Meet Wilfredo

Wilfredo Rodriguez is a Southside Bethlehem resident who lives within walking distance of everything he needs, but he schedules his routines around hours of extra travel time due to an old injury.

 

Originally from Chicago, the 46-year-old moved to the Lehigh Valley with his family in 1998  when gang activity became too dangerous. But his damaged knee couldn’t be left behind. “I was about 12 years old. I was sliding downhill, trying to go faster than my cousin and my brother, trying to be Superman. I went through this gate and dislocated my knee. There was a lot of damage, about 5 years ago the doctor said I had an 80-year-old knee. I struggled with that pain for many years.”

 

Two years after knee replacement surgery, Wilfredo said the pain is better, but he still has a hard time getting around. From his home near Donegan Elementary School he slowly descends Fourth Street to his favored rest stops. “Before I start work I will be an hour walking, because I’ll need to rest a little bit because of my knee. Once I gain the Greenway I’ll sit there on a bench and then walk a little more, and sit… until I get to work. Everything is right here, groceries, the St. Luke’s clinic. My mother, youngest brother, and sister are still in the area. But now the cold is getting to me. It’s swollen a little bit. Before the surgery the downhill was so much worse, just boom, boom, boom. Now it's uphill that’s worse.”

 

Wilfredo works at Café the Lodge on Fourth Street in a program that helps provide work and housing for those with mental help and disability issues. He is a barista and performs food prep, though he’s learning everything he can. “Its good work and I love the program. It’s given me independence. But I still have to start walking an hour early.”

 

Wilfredo says, “I don’t have a bicycle now because I have to budget my money and I just don’t have it yet.”