a crowdfunding campaign, which has raised nearly $4,000 in four days. 

Gates says he's also been contacted by people wanting to donate violins, clothing and haircuts.

With the funds raised, he hopes to set up store credit at places where his brother can repair his instrument and buy food. 

"Steve doesn't really want the money; he can't really have money at his place or on his person. It just strikes me as a lot safer or more convenient if it's not in his place or on his person, but he can use it. "

'Outpouring of love'

For his part, Steve Gates told the creators of the Facebook page Halifolks he's been touched by the support he's recently received.

"I can really feel all the people reaching out to me, and it's really made me feel better, even with all the health issues I've been dealing with," he said.

"With all of this hard stuff going on, this sudden attention and outpouring of love happened at the right time for me."

It isn't just the most recent manifestation of support that Gates is grateful for — his brother says everyone from the people behind the Halifolks, who profiled Steve in 2014, to Capital Health's Mobile Outreach Street Health, who check on Steve once a week, have kept them in contact even at a distance. 

"They're doing something for me, if you like, for him, that is making a huge difference in his life," Gates said.

'He's going to live this life'

Even with these supports, Gates isn't expecting his brother to have an easy life. 

But he hopes, with some help, he can lighten the burden.

"I don't think he'll ever have what most people would have: a normal life. He'll never have a normal job or live in a normal house. He's going to live this life, I'm sure, forever," Gates said.  

"I'm hoping to be able to make a small bit of difference. What can we do to make it a little better?"