New Hope lives on Main East

Howard Elliott
The Hamilton Spectator
(Feb 23, 2010)
There's a song written by Bruce Springsteen entitled From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come). The sentiment, if not the song itself, could accurately be applied to many things happening in Hamilton these days. A great example can be found at 1429 Main Street E. at the corner of Crosthwaite Ave., near Kenilworth.
Here sits a building, previously home to a rowdy bar known in the area for noise complaints. Today, it's owned by a non-profit organization called Homestead Christian Care -- affiliated with the New Hope Christian Church -- which wants to build 46 affordable housing units, in addition to current tenants that include the New Hope Bike Co-Op, which refurbishes and resells old bikes for bargain rates, and also does bike repairs.
An adult bike typically sells for $40, a kid's bike for $10. If your bike is broken, you can take it in and volunteers will help fix it. If you can't afford a bike, the operators will help you get hooked up with a ride. Last summer the co-op sold about 60 bikes and gave away about a dozen more to people who couldn't afford to buy.
The co-op opened last spring with a grant of $3,000 to hire a student. It's now self-sustaining through the sale of donated bikes, and the labour of a volunteer workforce.
It was a seed, fertilized and sprouted by grassroots community common sense and energy, now grown into a place of optimism, a community asset, perhaps soon to be augmented by the affordable housing units, which city council will deliberate under terms of the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program.
Renewal is not always about big projects and big dollars. As often, it's about small things and the hope of big things coming. We hope New Hope's big things come to pass.