Her story:

I was workin’ at Bald Aerorspace, and I lost my job. Lost my apartment. Husband went to jail…again. I got stuck in being homeless — surviving every day of my existence while I was homeless. I did not think about tomorrow — just today. That’s how I became homeless — 14 years here in Boulder, Colorado.

What is home:

Home is people who love me. It’s not material things; definitely not that. It’s where people that love me for who I am, what I represent, and being the one I am — they love me for that. Street fam.

Community:

I wouldn’t say community; I would say a fam. You don’t know everybody in the community — I do know the homeless fam.

So many people that I met are dead. Died on the streets. My good friend Benjamin Harvey died last Christmas Eve — he froze to death. That just — the shelter shoulda let him in. My god, it was freezing.

Homelessness in America:

I have three friends; they have a job, and they’re homeless. Sleep in their car. I’ve gotten many tickets — camping, trespassing. But in the winter, sometimes that means you can spend a few nights in jail. A shower, a roof over my head. It’s not so bad.

When you see a person out on the street holding a sign, it’s homeless. Or a person who’s paid rent but can’t afford anything else. Not very many people can go out on that corner and hold a sign, but when you need something and that’s the only way, you do it. And when you see those people, please give to them. That’s it.