Pack Provisions at UNR Helps Financially-Challenged Students

Smiling Volunteers and Coordinators

Due to rising rents and tuition costs there is an increasing need for easier access to affordable food and other daily necessities for students at the University of Nevada, Reno. Pack Provisions, on the third floor of the Joe Crowley Student Union, has been around since 1993, but coordinators say the need for it now is more apparent than ever.

The window leading into the pantry is bordered with green and red tinsel. A smiling volunteer sits in the middle waiting to help students get what they need.

Student coordinator, Karissa Mendaros, gives a tour of what Pack Provisions has to offer, which is more than just food.

In the closet there are shirts on mismatched hangers and stacked tupperware. Pack Provisions’ pantry is lined with canned and boxed food and a big bag of onions. They also have a microwave on site and tall coolers holding frozen foods.

Mendaros, a nutritional science and chemistry senior, is enthusiastic about the attention Pack Provision has been receiving. Her goal is to break the stigma surrounding asking for help.

“We have people who would come in and be like, “Oh I don’t think I should get this, I feel like more people deserve it,” but you need it so you should get it. Right now I don’t have a limit on things that people can get,” she said.

Pack Provisions tries to be as welcoming as possible to students in need. Pictured here is Thomas Libang. Photo by Lucia Starbuck.

More and More Visitors

Over 400 students have used Pack Provisions so far this semester. This is a big leap compared to the 78 visitors Mendaros saw her freshman year.

According to Pack Provisions, for their most recent study, in 2016, 21% of UNR students were food insecure.

“I am definitely one of those college students that is facing a little bit of food insecurity,” Vera Miller said.

Miller, a 23-year-old photography and videography major, believes Pack Provisions is essential to campus life. She has a campus library job but she says it’s not enough to cover all of her needs.

“I am currently living paycheck-to-paycheck,” Miller said.

Miller describes her own experience using Pack Provisions as positive and welcoming.

“Let me just walk you through the process so we’ve got like all kinds of boxed and canned food items which are really yummy and really good, we’ve even got Annie’s Mac and Cheese which is really cool, but they also sometimes have fresh produce, they sometimes have orders of Burger King which is super nice, fast food is pretty cool sometimes,” Miller said.

Vera Miller says Pack Provisions has helped her with accessing food during her studies. Photo by Lucia Starbuck.

Anxious Students

Other students at UNR feel less inclined to ask for help. James Long, a senior Psychology major, says he wouldn’t use Pack Provisions. He is currently unable to afford stable housing, but feels apprehensive to go to the free pantry.

“It’s just a social anxiety thing I think. There’s a long interaction process of walking up to a window, filling out a form,” Long says.

Long says it can be challenging asking for help.

“I think most people to one degree or another don’t like admitting when they need help. You know, it’s sort of a path of last resort and that’s not just about food that’s about anything. But food would definitely be a big one because that implies that you’re on particularly hard times,” Long says.

James Long says it can be difficult for students in need to ask for food. Photo by Lucia Starbuck.

Alleviating Those Anxieties

But Mendaros says even if students do have this type of anxiety to sign up they need to realize how much they can benefit by going.

“Let them know that we are college students,” Mendaros says, “We understand that it’s getting harder. I mean, at the beginning of the semester tuition is due already, books are much more expensive, those access codes are like a hundred bucks each. We are in college to provide and be successful and hopefully get out there and change the world but how can we do that if we ourselves are struggling?”

Pack Provisions has also implemented Mobile Mondays, a farmer’s market that occurs about once a month, where students can get fresh produce for free on campus.

Photography and Reporting by Lucia Starbuck for Our Town Reno

David Jhonattan, Leading Motel Kids in Direct Action

Taking the Protest Around Downtown

It’s a cool, crisp, Sunday after Thanksgiving in downtown Reno, and David Jhonattan is leading ten or so kids from the Wonder Lodge motel to the Truckee River, parading their large “Stop Rent Greed” sign down Virginia Street, engaging in conversations with curious residents, handing out free pizza and getting pedestrians to paint their names on the back of the protest art.

While one city ambassador, RTC workers and motel employees shoo them away, several cars honk in favor, and many passersby give a thumbs up. Jhonattan, an activist by day with a graveyard shift by night, engages with everyone he crosses, both in Spanish and English.

“Every single place has a value, you know, and sometimes people that own these properties take advantage of people and lie about the value and that’s what rent greed is when they take advantage of it,” he says to a kid just joining the group. All of them, except for one, Jhonattan says, currently live in motels, where long term stays are also going up. “Rent control is where the city gets involved and tells these companies you can't be raising these rents without, you know, proper procedures. So that's why your Dad’s not home … or your mom's at work all the time.”

One of the first pedestrian to sign wrote “Love is Truth” behind the big ambulatory protest sign.

A Joyous Carnival

At one point, the kids throw their basketball in the Truckee River, and Jhonattan takes off his shirt, shoes and socks to retrieve it.

One of the kids carries a bluetooth boom box while another picks upbeat songs to play loudly as they move along the river walk, getting a welcome break from their cramped motel existence.

Jhonattan knows them all through the Team Learn non-profit he manages, which aims to reform education. Their parents have all given their approval for their participation and the kids seem to be having a great time. Jhonattan says it’s also good education for them.

“You know, when they grow up, they’ll think back, back in the day this guy did this, I should do this too, you know. It kind of goes back into their DNA, into their form of living.”

The sign made its way across downtown Reno as kids alternated holding it.

Are Rent Control and Regulation the Solution?

If legislated, rent control and rent regulation are administered by a court or a public authority. Controls limit the amount a property owner can charge for renting out a home, apartment or other real estate. There are also eviction controls.

Currently, California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and the District of Columbia have localities with some form of rent control. Thirty-seven states prohibit or preempt rent control, while nine states allow their cities to enact rent control, but have no cities that have implemented it. Nevada does not have any rent control laws, meaning landlords may increase the rent to any amount.

When previously brought up on #ourtownreno rent control concepts have elicited angry comments from some on social media.

The sign got a warm reception and many new signatories outside the Sierra Tap House.

More Empathy and Protests Needed

Jhonattan says those raising rents should have more empathy for people, but they don’t. “The people that own properties and make a good living out of them, they're already making money. Even if the rent's cheap, they'll make a lot of good money. It's just they're making a whole lot more money by raising rent.”

At the basketball court, he had the kids gather around and say they were soldiers fighting for their parents, education and immigration. He says he hopes to continue the protest on a daily basis in the afternoons to keep building awareness. “Any awareness is good,” he said, “because you never know who's passing by. It could be a government area, it could be a casino owner. You never know. You know one person can make a difference. So two, three, four, or five people … maybe something's going to change. If you don't do anything, you never tried and nothing's ever going to change.”

Photos and Reporting by Our Town Reno on Nov. 25, 2018

Derek Bray, Feeling Home at the Castaway Inn

A Change of Life

“It's really nice here. People are really respectful,” Derek Bray says of the Castaway Inn.

The small motel room Bray lives in is cramped with possessions, including family pictures with children.

“I was married for 30 years to a good Mormon girl and after the marriage I wanted to see what it was like to be me, you know, because it was always against the rules to show anything feminine inside of me because I was born a boy and a girl. I've had surgeries and to show that to anybody, it's like, would be disgraceful and I understand that. But being single it’s like I'm just me. I'm not gay. I'm a boy and a girl, you know, that's what I am. But people misunderstand that. I tried to explain it to them, but I don't think they believe it or something, but if I get right down to the point where I have to show them my scars and stuff like that, I would do that.”

“My breasts grew in junior high school and I wore bandages, you know, and I didn't even think anything about it but one day or so, I was at one of my girlfriend's house and they were like, Holy Shit, what's wrong with you? I had breasts. It's like, it didn't even dawn on me. I have the scars for all that stuff,” Bray said.

Working at the MGM Grand and Feeling Reno’s Magic

Bray got married in 1980 in Lake Tahoe wedding chapel and then after moving to Reno, went to work at the MGM Grand, the predecessor of the Grand Sierra Resort.

“That was spectacular,” Bray remembers. “It was so exciting to come here to Reno, making five bucks an hour. That was just like big money, you know, but going into that MGM Grand for the first time, it's like God, it was just like being in a movie. It was just amazing. Every day I went to work it was like that. It's still like that from me now. Even in Reno, it just has that magic about it. It just doesn't have the fruit trees along the side of the road or any of that, but there was that magic to it, to just like, it's hard to get away from it, you know?”

“This was the only place that would accept me and my cat, you know, because I wasn't about to let my best friend go,” Bray says of moving in the pet friendly Castaway Inn.

Helping in Churches and Avoiding Gambling

Bray lives on disability income and helps at local churches.

“I have brain damage and they call it bipolar but it's brain damage. I have short term and long term memory issues remembering things,” Bray said.

One downside of Reno, Bray talks about, is rampant gambling addiction.

“I see people going to shelters and stuff and I see people living at the river, but I see people with addictions and the biggest one seems to be gambling,” Bray said. “That gambling stuff just destroys them. I didn't realize it was such a powerful drug, gambling. With some kind of programs around that kind of thing, it would make a big difference for them because I see it all the time. I see my friends going from friends to just like robbing you and stuff because they need to put five dollars in the Cleopatra machine or something. It's like, I don't understand. That doesn't make any sense, you know.”

Bray is hoping to get a bigger room at some point, and have a bath.

Seeking Simple Pleasures

”I'm going to talk to the owner within the next couple of weeks about getting like a bigger place,” Bray said. “A place over here that's got like two bedrooms and a bathtub. I haven't had a bathtub in like three years. I would like to soak in it. It It’s gotta to feel so good. It's been a long time.”

Before we left, Bray also talked about having more space to cook. “My favorite dish would be biscuits and gravy with sausage and strawberry shortcakes.”

Reporting by Prince Nesta with Photos by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Heroes of Reno: Julie Dunlap and the Big Coat Drive

With already frigid temperatures at nights and in the early morning hours, volunteers with the Nevada Alumni Association were in full force today on the UNR campus trying to do their part in helping those less fortunate who need extra help during the cold months.

By midday already over 100 coats had been donated.

“We’re having people walking over and some pulling over and opening up their trunk and we can be able to take their clothes and put them in the bins,” Dunlap explained.

The initiative was part of the overarching Big Reno Coat Drive with details here: http://bigrenocoatdrive.org/

People donating were being given a 25% discount in the Nevada Wolf Shop, with extra meaning this year with a strong finishing Nevada Wolf Pack football team and a highly touted basketball team.

“We’re doing our part to hopefully get as many people to come by and drop warm coats,” Dunlap said.

Reporting and Photography by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Ahmad, a World Traveler Who Lost It All But Not His Brain

A Man Broken Off from His Past

Ahmad, a native of Egypt now in his mid 60s struggling with alcoholism, lived for a decade in France, where he worked on houses as a contractor. In the early 1990s, love brought him to the United States. For a time, he was married with two kids living a good life in in Santa Cruz. But then with his relationship fraying due to alcoholism, he moved to Reno, where he initially worked as a cab driver, painter and landscaper.

His life slowly deteriorated here, though, from working less and less to living in motels to now fending for himself on the streets. He said his new girlfriend was too messy to live with in a motel. “I put one garbage out, she brings three in. So I couldn't keep up with her,” he said.

Anyway, he says, motels are out of reach for him financially now. “The motels used to be like $300, $400 a month. Now it's over $700 or even $900. How can people with fixed income afford that?”

Ahmad is trying to apply for assisted housing programs, but finding the process difficult. “I just want to move out of the streets,” he said. “I don't want to die in the streets.” He says he gets $376 a month in retirement money, which only gets him so far.

Regrets and Feeling Old

Ahmad says he’s given up in some ways, and feels he’s too old to find work. “I'm an old man. Who'd want to hire me? Nobody. They'd rather hire a young person whose got more energy than me to clean the place or do something. I'm turning 65 very soon,” he said.

He’s totally broken off from his childhood in Egypt and his own family. “My problem is when I turn my back on something I forget it because it brings a lot of pain I guess,” he said. He misses his children as well. “I really miss to see them grow up. That's the best gift as a dad, to see your kids grow up,” he said.

“I can say that maybe I was stupid, a fool, kind of arrogant when I had it. Please don't be arrogant when you have it,” he added.

“We've been together helping each other. I care about her and that's why I'm around her,” Ahmad said of his girlfriend. He says he gets food stamps and goes to food lines from time to time as part of their survival together.

Angry with Politicians, the Shelter and Local Police

As local elections near, Ahmad doesn’t believe politicians really want to help the homeless.

“It's all about money,” he said. “Do you know how much money is gonna be spent in this election? They do all this fundraising because rich people want to get some contract or something to build something. They contribute to them thousands of dollars because they know they're going to make it back. Look at all these politicians and look at the people around them. They get money to make money because they know a politician can sign a contract here or there.”

He prefers to avoid the main downtown shelter. “I've been in the shelter and I don't like the attitude of the people who work in the shelter,” he said. “The shelter is full of bugs... I prefer the bugs here, but not in the shelter. I'd rather breathe fresh air than get intoxicated down there. The people they hire, I know what their problem is, they think they're better than everybody ….”

He also has stern words about local police. “When you put somebody in uniform … you’ve got to make sure that they treat the homeless people or people in general with respect. Or you're going to get a revolution. Police brutality is wrong . Hey, I'm a homeless guy. They gave me a ticket while I'm just sitting there drinking…. Where am I going to find this money from? They want to put me in jail to get money? When tourists come out, you go put homeless people in jail? Lock them up and harass the homeless people? We don't steal from nobody so why do you condemn me for that?”

“A good dog,” he said of Buddy. “Very gentle. It’s a sad life out here. Believe me,” he said. Dogs aren’t allowed in most shelters, which is why many homeless prefer to stay on the streets with their trusted companions.

Urging Others to Vote

Any advice for people encountering the homeless? “A little respect elevates our spirit but when they look down upon you, you feel crushed. Just say ‘hi’ and I'm good. I don't need your money. But if you look at me like I'm down your wrong because it could happen to you,” he said.

“I'm trying to help myself. I'm trying to get a job but I can't. I'm too old. I'm upset, but I'm not mad. I'm upset about the action and reaction. And the system is corrupt. It's up to us the people to make a movement. Vote and choose the right person. Vote vote vote. Don't miss the opportunity to choose someone who will make a difference,” he concluded.

Photos and Reporting by Prince Nesta and Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Mika, An Anagrammer, Struggling with A Past of Abuse and Bad Relationships

A Survivor

A Texas native, living off $600 in monthly disability payments, Mika says she’s been homeless in her home state, as well as Colorado, Arkansas and California. She’s been on the streets of Reno since June, trying to find quiet places and avoiding the main shelter.

She says it’s difficult when homelessness is criminalized, and that you can get tickets for camping or cooking. But she says whatever the risks she still prefers living outside on her own.

“I like the camping lifestyle. I prefer nature, you know, because when I do have my chance in my camps, it's like a little mini apartment. I have what I need, you know, I'm self sufficient. I love being out here. It's just against the rules. I keep my area clean, I don't bother nobody. But … some of the others, they trash the place, they make, all kinds of ruckus, cheat, steal each other.”

But she says being around troublemakers is even worse at the shelter.

“They're against each other instead of building each other up …. they are against each other. So it's hard to be in a place like that when you're trying to get back up and can't seem to get back up because even your fellow female is against you. . We're supposed to be together to rise up, not to put each other down and keep each other down because I hurt just like they do and I know they hurt too … So I just can't stand that. Too many hens and not enough roosters …”

“This is all I have left right now. Just some clothes, some food and blankets, a book, crossword puzzles, that kind of thing. I finished out my crossword books so I do my own anagrams. I take a word, a big word four letters or more plus with the letters they give me, just anagramming. I do it for hours.”

On Watch Duty and Frustrated by Housing Vouchers

Sometimes she will watch other people’s stuff and sometimes they watch hers, so she can go shower somewhere and check her mail. When she is on watch duty, she says she works on crossword puzzles or her own anagrams for hours on end.

Mika says she tried to go through government channels to secure affordable housing but ended up frustrated with the process.

“I had gotten my housing voucher after about five years and every time I went to sign up for places that took it, it’s one more waiting list and the voucher only last three months. So I kept having to start all over again…. Sometimes they have to stop the waiting list because it's just too full,” she said.

“I wish I had done this. I wish I hadn't done that. But what I would say is, ‘what don't kill you makes you stronger.’ This too shall pass. You know. And sometimes it's like, oops, I wish I had known. What was I thinking? Sometimes I get depressed about it, sometimes I get mad with myself, but then just hopefully learn from that mistake.”

A Gambling Problem for the Homeless

Mika says having so many casinos around Reno is a problem for those like her, who always hope they can turn their luck but instead lose their government money.

“If the casinos were not here, people wouldn't be gambling their money away. If there would be no casinos, they would have their check. And I'm guilty of it. I've been guilty of it too. I didn't grow up around gambling, so I did not know how to gamble. In Texas, it's illegal…”

She said gambling isn’t her only addiction.

“I love to drink beer and I battle other things too …. drugs, alcohol, pills, men. I guess sometimes I do drugs but it’s not like my forte and my niche, but out here I'll rationalize myself to go to sleep, to forget, to feel better, to make the pain go away. It doesn't take it away, just for a little bit and I get caught up in that whirlwind of just wanting it to go away. and so sometimes it temporarily takes the pain away. That's the battle with it.”

Mika says she’s always looked for love in the wrong places. “When I was younger, now I'm not gonna do that hardly anymore, but I would go from relationship to relationship looking for real love. If you loved me, everything will be all better. It's how I was raised up. I watched my mother go through a lot of relationships. She's had several marriages. So that's what I saw … man after man…. Marriage after marriage. My natural father deceased since I was about eight and a half and the one I called my dad, he died in 2006, but I was real close with him. He died from the West Nile virus in Fresno.”

Up and Down the River

Her recent life journey has taken her up and down the Truckee river. She’s thought of getting all her paperwork in order again to try with housing vouchers but sometimes feels that would be hopeless.

“I've been up and down the river from (downtown) and then all the way down to what they call the end of the world. I've lived all up and down this river. “

She said police often ask her to move and that she does. “They're just doing their jobs. Some of them are used to some really rude people and combativeness and so they have to treat everybody like that. You know what I mean? It's not talking about abuse or anything, but they have to use that tone of voice with everybody. No one's like tasering me or anything. . Just follow the rules. Yes sir or no sir. If they ask me to move on then I move on.”

As we near the end of our interview, she opens up about her youth. “When I was young I tried to commit suicide three times. I guess I didn't understand. I didn't want to die. Just wanted the pain to go away. It was the pain from the things that happened to me as a child, as a young girl. Stuff like molestation, abuse and most of the time it was my mother's guy friends. With the sexual assaults happening I felt abandoned and unprotected by someone that I feel should have protected me.”

Tears for Others and Her Mother

She has tears in her eyes as she gives advice to others who might be in her predicament.

“Rise up. Don't give up. You're not alone. If I can do it, you can do it. Rise up. You gotta reach out. You gotta ask for help. The worst somebody can say is, no. I'm pretty sure we've all heard the word no many, many times in our life and we're still alive today So don't kill yourself. Say something. Don't keep it to yourself. Don't hide. Don't be afraid to say something.”

She also has tears for her Mom even though she says she has nothing to say to her.

”I've forgiven her, but she knows why I'm out here. I know the story. She knows the story. She knows right where I'm at, and we know the story. She's still my mother, I miss her. I miss her,” she said.

Photography by Jordan Blevins with Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Does the Homeless Population Vote?

“I am going to vote in the elections. I haven’t followed the issues, but I am concerned about health care,” said Lynn Liebeck, who came to Reno about three years ago from Swan Island, Oregon. We met her at the main downtown shelter. She was the only person who gave her name.

“I’ve never voted in my life.”

“No, I’m not going to vote in the city election. I don’t trust anybody.”

Photos and Interviews by Michael S. Graham shared with Our Town Reno

Jonathan, an Injured Logger who Self-Medicated

Recovering from a Broken Back and Trying Rehab

Jonathan Brewer, says he comes from a long line of loggers in the state of Washington, including his grandfather and father and all his uncles. But after his injury, and self-medicating, his life veered away from logging.

“I've been labeled an addict and I've been through rehabs and jails, America's reprogramming or whatever you want to call it and I accepted it and went through it but … it's just another mind trick. They want you to …. enslave yourself too. I've been in jail for different things. I was a spoiled brat.”

“These people have given up, took losses, detrimental blows that were hard to mentally recover from,” he says of others living without housing. “There's vultures, you know, there's creditors out here. They prey off the weak. Even I, even I prey offr the weak. we all do….” Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

A Family Man with a Broken Car

He says he has five daughters and the hardest is when he can’t find food for his youngest who he says is seven.

“When your seven-year-old daughter asks you what you're gonna have for dinner and you can't answer her and she's hungry,” he said his is toughest challenge. “Asking a stranger for some food or change because your baby's hungry. … and you ain't got shit to feed them….”

He says he found the car he’s currently working on. He said he wants to fix it and get out of Reno. “I found the car on the side of the road. It was abandoned… about to be towed by the city,” he said.

“I've had several cars and I had to do my own maintenance. I didn't have time or money to pay mechanics so I had to figure it out on my own,” he said of trying to fix this car so he can leave Reno. Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

Reporting by Prince Nesta and Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Jimmy: "Things are Looking Up" after Being Attacked in a Motel Room

Recovering from an Attack without Insurance

Jimmy Penrod says it was an attack by a woman in a local motel room and a severe injury to an eye which got his previous life, which included a job as a printer, derailed.

“I didn't have no insurance,” he told us. "It took a long time. They build the eyeball up with nitrogen and put the … retina back into where it's supposed to be. But I kinda got half (of an) eye side out right now….”

He says he has two ex-wives and one 28 year-old son, but that he doesn’t try to bother them with his ordeals.

“I don't tell them nothing. Nothing. I call them up or I go down there and take the bus down there to Carson city…. You know, we have wings and shoot pool … and then I come back here …”

Jimmy was relaxing on a bench by the Truckee river in downtown Reno when we met him. Besides beer, Jimmy says he might also like to gamble too much. After he receives paychecks he says he goes to the Cal Neva. “You know, sometimes it hits, sometimes it don't…. I've lost everything, but the most I hit, I hit $6,000 one night. Had a royal playing, a dollar machine. I played it back over the days and lost it all…”Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta.

From Motels to the Streets

Jimmy says he used to be able to afford a motel room on his own but not right now, even though he’s working again. He tries to stay in motels with friends. He says being outside at night feels dangerous.

“You know you're walking around here at night. Somebody wants to … like molest you. Take your shit,” he said. “You gotta be tough. You gotta be awake. … You know a bunch of bad things happen here. Someone wants to take my money, take whatever is in my pocket. And I'm like it ain't happening. That's why I carry a knife now. You know, I'm an ex felon so I can't have a gun…”

“I wish I did not drink alcohol because your mind works better when you're sober,” he said. “You always do a good thing. I mean I've always had a job. I've never been unemployed, you know? But there's been a couple of times I did not want to go to work because of drinking. Like today.” Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta.

A Prior Hellish Prison Experience

His crime dates back to 1979 in Texas and he recounts in minute detail his capture, which sounds like it could have been in a movie.

“I wanted to come home to Nevada,” he remembers vividly. “I was out in Texas, had no money. I walked in this restaurant and wanted to take their money and take a bus to Nevada. Well, they didn't have any money. It's Christmas Eve. So I was in a stolen truck. I pulled a truck out of a gas station and police started chasing me and … the truck started running out of gas, so I jumped out of the truck. I started running and then I heard these bullets. I was going through the apartments. I could hear the bullets hitting the walls in front of me. So I dropped. At that time, the police didn't even know what they were chasing. But it came across the radio and he says, hey, you ain't that hijacker are you? I said ‘yeah’. And I did eight years time in a Texas prison picking cotton. Texas is not a good place to do time. They make you pick cotton out there, you're tired… and like your, your fingers are bleeding. Oh my God, man….”

“Of course everyday is another day when you wake up in the morning,” he said when we asked him if he had any regrets concerning his turbulent life. Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta.

Reporting by Jordan Blevins and Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

"Stop Looking at Me!": Mary, Healing from Abuse With Her Own Voice

A Nightmare Birthday

It’s my birthday. I wake up excited like I do every year on this day. My partner of fourteen years has been unusually grumpy the last couple of weeks. So I decide to make today a mellow day. An on the couch snuggling, movie kind of day. I put out some snacks and pick out a movie and then all of a sudden there are sheriffs around me, telling me to leave the property.

I have five minutes. What? They can’t do this, I live here! But they can do this. I grab my dogs and their food with no place to go. I go out to the edge of the carport where there is some shade and I just cry, and cry. I’m out there for over eight hours. I didn’t even have water for the dogs. My now ex-partner of fourteen years was too afraid to tell me to my face that he has decided to end our relationship so that he can start a relationship with this twenty-eight-year-old prostitute that he has been seeing.

Finally, I call my son. He picks me up. My ex is nowhere to be found and everything is locked up. My life will never be the same again. And what I’m thinking most as we climb into his vehicle is, “stop looking at me.” As all the neighbors have been watching this unfold.

Photo provided by the VOICE writing workshop.

Fighting for My Life

Over the next two days, I get a court date set and the judge allows me to go back home. The eviction was illegal and immoral. I get back home and my “area” has been separated from the rest of the house.

My belongings are gone, everything! I’m not leaving! We go to court again. Again, the judge permits me to be there. I feel like I am fighting for my life. As everybody watches me play a fool. “Stop looking at me.”

I learn what fighting for my life means when three days later I was beaten so badly that I now have no teeth. [Most of her facial bones had been shattered as well.] I hurt everywhere, and I have no memory of what happened. I keep running. I find a friend. She helped me but I didn’t want to stay there long because everyone who comes to her place keeps giving me that look. Shock. Sympathy. “Stop looking at me.” I again call my son. He gets my dogs for me and I go to his place. I stayed inside for eight and a half months, mostly out of fear.

One of the inspirational quotes on the VOICE Facebook page provided to Our Town Reno.

Sleeping on Cardboard

Then my son had to move for his new job and I am facing the world. I really have no place to go. I grab my dogs and we begin that walk. The walk with no destination and I am sure that everybody I pass is watching me. “Stop looking at me.”

After eight and a half months inside, to being outside completely, so many changes happened. Survival kicked in. Instinctively, I found a piece of cardboard to sleep on top of. The worst part wasn’t sleeping on the ground. The worst part was waking up, in the park, with people doing park things and watching me. “Stop looking at me.”

Making my way to the food line every day, to the resources for a change of clothes and a backpack. I even came up on new dog dishes for my loyal companions. I also came up on the worst sunburn that I ever had. It required medical attention. The homeless doctor was great, giving me the medicine I needed. She even gave me a hat to keep it from getting worse.

Between the heat and the blistering burns, I was getting tired easily. I sat down on the edge of a building and closed my eyes. A few minutes later I was woken up by someone I used to know. He says, “Is that really you? What happened to you? I will be back.” I sat by that building until dark. They never came back. I missed dinner. The way they looked at me when they asked “What happened to you?” I wanted to scream, “Stop looking at me!”

A member of VOICE first met Mary here at Paradise Park. “I think about the first time we met and how many times we sat in the park talking before she was bold enough to come inside,” her VOICE partner remembers.

Finding Help

I heard those words in my head every day over the next year. “Stop looking at me.” By the time somebody found me, that could help my situation, I was angry, withdrawn, mistrusting of almost everyone.

But this one was different because she didn’t look at me. She made me feel like I was a human being. I listened to her, followed her advice. She built me up on the inside and gave me the “inner strength” that I needed to get myself out of the park, out of the elements, and into a place, with my dogs. Safe!

My story doesn’t end there. It continues. I still have issues. I don’t like to leave my house, mostly because my ex stalks me, watches me, and makes me still want to yell, “Stop looking at me!” But life continues. I deal with my issues and live my life day by day. A little bit healthier, a little bit warmer, a little bit safer, and with a new outlook on life. I feel like I have been returned to humanity.

“A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life itself. It may be translated into every language, and not only be read but actually breathed from human lips; not be represented on canvas or in marble only, but be carved out of the breath of life itself,” once wrote Henry David Thoreau.

What if …

Being homeless will take you to unbelievable places. It drives you mad, makes you angry, removes you from life.

What if… what if everyone came together and demanded “that new housing be built.” What if everyone came together and pulled money out of their pockets for a construction company to build a place for the homeless to go, a privately-owned building. There are so many plans that never get put into action. So many ideas that never leave the paper. The thing though that is so overlooked, the thing that would help so many people…is to stop looking at them.

When you see someone on the edge of a building, down on their luck, homeless, try as you are passing by to put your hand on their shoulder, look them in the eye and simply say, “try to have a better day friend.” When you see someone who has the desire to not be desperate anymore, sit next to them in the park, start a conversation. Something, anything to remind them that they are still human beings. 

Story by Mary with VOICE shared with Our Town Reno

Timothy Doss, from Going Undercover Homeless to Donating Removed Appliances

Going Undercover

When we first met Timothy Doss, he was taking part in an outreach program several years ago, living the life of a homeless person for 72 hours, with dirty clothes, just a backpack, and no money, relying on food lines to eat while sleeping in hidden spots overnight.

“I actually tried to go in a few establishments and I was shunned upon,” he remembers. “I felt the lowest I've ever felt in my life. Like I didn't belong there… Walking in homeless to a restaurant or anything like that, you're actually shunned upon … Reno is actually a completely different world. It's completely different being homeless than being a regular person. You’ve got to find somewhere to charge your cell phone. We were actually kicked out of the bus station several times and we needed to keep recharging, but we kept getting kicked out.”

He says he believes local elected officials, including Mayor Hillary Schieve, should try the same experiment.

“She should come and try to do [it] completely dressed down and feel what it’s like to be homeless so she can better realize what's going down here. I do dare her to come down here and do that. It would be really cool. That would be something that, you know, even any council member should do and know how Reno is a completely different town [if you’re homeless].

If he comes across items that can help, while removing them, Doss will donate them back to people in need. “We try to turn around and give to the homeless… You know, things that they really need , we get sleeping bags, pillows, we try to bring socks and clothes, stuff they would have to pay for like a fresh set of socks and a fresh set of shoes. And I mean, they're not brand new, but the items we bring can definitely be reused,” Doss said. Photo by Jordan Blevins and reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

Giving Back

Doss, a graduate of Reno High, not only gives items he comes across to the homeless, but also to those who are struggling and moving into new housing.

“We will try to furnish your apartment with whatever used goods we have. .. very clean beds, tvs,” he said. “It's not perfect stuff, but it will definitely get you started. Maybe some dish ware, clothing and stuff like that. A lot of people, when you got to start moving someplace … something bad happened where you had to move and you left everything. We try to furnish your house. It's not the best things in the world, but you can always upgrade, but it's something that you can definitely live with, with the kids.”

A single father taking care of five kids, he also sets an example for them to give back as well.

“My sons are very in tune with the homeless,” he said. “We happened to go to McDonald's a couple of days ago and my son got his allowance and he saw there was a homeless person sitting there and he took his allowance out of his pocket. He walked up and bought them lunch. That is just the most amazing experience that I can pass it on to my kids,” he said.

“There's a lot of people that really need help,” Doss said during our interview as he was out at the main homeless shelter. “There needs to be more programs for the mentally unstable … We have a lot of them wandering around. There's definitely drugs and alcohol with the homeless, but there's a lot of people that have just fallen really bad on their luck that shouldn't be here and there should be more programs,” he said. Photo by Jordan Blevins and reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

Feeling the Pain

Doss says he recently struggled to find new housing for himself and sees that while there is growth going on in Reno, there is also an affordable housing crisis.

“I personally just moved and it is really hard to get an apartment,” he said. “Everything is overpriced… the motels are getting demolished. All the motels downtown are leaving now and there's less and less places to go. And me having a job, having money, it was actually hard for me to actually find a place that I needed to go through because it's getting so expensive. Anything that does come up for rent, people are throwing three, four, five months worth of rent and it's, it's hard. It's hard out there.”

He says Reno is a beautiful place with a tight knight community but that there’s a risk the Biggest Little City could lose some of its soul if it doesn’t do a better job helping those in need.

“There's two towns. there's really just two towns. You don't realize it until you're down there and you're homeless. You have zero money. You can't walk into a restaurant … You're being kicked out because the way you look. I say to everybody, if you see a homeless person, smile, and that might be the best thing that's happened to them all day.”

He says going undercover also made him realize how kind homeless people can be.

“They knew we weren't eating. One of the homeless actually brought some food to me … They're probably the best people in the world that they will actually give you the shirt off their back instead of somebody that's just living a regular life.”

“There's other people that have a junk removal companies and they're trying to figure out the way to do it,” Doss said of growing his own business model. “I do actually teach. I do have a channel where I do teach people how to start a junk removal company. And it’s got a few thousand subscribers. They watch the channel religiously. I put out videos every day,” he said. Photo by Jordan Blevins and reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

Growing his Karma Business Model

Doss said he is planning to grow his model into other cities.

“We're actually talking about going some other towns almost like franchising and we're trying to give back to the community, Karma based businesses,” he said. “We're just trying to get it bigger and get the word out and have a better business across the US and it's gonna grow. It's gonna get big.”

He says everyone should think of their own karma when encountering homeless residents in Reno.

“Next time you see the person on the street and you say something rude or derogatory, they're in that position for a reason. Some people don't belong down here, but they are, because of a physical disability or something. Some people fall back on hard times. Some people fall on drugs and alcohol. Try to see if they need something, don't give too much but give an open heart. And definitely it could be you holding that sign…”

Reporting by Jordan Blevins and Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Quinn, Helping Others while Living Out of His Car

At-Risk Youth Giving Back

Quinn, 21, was part of a group of teenagers and young adults serving food recently at the shelter on Record street. He’s helping though he himself is living out of his own vehicle.

“We all have varying degrees of education and we’re living with parents or living alone or some of us are living on the streets as well. We understand how important it is to get people food and water and we just want to help people,” he said.

Like the others in this program he is a high school dropout. “I was super stupid and I was like, I'm going to be a musician and go into the world and you know, that doesn't always work out ... So, you know, finding a job has been difficult but this program has helped me not only find a job, but they give a stipend every week for education that you find. Come the 15th, I'll have a place,” he assured us when we met him.

“Young people should try their best to get out there. It seems like, especially when you're down in the dumps and down into the negative, it seems like that's all there is. But there's a lot of life out there. There's a lot of life to live, especially as a young person. You owe it to yourself and your future self especially to get out there and help people and help yourself,” Quinn (left) said. Members of the YouthBuild program pose in front of the Children’s Cabinet bus which dropped them off to do community service. Photo by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno.

Moving Forward Again

Quinn says the Children’s Cabinet run program has given him new incentive to find a better track for himself. “I have regrets about my life getting me to this point, but this is now life less about regret and more about fixing mistakes and just getting myself moving forward again. They're helping me move along in my education to get my high school diploma. That kind of stuff is very, very helpful for somebody my age. Just direction and structure rather than just aimless wandering.”

Reporting by Prince Nesta and photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Joy, An Artist-Philosopher 'Trying to Find a Landing Spot'

Moving Around

Joy, 40, says she’s previously lived in many other states, including Texas, Colorado, Florida, New York, Arizona, Missouri, Maryland, Illinois and California.

”I was on my way back to California and kinda got stuck here,” she said when we met her by the Truckee River in downtown Reno and offered her a cup of coffee. “Well, I just didn't get my stuff together. Because I was overwhelmed with what I felt my potential was and how many different directions that drew me, not wanting to find specialties and trying to figure out just how many specialties I could have,” she said as a way of introduction.

She’s worked many jobs, include office jobs, filing paperwork and doing mail deliveries, or working as a barista at a vegetarian restaurant and coffee shop. Her favorite job was when she was a ceramics assistant while going to college in Colorado.

“It is something you really have to have a studio setup as well and it can be thousands and thousands of dollars. You can build one technically speaking, out of a barrel or a trash can. I like to make hand sculpted objects, like coil pots. I am really good at coil pots, actually. You just roll out a coil. It's like a Native American method that they do. I learned all this stuff at a small private college in Denver but I didn't stay there for long,” she said.

“Some of them are tattoos and some of them are things I have just been doodling because I wanted to doodle and stuff,” she said when asked for the meanings of the inscriptions on her hands. “I like philosophy, it helps me ponder and explore the nature of reality itself.” Reporting by Prince Nesta with photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno.

On Being Homeless in Reno

Joy says she’s been homeless for about a year now. She says she fled the threat of violence elsewhere, and also got her ID and bank card stolen. She says she usually sleeps outside next to friends, for protection, but avoids the shelter, where she says she has had bad experiences.

“I'm fed up with it and I am really looking to find my landing spot,” she said.  “It's rough out here if you ask me, because I am not used to this climate and environment and I don't have the physical habits of adapting that quickly. I didn't embark on my journey planning on just camping out or being homeless per say… I had planned well enough that I should have been able to get rooms along the way but then all my stuff got stolen.”

Joy says she hasn’t figured out how to find a purpose in society, and that others also create setbacks for her. “Someone did threaten to kill me once and it terrified me but that's a totally different story. I just meant the circumstances I was in, I was just feeling so miserable and despite all my best efforts to work on my goals, to do something meaningful, it just wasn't working.”

“It represents the Third Eye. I drew from the Hindu tradition … and it was a very spontaneous decision actually and it just felt like exactly the right thing to do. The first basic step, I would say it represents, is kind of an insight into the understanding of how you work… insight into being able to apprehend... perhaps visionary capabilities like the ability to shift your perspective and put yourself in someone else's shoes, so to speak. Even literally, like trying something that allows you a different perspective.” Reporting by Prince Nesta with photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno.

Looking for Intelligent Conversation 

”Coffee, cigarettes, pot, food, water, money, intelligent conversation, music for dancing too. These are things that will enable me to put my skills to work and to get money and make some for myself, to build a career for myself and express my talents. The things I mentioned first, some people think of them as drugs but I think of them as medicine and drugs to be used,” she said when asked what passersby could offer if they wanted to help her.

She says she has newfound respect for those living on the streets for a long time.

“It’s rough out here and I respect and admire anyone who has done it for a long time…. It is also hard to get work or respect sometimes or even what you need without people trying to wrangle you into their weird schemes. Or manipulate you in some way …” she said of how those without housing often become a prey for others.

“I love to dance. It’s one of my favorite things to do. And sing, and I love art. I found my skirt at a great store here,” she said, finding some hope in her new life in Reno. Reporting by Prince Nesta with photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno.

Nicotine, Experimenting with Drugs and Hoping for Brighter Days

When we first asked to do this interview, she hesitated, and then said she needed to find a cigarette first. “It picks you up and calms you down at the same time and there is almost nothing else on the planet quite like it for that and I like to be in that state. I like to be alert and calm. The things that help me do that are coffee, marijuana and cigarettes. And I feel like I have been forced to give up on those various things and I have found I am on my peak performance using all three,” she said.

“I have experimented with some other things, mainly psychedelics, like mushrooms, acid... I don't look at myself as addicted to drugs. I look at myself as an experimenter in consciousness finding adaptogens that make my life better,” she added.

Any regrets? “I have a few and it’s mostly to do with what I have done which felt necessary that has hurt anyone in any way. My future is brightening. I feel like I am figuring out what I can do to start something. I hope to leave a legacy. No kids yet. I do still want to get married someday,” she said as we parted ways.

  
Reporting by Prince Nesta with photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Christian, From a Childhood on the Streets to Jail to Now Helping Others

Christian says even when it’s not mandated by the YouthBuild program he tries to organize his own volunteer events to give back to the community.

“A lot of us from experience have lived on the streets. We have lived with no home, no food, no shelter,” he said as he helped pass around healthy sandwiches and water bottles on a sunny fall day at the downtown shelter in Reno.

“I do this quite often,” he said. “I'm out here probably every month or so.”

“You might seem like everything's gone down, really rough, but you will get out of it. Just push yourself to strive yourself to do better,” Christian advised to other youth who are going through tough times. Reporting by Prince Nesta with photography by Jordan Blevins.

A Life Without Any Stability

Christian says he lived on the streets from birth until he was five in San Jose. “It was just stuff happening with my family,” he remembers. “My mom ended up going to prison.”

His grandmother was able to get housing through the Reno Housing Authority so he moved to the Biggest Little City. But he said living on Neil Road where he ended up brought its own problems.

“I got around the wrong people. I was a smart kid. I could've graduated a year early, had scholarships, but I decided to mess around with the wrong people and it led me down the wrong path.”

His mother struggled again to make ends meet. “My mom just had gotten a house and she was struggling to feed my sister. My brother, he moved out. I moved out and I was just tired of seeing my family struggle, tired of them deciding whether they want to spend money on rent or buy food to feed my little sister.”

“It makes me feel better that they actually have food and actual water to drink. It's good to be considerate,” Christian said of being part of a program which helps at the shelter. “The shelter is actually, it's been packed since I don't know when….,” he added. “I think we need more shelters. We need job opportunities for these people in the shelters So they could provide for the family they have or just themselves.” Reporting by Prince Nesta with photography by Jordan Blevins.

Turning his Life Around

When we met him, Christian said he was getting his GED, and preparing to apply to go to college and also joining the national guard.

“I've had a lot of bad happen in my life, but thanks for that, thanks to all my experiences, I am who I am today, so I don't think I regret anything,” he said.

He had more advice for youth who might be struggling. “You have the chance to change it. Go to school. I know it seems like a pain and nobody likes school, but it's just something you have to do. If you really want to succeed, go to a high school, graduate, you don't need to go to college, just make sure you have the basics so you can prevail in life,” he said.

Reporting by Prince Nesta with Photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Caleb, A Collector, Recycler and Teacher On the Streets of Reno

From the Streets at 17 to Low Paying Jobs to the Bush and Trash Cans

Caleb sleeps in the “bush,” he says. What about the main shelter on Record street? “Oh, I love that place. It's great. If you want to get near threatened to death and almost in a fight …. or robbed then yeah, it's awesome. But the meals are fantastic. Top notch and that's not a joke or any sarcasm on that last part.”

He also finds food scavenging through trash cans. “I eat when I'm hungry,” he said when we met him by the Truckee River on a recent balmy fall day. “There's plenty out of the trashcan.”

Caleb recycles cans he finds for money and stores in his grocery cart, but says it pays less and less to be an aluminum collector. He’s worked different jobs in recent years, as a driver for Circus Circus, or for pizza and sandwich places in downtown Reno, but with nearly a quarter century surviving without stable housing, he says he’s getting used to getting by with less and less income.

Caleb says he first started living on the streets full time when he was 17 and that he’s now nearly 40. He’s had long term relationships, and heartbreak, he says, which caused major detours in his life, but that he’s never married. His mom lives on the East Coast but at his age, he says, he doesn’t see himself living with her.

Caleb says he stays away from hard drugs but enjoys his cigarettes. “I've taken nicotine occasionally when I'm stressed mostly. But it's actually a great anti-hunger thing that I learned about. Like if you're starving and you smoke a cigarette and now you feel sick because you just smoked a cigarette, so now you're not as hungry. It also keeps you warm in the winter.” Reporting by Prince Nesta and photo by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno.

Dealing with Mental Health Issues and Violence

“Mental issues run in the family, but I don't deal with them,” Caleb said when asked about rampant undiagnosed or untreated mental health issues among those living on the streets. “They're not my problems,” he added.

“I mean possibly, but have I been diagnosed? I self-diagnosed myself with ADHD, but I don't know if it's a misdiagnosis. I have OCD. I came up with three new forms of obsessive compulsive disorder. I don't deal with it, but just when I'm stressed out. Yeah... Like when people ask me for things that I don't have readily accessible, I take about as long as I can to try to get them to realize that their urgency is not my emergency. That's what's up. I've been in town since 1992. I'm almost 40. I can't live any other way.”

What about violence on the streets?

“I was beat up a few times, but you know, it's neither here nor there. People saw it happen … and just sort of walked on about their business. I'm pretty sure they're around this area at some point. I know there was an older couple. They heard me hoot and holler and somebody was actually on top of me, looking like they were trying to have sex with me … That was some years back. We won't talk about that. Yeah, there was no police report. Don't worry about that.”

“Keep faith it only gets better,” he told us as we finished our interview. Photos by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno of some of Caleb’s many possessions he moves around in his shopping cart.

Is Reno a Friendly Town?

“It's supposed to be like a friendly town, but I don't know. I haven't seen a lot of people get down on like, ‘Hey, How are you? Oh, good to see you!’ But there are a few that will look out for the other people that are in the same situation I am…. especially as far as giving food and sharing food. “

As left to go scavenge in a nearby trash can, another man came up to us to give his views on Caleb.

"He's the most sane, crazy person I've ever met,” the man said. “He's like very practical, insane, very chilled like normal OCD and stuff like stacking rocks. He picks up all the trash, in this whole area. I really appreciate that. And I love you Caleb. I just met this guy Caleb today and he's my brother,” the man said.

Reporting by Prince Nesta and Photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Jody, A Millionaire's Daughter Celebrating Her 50th Birthday on the Streets

On Being Evicted Recently from a Weekly

When we caught up with her, Jody and her teenage daughter had been living without housing for three weeks.

“I tried to do the weekly thing. I had a job, but I was two days late on rent. They wouldn't let me stay for two days and here I am … Shelters are currently full. Domestic violence shelters are full and have a waiting list. Section 8 has been down closed for a year….The family shelter is also full and also has a waiting list and they told me to check back once a week. This is the biggest homeless population they've had in history here… I was lucky enough to find this place called the Prayer House. And we're just kind of winging it here you know. But here I am lugging all my stuff around down to two bags for my daughter and I. And this is my life. I don't do drugs and you know I don't gamble and we're just good people, just got put on the street you know.”

Jody has been trying to navigate the different available services since fleeing an abusive partner. What she needs the most though, she says, is to find housing again. “We just need a leg up you know. Somewhere where I can have my daughter every day and she can come home to everyday and then I can get up and go to work and she can get to school. And that's all we need. That's really all we need. And then I can have a life of my own.” Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

The Exhaustion of Living on the Streets

“My daughter collapsed two nights ago in front of the shelter while waiting for dinner at the shelter. That broke my heart. She's a beautiful girl too. It was just exhaustion you know. And you cannot realize how much you're out. You know they put you out, there's nowhere to stay during the day and my daughter collapsed from exhaustion in a panic attack … So I took her to the hospital. We almost missed getting indoor shelter that night because of that. But, yeah, it's exhaustion. I had actually collapsed about three days before that right over there. Out here, nobody helps you. I'm on Medicaid and I get food stamps…”

Past Abuse and Fears for Her Daughter

“I lost my virginity to a rapist when I was 15. And you know I got over it. But for my daughter who is 15 now it really worries me about her having something like that happen to her. Out here, I've also slept on the river once and you know I had a knife aimed up this way and a pepper spray around my head you know.”

She says other homeless have rescued her from attacks. But she fears she won’t be able to stay at the Prayer House too long, as usually, she’s been told, it’s only for a short time you are allowed to stay. You have to be in before five p.m., and out and about the rest of the day, which she says complicates her logistics with her daughter and finding work hours.

Jody says he phone was doused and damaged by someone else staying at the Prayer House, adding a new complication to her daily struggles. Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

Dealing with Social Services, Fights and Pimps

Jody was hoping to get back to school, but says she missed registration. She says she plays music, but recently had her guitar stolen. She used to work warehouse jobs for $14 an hour, but with Prayer House required hours and not having a place to store her belongings during the day, she’s had a hard time figuring out her new logistics.

Often she says people who are homeless get blamed for everything bad that happens on the streets.

“A lot of times you get people fighting, yelling. And some want to fight each other. You know it's just hard for the regular people that are homeless to deal with that and we get mixed into that crowd. They want to corner you here into having a problem. If you go into social services they will corner you literally into what they think your problem is so they can get you in somewhere. And if you don't have a problem, they are like aaargh... Because they have tons of resources for drug addicts, tons of resources or places to go for kids with moms or dads that have drug problems. Their kids can get taken care of in a nanosecond. There's are some people that just go to drugs just because they know there's more resources.”

Because of her situation, she says she’s been approached to be a prostitute.

“I've been accosted by people that want to be my pimp. And are chasing me asking me for my name and I'm like I decline to answer and then they follow me for a block or two calling me names because I won't tell them my name. There are people out here that they see a homeless woman who looks semi decent and they wanna take them in and destroy them you know. So I'm trying to stay away from all that stuff. You know because I don't need that and my daughter doesn't need that.”

“It's like day to day you don't know what the end of the day is going to be. Anything could happen. And that's the scary part,” Jody said of being out on the streets. Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

A Chicken and Egg Situation

Jody says she can’t figure out how to get her life back on track now without a room to get sorted, and be able to get ready to go look for a job again.

”If even somebody had a house with a bedroom…. I would have rent in a week. That's my situation. I've got food stamps coming tomorrow, so I have that, but I just don't have the income…I just need a room for my daughter and I. That's all I need. Just a stable place where I can say she's going to school. Everyday we have a routine, she's safe and going to school, I can go to work and then help myself out of the situation.”

She says she used to look down on the homeless but not anymore.

“When I was in my 20s, I used to mock the homeless people all the time. And that's because you're in your 20s, you don't know any better, right? But I grew and my view changed for the homeless people … Because you start realizing that you know sometimes you are meeting people on the streets and they're shaking your hand and being polite to you and they're homeless … “

She says she used to cook for people in dire situations and that now she is in a situation where she is the one in need of assistance.

She concludes our interview by saying she is dismayed by the affordable housing crisis.

“With the amount of low income people that we have here why they keep jacking up the rent is beyond me. It's just a bunch of greedy people and a lot of these people already have money. People are just greedy, greedy, greedy …. Walk along this river, go back and donate some money. I hate to say it but money is what we need out here.”

Reporting by Prince Nesta and Photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Kyle, an Eye on Government Evil and Keeping Friends Safe

When we met Kyle, originally from Fresno, in downtown Reno last week, he said he was on his way to Burning Man.  He's been homeless for most of the last decade. "I’m not going there to party or drink but to find people who are actually making a difference in this world," he said of why he wanted to go to Burning Man. Photo by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno. Reporting by Prince Nesta.

Choosing to Live Outside and Battling Alcoholism

Kyle says he first went to live in the forest with pot growers after breaking up with a girlfriend, who he had tried to save from alcohol addiction. He avoids homeless shelters, and prefers camping outside despite the many challenges such as cold weather, or the lack of security when living in a precarious state. 

"I even got stabbed in the face, one night, while walking down the streets in an alley. I was trying to save a girl from a known drug dealer who was on top of her. I'm an alcoholic. I tried to manage it through self-control but I’ve come a long way but it used to have control over me. I have tried other drugs such as LSD, mushrooms, DMT (Dimethyltryptamine, also a hallucinogenic drug.)  They actually helped me overcome my alcoholic issues. I actually think that weed, LSD and mushrooms helps you to expand your mind just like Steve Jobs said you should take LSD and I agree with that."

Kyle is against what he views as a war-driven tax system: "90% of our tax dollars, what they get spent on is decided by rich, evil men who love war and pollution and slavery and they use taxes as the foundation to pay for all their evil .... bombing and killing children in Syria, ...billions for nukes. Our Government is evil.  We have a tax slavery system, which they use the taxes to pay for killing and to get their profits from killing in Afghanistan and Iraq and then get oil and opium," he said. Photo by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno. Reporting by Prince Nesta.

Harsh Words Against the Government and the Mistreatment of Homeless

Whatever is said in speeches and political promises, Kyle says he looks at what is actually going on and doesn't believe government in general cares about people like him living on the streets.

"The government doesn't care about the homeless, they want to freaking genocide us," he said. "They only care about the rich. " 

He also doesn't like when people look down on those without stable housing.

"I think it's social hierarchical bullshit when people treat the homeless badly. It's just like the system in India where they have the caste system.... Some of the greatest minds come from the ghettos. It’s just shallow to determine people’s personal values by the money system and that’s just shallow."

Kyle who loves playing music by the river says he feels free around other homeless, and tries to help them out.  "I like to help them get over their addictions because that's the only thing that is really hampering them from their freedom," he said. He was hoping to take his Didgeridoo Tribal wind instrument to Burning Man when we met him. Photo by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno. Reporting by Prince Nesta.

A Last Message, In His Own Words

Kyle says he's seen homeless such as a doctor in Los Angeles who lost everything in a divorce but now helps other homeless deal with their ailments, and according to him that's a good street lesson.

"My last message to the people ... is average people walking down on the streets should not look down on homeless persons because they don't know their story. If they were to put themselves in their shoes, which no one ever does anymore, they will realize that they have very good reasons. Don't perceive your own personal values based on this .... system that evil men have created for their own benefits to profit from money and banking. Do you care about making money or getting out there to show some love?" he asked as we concluded our interview.

Photos by Jordan Blevins and reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

 

Another Night on Record Street

As the shabby dressed people shamble pass me at 5:00 a.m. to face another day on the streets at the coldest time of the day, almost to a person they thank me.  “Thank you, God bless you” they say to me as they leave the building where they have been sleeping on the bare floors or trying to sleep sitting in chairs.

This is a Sunday morning and the outside temperature is just below freezing.  I have been watching over these human beings since 1:00 a.m. in a building that is part of the Reno Homeless Shelter complex.  The building called the Resource Center seems to be mainly composed of classrooms some with computer stations for training. This area is being used as a last resort to try to get people out of the cold drizzling rain.  Why am I here? Because the Homeless Shelter is yet again unstaffed probably because of sick call-ins.

Temple Sinai was scheduled to provide the volunteers to man the emergency overflow tent setup in the back-parking lot of the Complex.  We usually have three volunteers, at the tent, from 8:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. and three volunteers taking over at 1:00 a.m. to after the final cleanup at approximately at 6:00 a.m.  Actually, four volunteers had arrived before 8:30 p.m. but two were asked to help with the fourth overflow for the third overflow for the second overflow shelter at the Record Street facility.  

The area identified as the Men’s Shelter, which serves as a coordinating center, was being manned by an untrained new person who had no idea what to do and was overwhelmed. One of our volunteers, who is a pre-med student at the University of Nevada, and has helped the Shelter often was trying to assist this person.

Our other volunteer started to man the overflow that was being housed in the Resource Center. As far as I could tell the complete complex was being manned by one security guard, a person at the Family Shelter that I assume were employees and our four volunteers. At 1:00 a.m. two more of our volunteers arrived. They took over responsibility for the overflow tent, one of the tent volunteers went home and I moved to the Resource Center and the two volunteers there went home.  They both had important commitments just in a few hours.

Was this situation unique?  I seriously doubt it, probably more the norm.  

Before I started volunteering to man the Overflow Homeless Shelter I would have thought that my emotional response would be a feeling of good service, a feeling of contributing.  But I find my emotional feeling is anger, anger of how this can happen here. But I also look around and see some of the young volunteers, the young pre-med student who is spreading the word about free medical clinics, the young lady, mother of three children, taking 24 credit hours a semester so she can become a social worker and try to make a difference.

How did we get here as a nation?  This situation isn’t new. It’s been going on for hundreds of years.  Is this just a part of life, a part of evolution, survival of the fittest, survival of the most cunning, or survival of the unscrupulous? What we are left with are the results of neglect, indifference, shame, and our self-inflicted ignorance!

I often hear “But for the Grace of God go I” as people encounter the Homeless, the families sleeping out on the streets and I think do they give that anymore thought than “God bless” after someone sneezes?  I don’t think I did.

We are in a rapidly evolving world except for the Homeless. Some now have smart phones but they are dressed in unwashed, unclean clothing, ragged coats, hats, and gloves if they are lucky.  Many have day jobs but can’t afford to find even minimal shelter, a flea-bag motel, a shared room, some try to stay in small camps along the river or out in the desert.

Often the police will raid these encampments and burn or destroy their few precious belongings.  Do the authorities who order these raids actually go on these encounters and watch? What can be going through their minds, do they feel that is their duty? Under other circumstances would these raids be criminal?

Early in this same evening, manning the overflow tent my friend and I watched an older man probably in his sixties or seventies (hard to tell under these circumstances) try to walk across the pavement (tent floor) with his son trying to help.  The tent was already at overcapacity but we still had two thin mats and one clean blanket.

The son helped the older man over to one of the mats and tried to help him sit. The man’s legs were so stiff and in so much pain that it took the son about ten or fifteen minutes to get his father into a sitting position on that mat.  The son then started to gather two other blankets that were already thrown in the “to be cleaned” bins.

I approached him and told he was not to use those blankets because they needed to be cleaned first. He mumbled a few words to me that I couldn’t understand but he was polite and determined so I stood back and let him gather the two blankets he felt he needed.  He then spent the next almost half hour arranging the two remaining mats on top of each other and padding and stacking the blankets to give his father a more comfortable sleeping space. The son then pulled a deserted patio chair close to his father, wrapped himself in a discarded blanket and went to sleep.

“Thank you, God Bless You”

Photos, Audio and Text by Steven Weidman shared with Our Town Reno

Daniel Fred, an Addiction Treatment Instructor with First Hand Knowledge

How long have you worked at the university?

I have taught since 2010, and then I have been here as full-time faculty since 2011. I took a six-month hiatus where I didn’t work at the university in 2016. When I left for six months I did recovery advocacy work. I left because I got offered a lot more money and I thought money would make me happier. It was good for me because I missed teaching and realized money isn’t good if you aren’t happy. Coming back to campus refocused me on my teaching and not necessarily on the extra stuff I was doing within recovery.

What classes do you teach?

I mainly teach the intro to the Addiction Treatment Services minor (From the UNR website: The minor, available to all students, is particularly designed for those who are majoring in a health or social service field and are interested in the addiction treatment field as a supplement to their major.) It’s the intro to Substance Abuse Disorders and then every now and then I will teach another class if it pops up but nothing consistent.

A screengrab from the UNR website and its Addiction Treatment center.

What are some of the things you talk about in your classes?

Well, they are about addiction. Some of the cool things I get to do is going to fraternities and sororities and talk about alcohol and drugs. My number one goal is to teach students to question themselves. If you never question yourself then that is how you end up in places that you don’t want to end up in. For me, as someone who is in recovery and as someone who went through my active addiction on campus, I just dismissed it because I just thought it was sort of college. I dismissed it and everyone else did too because it was just part of the college experience.

I think for me it is teaching students to question why they are using and how would you know if the drugs or the use was taken more of you than you are willing to give it. It is such a gradual thing and it almost is too late once you realize and you are going to have to put in work. I see students all the tie who are struggling with stuff. I have students right now that can’t go more than a couple of days without using oxy and who are actively trying to give it up but not necessarily willing to do what it takes to get there because of the stigma. The most important thing is knowing you have a problem and then finding out what you need to do to get help. The stigma prevents a lot of people from getting the help they need.

The legalization of recreational marijuana in Reno has led to more types and more potent weed to be more widely available.  Some students start smoking too much and lose some of their focus for classes. Photo by Kody Kitchener shared with Reynolds Sandbox

What led you to seek a career in teaching about substance abuse?

Nothing led me, actually it just happened. I was a graduate student in my first addiction class, and a professor here asked if I ever thought about teaching, and I was like 'nope.' I don’t like talking to people in public or public speaking or any of that stuff. She told me I should try it and I did a TA position, and then I taught my own class and fell in love with it. None of what I’m doing did I ever plan or go after. It kind of just happened. My focus then narrows as I try other stuff.

What kind of campaigns do you run at the University of Nevada, Reno?

Not really campaigns. Our theme is consent-positive and to be a good bystander. We do a different presentation theme every year. This year we did Mindful AF, which is talking about being mindful and fabulous. Talking about how consent is like mindfulness and being present when drinking, being mindful about your drinking and being a mindful bystander.

"My perspective is that I am not an anti-drug person, I am definitely a decriminalization person and I am also a pro questioning why you are using not just doing it because all of your friends are doing it. I think the reason we have problems isn’t that we have no education, but we have the wrong education in college. Students are never taught to question why they are doing it and what they are doing it for," Fred said when asked about his perception of drugs in general.

What do you think about the drug culture with students at UNR?

It is interesting because I found that every college is about the same, (even though) every university thinks they are the party university. All the drugs are the same and they are mostly all experimental, so tons of alcohol use and tons of marijuana use. Even in Colorado, the issues are the same issues that are happening in other schools. I think all the trends are all the same between schools. If you look at the binge drinking average we are right in line with the national average. There are differences between community colleges and the more rural areas.

What are the new trends that you’ve noticed?

I think we are shifting more back to Adderall, coke, and Molly which are more like stimulants. I would also say hallucinogens are popping back up. Cocktail parties are also a thing that is more and more popular, especially in high school. It went away for a while because people were more cautious about taking things they weren’t sure what they were, but now these parties are back on the rise.

I think for me, I don’t think there are many new drugs, I think there are new variations of drugs, like fentanyl which is fairly new, but it is just a more potent form of an opioid. There has been a shift of uppers and downers between every decade, like in the 80’s it was coke and then in the 90s, it was crack and so on. Recently it has been Adderall and coke that are on the rise again.

The drugs nowadays are also so much potent than it used to be. The fact that weed is now legal for recreational use it is almost the same as the Adderall problem because students see no negative with it, which is what sucks about addiction because you don’t realize you have a problem until you’ve lost too much. Most students don’t even think of weed as a drug anymore even though it has the same potential as some of these other drugs to lead to negative consequences. It also has the addictive potential the only real difference is that you can’t overdose on it. I think that trend has been made ever more safe so I think that more people are going to start using it and they are going to start using it at a higher dose than what average people were doing before it was legalized. I think the trend is not to talk about the education but talk about the negative consequences, which does not work.

"Anytime the word legal is put on something it is automatically assumed that it is safe. The reason that we have such massive problems with alcohol and tobacco is not because of how terrible they are but because we think they are safe. This leads to more people using them. There is a direct correlation between the first time you do drugs and if someone is addicted. People get confused when we talk about if drugs are good or bad, but drugs aren’t necessarily the problem .... it is our view and our use on them. I think the view of weed being safe is what makes it dangerous still because more people are using it at a younger age. We just can’t see overdose because it does not affect that part of your brain. People assume that it is safer than alcohol and cigarettes, but I think within 10 years we will start seeing the negative consequences that go with weed," Fred said. Photo by Kody Kitchener shared with Our Town Reno

What are some of the other thing you can touch on relating to students and drugs and in particular students at UNR and drugs?

There are a couple of things. We always want to advise on how to fix the problem, but that depends on the individual and their support and what they need. Would treatment work? Would programming work? Would AA work? I think there are so many different options. I think the most important thing is really learning to believe to separate yourself from your addiction and that your addiction is not you and to separate from the shame that comes with it. Telling yourself, you can do it or be instilling hope that life gets better because it does. I have met, I don’t how many people who are sober and people who have given up fantastic careers to get sober. I have never met anyone who has gotten sober that says 'I wish I never got sober.' It’s a scary thing, but everyone I have met has made their lives infinitely better.

How can you tell if a student needs help?

I tell students I am always open and I am not gonna judge you when it comes to drugs and alcohol and stuff. I just tell them I am always free and they can always reach out to me. I get a lot of students who reach out who are like 'hey man I might have an issue with this' or 'I am worried about a friend.' I think its hard because the classes I teach have a ton of students so it’s hard for me to know who is there and who isn’t. I can barely know all my students names. It is hard because when you are busy with school, sports, or even Greek Life it is normal to pass out in class. I have to rely on reaching out and for my classes, you have to give up something for nine weeks and a lot of the students choose a substance so it comes out then.

"One of the problems I have noticed is that students don’t want to say anything because they aren’t sure if it is a problem or if they are making it up and I try to tell them it is okay to be wrong. It doesn’t have to be a problem but if you don’t say anything then who is going to let you know. All you gotta do is say something. If you are concerned about someone I think the students need to empower students so they can be like 'hey I am worried about you' and try to help their peers. I think we need to train students to be active bystanders," Fred said of if you think a roommate might have a problem with drugs.

Finally, do you have any tips on how to help students who might be addicted?

I think it is always just reaching out and encourage other students to use the services that are provided to them. We have an LADC (Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor) on campus that people don’t know about because she is in student conduct,  but you don’t have to go through student conduct to talk to her. She is a part of the counseling services, but students don’t know she exists. She can do free assessments, which usually cost a lot of money and students usually have to have insurance for. We have really good groups between like counselors and nutritionists that you have to pay a lot of money for and students have them for free. It is (also) important to remain the compassionate friend who is like 'I am saying this because I care about you and I am here if you need me.' If students know their friends care they will eventually be able to hear it.

Interview by Kody Kitchener and Madison Cleveland shared with Our Town Reno

Manuel, A Simple Man, Broken Down by Divorce and Drinking

Missing his Wife and Son

I was working a lot, and not paying attention to my family and my wife decided to move on.  She divorced me. One of my worst moments in my life was when my wife left me. It still hurts. She moved on, but I didn’t.  If I could speak to her, I would tell her, 'I miss you and I'm sorry.' 

I’ve got to go to court because I got sued for child support . My son is 12. The last time I saw him was about a month ago.

I know he loves me and I love him. I just don't know what's going to happen. He's upset with me. We used to go to Disneyland and Six Flags, and we don't do that anymore. I regret not being there for my family before, being more interested in my job than in my family.

I tell him things are going to be ok. I’m going to get better. I tell him to stay in school and do your best. 

"I used to be a contractor, a tile setter and stone mason. I was making up to sixty dollars an hour but now I’m taking a break. I'm trying to get back on my feet. I got to get my head together. I want to go back to work and see my son again. I've been drinking just to forget about those good times I used to have. It's hard. Life has many turns. I don't think it's unfair but it has plenty of turns," Manuel said.  Photo and Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Empathy for the Homeless and for Himself

When I’m out here I see a lot of homeless, and I don’t feel good about that because it seems like people here want to get rid of the homeless, they want to push them out of Reno.  They seem to want the homeless out of here, gone. But they need more help. They need more mental health services. Because some aren't right in the head and they're not being helped.

I was sober for 15 years. When I got divorced, I started drinking again, moved out of my house, and started living at my mom's house again. My mom is sad, very sad. My dad is very mad. But what can you do when stuff falls on you and you can't do anything? I went back to drinking, lost this, lost that. What do you want me to do? What can you do?

As told to Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno