I was at Franklin’s Women’s shelter. They assess you. They don’t help you with housing. I was transferred to Susan’s Place in the Bronx. This is considered my permanent shelter and helps me find housing.

I was born in Pontiac, Michigan. My mom and dad are still in Michigan, still married. I have 3 sisters and 4 brothers, all in Michigan. I am the 5th of 8 children.

My mother was a home-maker, my father a construction worker. I liked my mom being in the house. Even though we were considered below poverty level I never thought we were poor. We were rich because my mom always had the house nice and clean, with a hot cooked meal when I came home from school.

I finished high school then went to Oakland Community College, to study Spanish. I didn’t finish. I lost interest. I wanted to explore the world. I went into the Peace Corps; volunteered in Guatemala for 1 ½ years. That was wonderful. That was like the best experience of my life. I met so many friends. I grew up sheltered; my mom kept us really tight knit. When I went to Peace Corps I felt wonderful. I was a 4-H promoter, teaching nutrition and health to pregnant women. 4-H is Head, Hands, Health, and Heart. We also raised farm animals, like chickens. Then I moved back to Michigan. I did some working as a nurse’s assistant. The town Pontiac is a boring town. If you don’t work for GM you don’t have much to do. I moved to Arizona to work for AmeriCorps Vista. I didn’t stay for the whole year because I got really sick. I came back.

I was over 400 lbs. My parents thought I was going to die. I didn’t want to have gastric bypass surgery. I googled everything I could about obesity. This research study came up at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. They put me on a liquid diet for 9 months. I lived on the campus, in my own room. I had nurses come see about me round the clock. They did a lot of testing. I had to exercise. It was rigorous. It was the hardest thing I ever done in my life. I thought being in the corps, in a 3rd world country would be hard; it was a piece of cake compared to this research. Thank god I made it through. I lost over a 100 lb; I went down to 270 lbs.

During this program research I got accepted to City College in NY City, in 2005. During the day we had free time so I would take classes. I liked acting, that’s why I don’t mind my picture taken. And Spanish. I love Shakespeare. I had a role as Viola in Twelfth Night.

Right now I am trying to get out of the shelter system. I have been accepted for level 2 housing so I call different organizations that help with housing to set up interviews. I’m trying to get a section 8 voucher (for subsidized housing). I went to Fordham Plaza yesterday but they told me Section 8 was closed to me. I am not a priority; I’m single and have no children. I have my packet now to get job training in Project Renewal’s culinary arts training program. I can’t cook but I want to learn. I can cook some things. I do comfort foods best. I am pretty good at Macaroni and cheese, chicken, things like that. I can’t cook fancy foods.

I want to go back to school and become a writer, a playwright. To see people acting roles that I have written would be awesome.

Living in the shelter is hard. You have people with different personalities, backgrounds, illnesses. You don’t know what kind of day they are having. Sometimes the littlest thing can set them off. So you have to be careful how you approach people. It’s like walking on glass. You can say ‘good morning’ to someone and if they are not having a good day, it could be the wrong thing you said. Susan’s place is one of the best shelters I have been in. It’s clean. The dormitories are beautiful. There are 20 women in a room but you have your own cubicle with real twin size beds, not cots, and nice cabinets to put your things in.
I find my strength from our savior Jesus Christ. He gives me the strength daily. I can’t do anything without him. I go on by the strength that he gives me. I couldn’t live in a shelter without this. It is not an easy life.