Toronto Ontario - An Ontario community is rallying around a homeless man after a garden he tended for years near a railway was bulldozed by Canadian Pacific Railway (CP).
 
"My little garden touched a lot of people," 70-year-old Joe Krupa told CTV Toronto.
 
"I was proud."
 
Krupa cultivated a narrow stretch of land located between CP tracks and a strip mall in Streetsville, a neighbourhood in Mississauga.
 
"It was important because the people loved it," Krupa said.
 
"And it more or less kept me going. It kept feeding me, so I kept doing the garden."
 
Before Krupa began his garden, area residents say the land was an eyesore strewn with discarded junk and trash.
 
After Krupa began tending to it, the garden quickly became a local attraction.
 
"He cleaned all this up and people kept dropping off plants and trees and shrubs and he put it all in on his own time," Krupa's friend, Bill Droy, said.
 
"We all appreciated it and we all looked forward to seeing what the next item would be going in," Irene Oliver, an area resident, added.
 
The garden was reduced to dirt last week when CP crews arrived with a bulldozer.
 
According to the neighbouring strip mall's property manager, CP made the decision to dismantle it.
 
In a statement to CTV Toronto, a CP spokesperson cited safety concerns for the move and said advance warning was given.
 
"In early October CP Police spoke to residents in the Streetsville area about the significant safety concerns associated with the community garden on our right-of-way and reasons why it must be removed," a CP spokesperson said.
 
"In addition to the advance notice, CP also gave the individual who built the garden time to collect items and remove them."
 
Local residents say they can't understand how the lush little garden created a safety risk.
 
"We don't see any logic in it," Karen Thorndyke said.
 
"It was a beautiful garden, beautiful, and he put so much time and love into it. And to see this happen, it's really sad."
 
"The garden really gave him something to look forward to every day and to get up and have purpose in his life," Christian Thorndyke added.
 
"And for it to be destroyed like this is really a shame."
 
Shocked to see the garden they admired gone, residents are now raising money for Krupa.
 
"It's unique to have a community that embraces those that are vulnerable and maybe don't quite fit," Krupa's friend, Paul Mulko, said.
 
"And to see them supporting in such a great way is awesome to see as well."
 
For his part, Krupa says he still wants to give back to the community that has embraced him.
 
"If you give me bags, I'll go walk around cleaning the city if the city wants to hire me," he said.
 
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