Image: L. Gomes / PML / Joseph Sikora is the founder of Ground Zero in Abbotsford.

By Laurice Gomes

Abbotsford street team

‘We just want to make people feel loved’: How a former addict is bringing hope to the streets of Abbotsford

Jul 25, 2022 | 6:00 AM

ABBOTSFORD — Five-and-a-half years ago, Joseph Sikora was homeless, battling a drug addiction, and eating scraps from garbage bins. It is hard to believe looking at Sikora now—who is the founder of Ground Zero Ministries, an agency with a passion for helping people.

“I was delivered out of my addiction by the Lord, and I went through treatment myself,” Sikora said, and further explained that he started by giving haircuts on the streets of Abbotsford four years ago.

“We don’t just do haircuts anymore,” Sikora said. “We’re also doing food outreach where we feed people on Wednesdays and Sundays; we’re feeding anywhere between 60 to 80 people twice a week.”

As the Ground Zero team assembled in the parking lot just off Sumas Way, volunteers loaded in sandwiches, fruit, bottled water, freezies, and zip lock bags of kibble.

Image: L. Gomes / PML / Food loaded into the van for distribution.

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With hotter temperatures on the way, Sikora said throughout the week, he will be handing out water all over Abbotsford to the different homeless camps and checking on people.

“The pain and the torment of just being alone and just being separated from your family, from your friends, and reality—it’s enough just to cripple somebody and just keep them locked in their painful addiction,” he said.

Volunteer Cassie Kraft, who joined the team last November, spoke of her push to join the cause.

“Just before I started volunteering here, there was a gentleman who was passed out on a bridge on a trail near my house,” Kraft said. “And I was trying to wake him up and get him up; as I was helping him, he looked at me and said, ‘You’re not afraid of me?’”

Unable to hold back tears, Kraft said she did not want people to feel that way.

Image: L. Gomes/ PML / Kassie Kraft has been a volunteer with Ground Zero since last November.

Reminiscing the past, Sikora said the turning point in his life was when a stranger stopped him on the street—a brief encounter that rerouted his path.

“I was pushing my buggy on the streets and he’s like ‘You know what, man? I love you, God loves you, and there’s a purpose and a destiny for your life’, and that’s the moment of change for me,” Sikora said.

That stranger was Braden Dombowsky, who was vacationing with his family in Kelowna when he and Sikora crossed paths.

“He was falling off his bike loaded with ragged gear,” Dombowsky said. “He was an open book but spoke with difficulty as his broken jaw was wired shut.”

Months later, Dombowsky received a phone call from Sikora after he completed rehab.

“He had kept my daughter’s drawing with my number on it and said he was waiting to contact me until he knew he was in the clear,” he said. “He worked full time to put meals on his own table, while collecting food, clothing, and rain gear for the people he loves and hasn’t run away from.”

For Sikora, Ground Zero isn’t a hand out for people; it’s a hand up.

“We want to go into the camps, and we just want to make people feel loved, and feel human, and just feel some value,” he said.

Image: L. Gomes / PML / Ground Zero feeds the homeless in Abbotsford every Wednesday and Sunday.