Life on the street = additive trauma

On the street, everything is present tense. You need rent money now. You need to find a safe place to sleep now. You need to get away from the man attacking you now. There is no planning for things that might happen in two hours or two days or two months. It's all action, all...

Friday Nights: Jun. 1

L is shuffling around outreach, not sure where to go or what to do next. A few months ago I remarked on how tough she is and hearing her joke with the other women at Outreach made me think things might be okay for her. I make eye contact and ask her how she is,...

Friday Nights: May 3rd

I’m late and the party is in full swing when I arrive. Several volunteers sorting through donations of clothing, accessories, but shoes go to the front of the line. Tonight one of our generous volunteers sent three shoes without mates. If you are reading this and find them, we’ve set their mates aside please feel...

Friday Nights: Mar. 2nd

Thanks to a generous donation we have several backpacks tonight. They are like gold and we give out three in the first thirty minutes of outreach. One of them goes to a woman who was kicked out of her place and will be on the streets tonight. We load her up with the supplies, snacks...

A room of her own

Bella is happy. She has a lock on her door. For the past few years, she had been sleeping in abandoned houses, under bushes or occasionally in a hotel room — all with groups of people. She had moved from place to place, never able to stay anywhere for too long before she and her...

Things that are not okay

I’m standing on a street corner, asking a group of 20-somethings if they’ve seen a woman from San Felipe Pueblo. Her family is worried. They haven’t heard from her in two months and last week a cousin saw her in a pink-hued drug house in the War Zone. Her grandmother had called Street Safe, asking...

Friday Nights: Jan. 26th

It’s cold and windy tonight. One of our clients is whimpering as she searches through the bins.  The cold wind on her bare arms is painful. Tears are beginning to flow which happens often during outreach. Tonight we don’t have any coats that will fit her. It’s hit or miss with our inventory and you...

Friday Nights: Jan. 5

(* names removed to protect identities) Tonight is raw like the knife wound on J’s arm. It looks bloated and red. I ask her if it’s hot. She touches it with her finger that's dirty from being on the streets, “yeah kinda,” she replies. I give her some candy and a bad guy list and...

Friday Nights: Dec 22

‘Twas three days before Christmas, when all thro’ the Fair n’ Square lot. Our clients were picking up gift bags filled with makeup samples, mittens and socks. The tree was decorated and tied to the light pole with care, In hopes that the Healthcare for the Homeless van would soon be there; Then the children showed up. First...

The mystery of the gold shoes

They were never pretty shoes. They were too gaudy for that. They were gold ballet slippers that, by the time we got them, had much of the gilt ripped off with just some flakey patches left on the sides and heels. They looked so shabby that we didn’t put them out with the rest of...