Every year, CBC Hamilton reporters meet some of the most interesting people in the city and introduce them to you.

2018 was a great year for finding stories about remarkable people in Hamilton and the surrounding area doing remarkable things. Here's a look back at just a few of Hamilton's most interesting people in 2018.

Khalid Tabateb — the hero Khalid Tabateb sprang into action in August, breaking through a first-floor window to pull a baby that had wandered out onto a Hamilton rooftop back to safety. (CBC photo collage)

In August, when Khalid Tabateb, 18, saw a toddler stumbling along the edge of a Hamilton rooftop, he didn't stop to think. He did what any superhero would do. The child had awoken from a nap, squeezed through a second-storey window and wandered out onto the rooftop.

"My dad parked the car and said, 'If you can help him, go help him,'" said Khalid, through his older sister Farah who acted as interpreter. "I was scared. I didn't want this little guy to go and die. I didn't want to just watch." Tabateb ran from the car, rattled the home's doorknob and rapped on windows. When no one answered, he broke through the screen of a first-floor window, sprinted up stairs and pulled the baby back inside.

Navdeep Narula watched the rescue from across the road. He said there were some tense moments when the baby lost his balance.

"At that point, my heart kind of came out of my mouth," he said. "It was like, wow!"

It wasn't the first child Tabateb had saved. Years ago in Syria, Tabateb and his father ran out into the street to bring to safety a two-year-old who had been shot in the legs.

Edith Knox — the protester Edith Knox wants to be a part lass action lawsuit filed against the Jehovah's Witness organization. If the lawsuit is certified by an Ontario judge and goes ahead, Knox could get compensation if the class action succeeds and if she proves she was abused. (Samantha Craggs/CBC)

Edith Knox protested outside her former Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall trying to call attention to the "two-witness rule," which a lawsuit says means two people have to see abuse before it's considered valid. Knox wants to join a potential class action lawsuit filed against the Jehovah's Witness organization. If the lawsuit is certified by an Ontario judge and goes ahead, Knox could get compensation if the class action succeeds and if she proves she was abused.

In this story from February, Knox talks about what she has lost by deciding to speak out against the Jehovah's Witness policy.

Bob Hamilton — the steelworker Bob Hamilton went back to work after being off on sick leave with liver cancer. His company, Hamilton Specialty Bar, is in receivership. (Kelly Bennett/CBC)

We met Bob Hamilton at the end of January. The 60-year-old spent his weekend getting tests for the bowel cancer that spread last year to his liver. He spent his week working nights at Hamilton Specialty Bar. He was back at work, despite the cancer, because he couldn't afford to be away.

He was one about 170 workers at the plant who had no idea how long their jobs and benefits would last. There was enough work, they were told, until the end of February. The first week of January, company executives told the union, United Steelworkers Local 4752, that they had a "cash flow problem" and wouldn't be running. By Jan. 8, the papers had been filed for the company to enter a receivership, where a third party assumes control of the company while it is in court-supervised bankruptcy protection or restructuring.

In April, the company announced that a last-ditch effort to sell Hamilton Specialty Bar had failed and, after more than 100 years in business in Hamilton, would close.

Salahaldeen Odeh — the clerk Odeh was back behind the counter the night after the robbery, and said he's not worried about the two men coming back. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

In August, two men walked in to Corner's Variety Store on Cannon Street East. They pulled bandanas over their faces and approached the counter. One man started to pull a gun, but before he could, the clerk jumped the counter and took the men on. It wasn't a fair fight. Two against one. The masked men had no idea what they were up against.

The clerk was Salahaldeen Odeh, a former trained boxer in Jordan. And it was his first day on the job.

"I was thinking, 'No, not today,'" he said. "It was my one chance. I'm still young. I don't want to die."

Fortunately, Odeh survived and beat the robbers back and out of the store. Watch the surveillance video at the link above.

Anita Joldersma — the traveller The 56-year-old plans to keep walking in Dundas, Ancaster and some parts of Stoney Creek. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

In the city of Hamilton, Anita Joldersma has been everywhere. Down every street in the entire city. It's taken four years and 3,200 km. That's just a little bit further than walking from Hamilton to El Paso, Texas.

Joldersma says, "I'm just a frumpy housewife who decided to get off her couch and explore her city."

She kept track of the ground she covered by tracing the streets in purple and black permanent marker. ​She says she never felt unsafe, but added walking past a crime scene the morning after and seeing the residents were just regular people taking their kids to school taught her not to stereotype.

She plans to keep walking in Dundas, Ancaster and some parts of Stoney Creek. She's working on a short story about her wanderings called "Confessions of a Streetwalker."

Kaitlin Coghlin — the birthday girl Nicole Callander and her daughter, Kaitlin Coghlin, couldn't stop smiling during the "Unbirthday Party" they organized for kids who never get invited to parties. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

2018 began, for Kaitlin Coghlin, as another year where she struggled to find a friend.

That's a tough way to start the year for a 17-year-old high school student. But by the time her birthday came, in early July, the Brantford teen might have been the most popular person in the province. She celebrated her "un-birthday party" in Mohawk Park and invited others like her, who don't get invited to parties.

Coghlin has Williams syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that, according to the Canadian Association for Williams Syndrome, presents differently in various individuals. Generally, it can affect brain development, combined with physical effects or problems, including lack of co-ordination, muscle weakness and possible heart defects.

That day in July, she was surrounded by 120 new friends and received birthday cards from Arkells and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau among others.

"Six months ago," her mother Nicole Callander said, "Kaitlin was crying because she had no friends, and she wasn't included and she was so lonely … today she feels like the biggest superstar in southern Ontario."

Billy Case, AJ and Mystery — the homeless campers Billy Case, right, had been living along the rail trail with his girlfriend AJ and their dog Mystery after getting kicked out of an apartment and various spots on the street. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

In August, Billy Case, his girlfriend AJ and their dog Mystery were living in a tent along the rail trail near the Wentworth stairs. We met them just a few days after they say police told them they have to pack up and get out, so the city could clean up their camp.

For Case, it was the latest in a long line of evictions that started with an apartment, then alleyways and under bridges, and finally from the couple's small tent in the woods.

"We're losing everything again," he said. "It's been 10, 20 times at least. It feels like every time we get something, it gets ransacked or we have to leave."

The couple was kicked out of their apartment after a fight and soon realized rent was out of reach, so they headed for the woods with their dog Mystery.

"It's too much," said AJ. "For a one-bedroom you're looking for more than $800, plus hydro. It's crazy."

Shawna Richard — the woman who fed hungry boys and girls

Shawna Richard, supervisor at the Boys and Girls Club of Hamilton, says the dinner program is "never something I want to cancel because we don't have funding for it." (Kelly Bennett/CBC)

In January, we met Shawna Richard, supervisor of the Boys and Girls Club of Hamilton. She was fighting to keep a program alive that fed hungry kids who had no dinner waiting at home. It started with about 25 or 30 boys and girls sitting down together for a meal and now some nights drew more than 75 people.

The grants that helped fund the program in 2017 ran out and the club was desperately trying to find a way to keep the program going. They had about $14,000 to fund it in 2017 and hoped to find a source for at least the same amount in 2018.

In February, thanks to donations from, among others, the Crown Point community, the United Steelworkers Hamilton Area Council and 100 Women Who Care Hamilton-Wentworth, the club met the $15,000 goal.