The New Face of Homelessness

I have a friend. She’s a business-woman…and a Phd. Up every day. Puts on her business clothes, her click-itty high heels, dons her matching leather bag, and arrives at pre-scheduled appointments speaking and selling all day. By the way, she’s no spring chicken at fifty-two , even though she tells me she’s fifty and everyone else that she’s forty. But, I let her get away with it, and I have to say she looks F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C. Sells a program of workshops, and trains people to teach kids to learn math and science through sports. It’s a great program, and she’s been developing it for years. You would never know she does it as a homeless person. That’s right. As in no place to stay. She lives on her $200 a month food stamps; sells some for the items she can’t buy with the stamps, like bus fare and her phone bill. She eats at shelters or friends homes, and sometimes when someone takes her out to lunch. Now mind you, she’s a little bit on the thin side, but she’s surviving.

You would probably say that she’s not much of a businesswoman, I mean homeless and all. But, not really. She’s more like a risk-taker. She gave up everything she had to focus on building her business. She believes in it and the help it will bring student athletes to live higher academically. She eats it and sleeps it, waiting and creating the next vital contact. It’s not that she can’t make money. It’s that she’s not making it consistently enough to pay bills regularly. Companies pay late or their decisions have to go through committees or up the decision-making ladder creating a lag time before the checks get deposited. So, right now, it’s just easier to live homeless rather than go through being evicted or having the lights shut off when you can’t come up with the money.

You might ask the question that begs to be answered. So why isn’t she married? She chooses not to be at this time. Trust me, men flock around her like the proverbial fly. She’s been engaged four times, mind you. But she just couldn’t jump the broom, tie the knot, put the ring on…or however your culture expresses it. Not to mention that some of the men have actually wanted to take her business or ride her coat tails. And her perception is that that’s not the way it should go. He needs to have his own thing going on.

Yep, it’s been quite a journey for her…and it still is.

So what’s my point? I know that the federal budget is out of control, and we’ve had to pay for some ridiculous line items. I’m not trying to make you feel good about handing over 40% of your paycheck every week either. However, the next time you’re standing around the water cooler talking about how it’s all going out the window in taxes to pay for the lazy folks who don’t want to get off welfare, think about what you’ve just read. My friend is sacrificing her lifestyle so your student athlete can learn enough math and science to graduate high school and perhaps get an academic scholarship and live a life better than you. She is showing up at recreational centers and sports venues where she sees so few dads and moms, encouraging and teaching your kids. How many people like her are out there? I don’t know, but go stand in line at a soup kitchen or a clothing giveaway and listen to the conversations. You’ll hear discussions about economics, politics and the world system.

This is the new face of homelessness, and most of us are only a paycheck away.