During our visit to the shelter, McEwen shared with rdnewsNOW that he lost housing this summer when living arrangements changed for his ailing mother, whom he was helping take care of for about a decade.

His monthly income of $471 was no longer sufficient to afford rent by himself, there or anywhere.

“I don’t want to be unhoused,” he stated. “It’s a nightmare to try and stay with some purpose and structure when you’re unhoused, because your whole life revolves around trying to get the next meal, and trying to stay warm until the next meal.”

McEwen has fairly strong words to describe what it’s like sitting outside on a bus bench at 20 below, which he said he did last winter, “here, there and everywhere.”

The eldest of four children, McEwen struggled with a crack addiction for close to 30 years.

Friends, family, faith, and people at agencies where he sought help ensured he could ultimately get off the streets and achieve recovery.

Based on his story, however, becoming unhoused once again is not a scenario that requires the sky to fall; it takes just a solitary untimely circumstance.

“My mom was moved to a nursing home, and I kind of fell through the cracks.”

LIFE AT THE SHELTER

“People are here because they’re stuck in a rut. They need a hand to get away from it.”

Brad McEwen sits on his bunk at the Hope Mission emergency homeless shelter in Red Deer. (Image Credit: rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

But there’s one barrier that hangs ominously above the rest: mental health challenges, says McEwen.

It’s a fact, he says, that finding housing isn’t as much of a priority for some.

“Absolutely, and it’s their choice. But some of that comes from mental illness. There are a lot of people that don’t think about that choice, and aren’t able to make that choice. I’m fortunate enough that I can.”

While shelter staff meetings are noticeably cheery, and there are plenty of positive interactions between staff and shelter users, there can be tense moments.

“Some of the clients are pretty tough to deal with, and sometimes the staff are. But you see each side get through their own things… that’s the way it goes,” he continued. “We’re all people; I try to be the best I can and treat people the way I want to be treated. I don’t want to fight and f*** around.”

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

McEwen has not watched the TV news for many years, and he doesn’t go online much. He doesn’t have a computer, of course, nor a smartphone.

He’s asked by rdnewsNOW what he knows about Project Nexus.

“Nothing.”

Asked to clarify if he knew what we were asking about: “No.”

Project Nexus is a planned social care and emergency shelter campus on Red Deer’s north end, within an industrial area and away from the downtown.

It’s been in the works for some time, and its first phase, which is a Hope Mission-operated shelter, is anticipated to open sometime in 2027.

“The segregation [aspect of Nexus] is unfortunate. Every person in here is somebody’s son or daughter, part of a family from somewhere that they are not a part of at the moment,” he remarked.

“I don’t know what the key is. Do we get more finger-pointing? I understand the basic bulk of it, that this is not acceptable outside this building. They’re trying to curb what’s happening; the police come every Thursday with dump trucks and clean the tents and all the crap outside. Thank Christ for the garbage getting gone, but there are still people there, so what do we do?”

A man who wears his heart on his sleeve, McEwen reminds that everyone is human and deserving of basic decency.

REFLECTIONS

McEwen successfully ran a business for 15 years, had a class one license, and crossed many items off his bucket list, with “some pretty rough and tough spots in between.”

(Image Credit: rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

One lasting dream, he quipped, is to give each person in the shelter a million-dollar cheque.

Unfortunately, chatter about dreams and family can be difficult this time of year, particularly for those at the shelter as Thanksgiving and Christmas loom.

“I like Thanksgiving. I was at a rehab in Quebec about 12 years ago, and I helped make a Thanksgiving meal for 100 people. It was great. But I never liked Christmas, and I still don’t,” he admitted, touching on what brings him joy, even during darker spells in his life.

“My mom’s still alive; I try to be good for her. If I can’t be good for her or myself, there’s really nobody left to be good for.”

If you ask Brad McEwen, there are bad days, and there are indeed good days.

At the end of each one, it’s about taking one step forward.

“We’ve all got a story. We’ve all got a way that we’ve gotten here. I try to treat people the way I want to be treated,” he said, also calling the shelter and what’s offered there “a gift.”

“We’re all still human beings.”

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To learn more about how you can contribute to the Hope Mission emergency homeless shelter in Red Deer, visit hopemission.com or call them at 587-819-0015.

Red Deer’s latest count of those experiencing homelessness occurred earlier this month. The final tally in 2025 was 645 people; however, it’s important to keep in mind that these counts represent one-day snapshots and do not represent the precise number of people out there. (READ MORE)

Three Red Deer agencies are uniting to raise funds for causes strongly tied to homelessness. (READ MORE & READ MORE)

by Josh Hall

More Than A Number | Part 1: The man with a million dollar dream

LIFE AT THE SHELTER

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

REFLECTIONS

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