This cache is placed at a memorial bench, placed by the good citizens of Streetsville, to honour Ralph Faustino, also known as Streetsville Kramer, or Streetsville Jason, or even Black Kramer. Having been a Streetsville resident for many years now, I have many, many memories of seeing Ralph hanging around the Queen Street area in Streetsville. Many assumed he was a homeless gentleman, although it turns out he lived in an area group home. Ralph asked me for a cigarette a few times as I passed by, but alas, he and I never really had a conversation. I wish I had taken the time when I had the chance to talk with him. Like my geocaching friends, Ralph loved the outdoors. He seemed to spend most of his later life out on the streets of Streetsville. Streetsville misses you Ralph! RIP.
From the Mississauga New, July 15, 2015:
Julia Belmonte felt something was amiss while driving through Streetsville on Tuesday. It was like part of the town was gone.
The missing piece: a tall, slender figure with dreadlocks who paced along Queen Street each day. She asked a familiar passerby about the whereabouts of the enigmatic man known as Streetsville Jason. She was told he died.
Having known Jason since 1999, when Belmonte owned the Second Cup at Queen and Main streets and Jason was a customer, she felt the need to do something.
She announced it on Facebook and started an online campaign to raise money for a commemorative bench. That was Tuesday. The goal was $1,000. Not even 24 hours later, more than $6,000 has been raised, about 3,000 people have shared it and dozens of comments have poured in.
"He was everywhere in Streetsville," said Belmote. "Everybody knows Jason, but nobody knows about him." There's plenty of folklore surrounding how he ended up in town.
Despite his 'Streetville Jason' nickname, for instance, his real name is Ralph Faustino. The nickname was born because he would introduce himself to people as Jason, Belmonte said.
Peel police confirmed that Ralph Faustino, 60, was found without vital signs inside the Subway restaurant in Queen Street on Monday morning. He was taken to Credit Valley Hospital where he was revived several times, but died Tuesday morning just before 9 a.m.
The cause of death at this time is unknown, pending an autopsy. But, police said, the circumstances surrounding his death are not suspicious.
Police said his birthday was Oct. 16.
Throughout the four years Belmonte owned the coffee shop, Jason would come in frequently. He wasn't very talkative, she said, but he told her he had mental health issues. Belmonte said he was a resident at a nearby group home on Thomas Street.
"I don't think you'll get a straight answer from anybody. …We've known Jason a very long time and we knew all of the care providers that he worked with over the years," she said of staff from the home.
Belmonte, who still lives in Streetsville, would continue to see Jason on almost a daily basis in town. She would buy him coffee or some food. The comments streaming in online tell a similar story of others who have been doing the same for years.
"He tugs at everybody's heart strings," she said.
Belmonte is overwhelmed by the support and is looking into if the additional money raised could help fund a memorial mass at Streetsville Village Square, as well as a possible plot for Jason at Streetsville cemetery. Noting that she also wants to donate some of the funds raised for warm food at the group home Jason lived in, she is working with the Streetsville Business Association to see where to place the bench. She is unsure at this time what the dedication to Streetsville's unknown celebrity will read.
As Peel police try to locate a next of kin, Jason's surrogate family, the village, mourns the loss of a "Streetsville fixture."