Oli, On the Streets in Reno but Saved by the Eddy House

Oli, 19, has lived on the streets for three years. “Everyone thinks that when you’re homeless that you’re unkempt and you’re dirty, your hair is matted, and you look absolutely thrashed, gross, sad and pathetic. But you don’t want to look f***** homeless.”

“If you have the opportunity to take a shower, you’re going to take a shower. You’re going to take a two hour long shower if you can.” ⎯Oli

“It’s wild when I hear people talk about mental illness like it’s some kind of cute, romanticized thing. You don’t understand. You don’t understand how hard disabilities actually are.” ⎯Oli

“Most of our kids have severe trauma… They’re in a constant state of fight or flight … It actually causes brain damage, long term significant trauma.”⎯ Michele Gehr, Eddy House Executive Director

“[Eddy House] has helped me out a lot. I’ll have no food, I’ll be fresh out of food and they’ll be like, “Hey. Come eat some food …” - Oli

“I hate asking people for help. I’m like, ‘Look, you don’t understand… I’ve been thinking about this for two weeks and now I’m asking because I’m about to die.”” ⎯Oli

“People who are homeless⎯I don’t look homeless⎯you wouldn’t think I was homeless if you saw me walking down the street. I keep myself up; I find ways to shower; I have nice pieces of clothes, people donate. You go to Eddy House, you see those kids; they’re in Adidas, they’re in Nikes. The people who work there often look less privileged than a lot of the kids do.”⎯Oli

“In 2015, when we opened, we had fewer than 100 kids. Last year, in 2018, we had 682. Nevada has the fastest growing homeless youth population in the country.” ⎯Gehr

Reporting and Photos by Elliejean Nestaval shared with Our Town Reno