FORMER CRACKHEAD NOW HAS A JOB, AN APARTMENT AND SELF-RESPECT SINCE HE
BEGAN TURNING HIS LIFE AROUND

In less than a year, Chris Dowding has packed on 35 pounds ... and he
couldn't be happier.

"If I can turn things around, anyone can," he said yesterday over
coffee at Pazzo Pazzo Italian Cuisine.

"Someone gave me a second chance and I'm not going to blow it."

Not that long ago, he wouldn't have been allowed through the door of
the upscale downtown eatery. Gaunt crackheads pushing shopping carts
full of bottles are bad for business.

Dowding used to live at the Urban Manor men's shelter and spent his
days collecting empties so he could buy drugs.

In those days he was an emaciated 135 pounds and was so weak he had to
walk with a cane.

But these days, he's family at Pazzo Pazzo. Dowding is there every day
at 6 a.m. watering plants and making sure everything is clean and
ready for the restaurant's 11 a.m. opening.

Dowding is clean, sober and living in his own apartment in the tower
above the restaurant at 10016 103 Ave.

He even house-sat for owner James Burns, taking care of his
five-bedroom house while the boss was on vacation for a week.

Burns doesn't think it's a big deal, and he certainly doesn't consider
Dowding a charity case or a project.

"He works hard," he said. "He's really trying to make something of
himself."

It all began when restaurant manager Joseph Jamaleddine would see him
wandering by each morning, collecting empties.

"He always said hello." Jamaleddine recalled. "He was very polite,
never asked anyone for change. I told him if he took away our empty
bottles, he could keep the money."

Soon he asked Dowding to water the plants. It wasn't long before he
was cleaning the place.

"They even tested me," he says with a laugh. "They left me alone in
here with $2,000. I didn't take it."

As his responsibilities grew, so did his self-respect. By the time he
was working four hours a day in the restaurant, he had quit smoking
crack.

"I have to admit, I've had one or two slip-ups," he said.

"Sometimes it's hard, but I don't give up. I just have to stay
focused."

Burns helped Dowding get an apartment and introduced him to the
building manager, Pat Bhatty. Soon she offered him a job, keeping the
building's exterior neat and clean.

"He's very conscientious," she said. "He treats the place as if it
were his own. All my staff are cheering for him. Chris has a good soul."

Dowding has had more than his share of grief in his life. His son was
murdered in Kelowna more than 20 years ago, a crime that has never
been solved, and Dowding has never overcome it.

His daughter died a little over a year ago, but by then Dowding's
addiction had so alienated him from the rest of his family that they
barred him from the funeral.

Now 58, Dowding is working hard to make up for all the time he lost to
the glass pipe.

"I respect him because he's fighting something that's not easy, by any
stretch," Bhatty said.

"He's changed my perception of street people and drug addicts. I never
had any contact with them before. He's opened my eyes."