Kelly has been the manager of the town movie theatre for about four years. She's twenty-three yrs old and lives by herself in an adorably furnished trailer park home that she recently bought. She goes to school part-time at the community college and eventually wants to open up an arcade/pool/coffee/dessert place. She also wants to write a book sometime in her future. I've known Kelly for about eight years, but became close to her when I started working at the movie theatre a couple years ago. She has been the coolest boss and a really good out of work friend as well. When I started writing for the Homeless Voice, I updated Kelly on how the program worked, and what the paper consisted of. In conversation, Kelly asked if I would do a story on her. I didn't realize that she had once been homeless. Extremely intrigued by her myself, I listened to her story.

Kelly was born third in line of four kids. Her dad made somewhat of a living as a professional garbage picker. He would rummage through peoples trash and garbage heaps looking for junkyard treasures. He would restore what he could and then sell it to pawn shops, other junk yard dealers, or at a garage or yard sale. Kelly's mother works now as a dispatcher, but when Kelly was little she stayed at home having or raising babies. Kelly said that even through the bad times, their family never went too hungry. In their school lunches they would have rag a muffins. One box costs about 10-20 cents and could feed a whole family for about one dollar. The house that they rented consumed most of the family's income. They tried to cut down on everything so that the bills could be paid each month. Instead of having a phone line, they would use the pay phone down the street. Pretty soon however, the bills just couldn't be paid. Within a couple of months the family was evicted.

Kelly had an aunt and uncle who rented a home nearby. They were also very poor and didn't have the means to house her family of six. Setting up the two largest tents they owned the family camped out in the backyard of their relatives. They used their bathroom, shower, and kitchen. Kelly and her siblings continued going to school, keeping from other children that they didn't live in a house. Four and half months of camping out passed before they had come up with enough money to get back on their feet. They continued to have a pretty poor up bringing, but stayed close as a family and pulled through the hard times.

Kelly knows what being homeless is like. For as long as I've known her she has always been a respectful, understanding, funny friend of mine and I have the utmost respect for her. Once again, I am reminded that anyone can become homeless. People who aren't lazy or addicts find themselves out on the street all the time.

For more articles like this, visit the Homeless Voice at http://www.homelessvoice.org.

Make sure to donate to the homeless each time you sell a home!