LUCKY
To wash your hands of you is a very strange feeling because I’ve done it so I can speak on it. And it’s just like, “Who cares?” I used to make fun of people like me.

BLAKE
Welcome, everybody, to a podcast we are calling When You Are Homeless. I’m one of your hosts, Blake.

ALISON
And I’m Alison.

NARRATOR
8 stories of homelessness.

BLAKE
Mission #1 is for us to help tell these stories. To have the voices of the 8 people we interviewed front and center.

NARRATOR
A podcast miniseries about an issue we think we understand…

DALE
I mean, it’s like, you ever read Grapes of Wrath? Where the guy is walking away with the chickens and he gets shot in the back and he just sinks in the groundI mean, I understand that exactly.

NARRATOR
…but that is harder to define than it seems.

DALE
I started Essence, and that grew to 28 employees. And at one point we were doing $3 million a year.

BLAKE
I think about that question for myself: “What did I think I knew about homelessness before I started my work 9 years ago, and what do I think I know about it now?”

NARRATOR
Meet Marissa.

MARISSA
I’ve had fun experiences and then I’ve had bad experiences. It’s a lot of loneliness. Nobody ever thought of it that way, but yeah.

NARRATOR
Donjuan.

DONJUAN
My mother is real literary. Father is, too. I want to go make a trip. I want to go do something. I want to explore.

NARRATOR
Lucky.

LUCKY
Don’t close your eyes and your mind off just because someone doesn’t have a certain color spoon in their mouth, silver, bronze, gold, what have you. They might have something good to say.

NARRATOR
Devin.

DEVIN
It’s good to be able to get in public and talk to people. Those days are wonderful to me because I’ve gone through a lot emotionally. I’m really a sensitive individual.

NARRATOR
Eryka.

ERYKA
I would definitely rather walk down an alley than down a street. I think that’s why I’m trying to stick out the winter so bad, because I’m the kind of person, I’m not just going to leave here for the winter and go somewhere else and then come back.

NARRATOR
Analyn.

ANALYN
Try to look at it a bit differently or help the person who need it the most. You don’t know what goes in that story. you don’t know what the woman goes through.

NARRATOR
Nicole.

NICOLE
The first time, I wasn’t expecting it, because the way things happened. This time, I’m more in control of my feelings and I guess how I’m taking it, because it was my fault.

NARRATOR
And Dale.

DALE
And I see–you know, it’s not an inherent goodness, it’s a developed goodness. It’s people deciding that they’re going to exercise empathy and kindness.

NARRATOR
A podcast about loneliness and companionship.

MARISSA
Other strength that helps me is a significant other. They help build you up and make you feel that you’re worth it.

NARRATOR
About trauma.

DALE
And the first night I decided I’d just let it go. I said, “I’m not going to make it through the night. It’s cold.” And then I got really scared. I said, “Well, I am going to die.”

NARRATOR
Art.

NICOLE
When I get stressed out, I’ll color. Or if my mind starts thinking too much, coloring is how I cope with just about everything, actually.

NARRATOR
Substance abuse.

LUCKY
So, I roll down the window and he’s like, “Well, if you’re high already, you might as well just hit it.” Like, he didn’t know he was handing me my good, my bad, and my ugly at one time.

NARRATOR
The frustrations of simply trying to get by.

ALISON
It can be a vicious cycle of needing an ID to get an identity document in order to get an ID.

NARRATOR
And what it’s like to finally tell your story.

MARISSA
I felt like I accomplished some things for some people if the story gets out. The different sides of the world.

NARRATOR
Find out what life is like when you are tired.

DEVIN
I just got tired. I was looking for love. I was looking for answers from everybody.

NARRATOR
When you are happy.

LUCKY
Whatever it is that I need usually comes to me, so why not sing along the way?

NARRATOR
When you are broken.

DALE
I mean, I’ve died on the streets so many times.

NARRATOR
When you are homeless.

ANALYN
When you are homeless and people notice, you’re way down on the bottom to them. You’re worth nothing.

NARRATOR
When You Are Homeless. A podcast miniseries, coming soon.

LUCKY
It’s something that ails me and pains me.. But it’s also something that I’m happy I had to go through. A young lady just trying to find her place. I feel like the more I talk about it, the more upfront it is, right there in my face, and I can’t run from it.