A Winnipeg restaurant owner is raising money to pay tribute to a beloved street artist in the city.
Christa Guenther started a Go Fund Me page to help pay for the funeral costs of Daniel Martin, who died last month from complications related to cancer.
Within a week the campaign surpassed its goal and more than 100 people had donated.
“He’s touched the hearts of so many people and I’m not surprised actually because that was Daniel,” Guenther said. “He was jolly, he was humble, he was kind.”
Martin began drawing at the age of 24, after meeting another Indigenous artist.
A residential school survivor, he lived in group homes throughout his teenage years.
The trauma he endured led him to a life of addiction.
But drawing helped change that.
He lived at the Main Street Project men’s shelter before his death.
Guenther plans to donate extra funds from Martin’s funeral fundraising campaign to the shelter.
A service is being held Thursday morning in Winnipeg at the church Martin frequented.
