I spent the day with a homeless family here in Seattle, yet it felt like spending the day with a normal family. The big difference was at the end of the day Carey and her daughter Maggie drove their van to a park to sleep for the night.
I first met Carey Fuller through I post she wrote on change.org, "What It's Like To Be A Homeless Mother". She blogged anonymously so I had to beg the editor to connect us. From that point on, I have been so very impressed by Carey. I have done everything I can to help her and will continue to do so.
Yesterday, I met Carey and her daughter at a yard sale they were holding. On weekends she tries to make a little money by selling either old stuff she had in storage or new stuff she finds. Carey is very resourceful. When she needed money to repair the van they live in, she published a Kindle version of a book she wrote on Amazon.com, Writings From The Driver's Side.
Carey wants to start chronicling homeless life on video. I was bringing her cameras, but they were stolen at my first stop when my car was broken into. I am all about empowering homeless people so that did not stop me. I just took Carey to Best Buy and let her pick out a camera that would fit her needs.
In the afternoon, Maggie, Carey's youngest daughter (oldest daughter was at camp), wanted to go swimming. We drove to a local park and Maggie jumped right into playing in the sand with other kids. No one would ever notice this family lived in a van, unless we told them.
This is the first time I have spent the day with a homeless family. As a case manager in Los Angeles, I spend lots of hours with families experiencing homelessness, but never like this. I had mixed emotions all day. Part of me was overjoyed seeing Carey and her daughter as a normal family, and part of me was dreading what I know was going to happen next.
Thanks to Murphy USA, I was able to fill Carey's van up with gas. I then followed them to the area where they feel safe enough to park for the night. Once we got on the freeway, I almost broke down. Knowing this loving family I spent the day with had to sleep in a run-down van messed me up. We pulled into the RV parking area and I was fighting back the tears. Maggie ran up to me with a happy, excited smile saying "this is where we sleep." Carey then started to talk about the rabbits. Blew me away because I was more messed up about them sleeping here than they were.
But that is because Carey is an amazing woman doing the best she can to raise a family while experiencing homelessness. I know deep down it must hurt, but Carey is not going to show it to her children. She is going to be the best mom possible while they survive this challenge -- together!
Carey manages the We Are Visible Facebook Community and the InvisiblePeople.tv Facebook Page along with the Twitter feeds @WeAreVisible and @InvisiblePeople. But right now, because they are back in the van, she has very limited internet access.
You can also find Carey on her own blog CareyFuller.com and her twitter feed @CareyFuller .
Yesterday was a very good day. People on Twitter rallied so I was able to give $320. Today I am going to meet up with Carey again and try and get her a better phone that also saves money.
I am going to end this with my one wish. More than any other homeless family I have met, I wish I could help Carey find a place to live. I feel so powerless. I send her what money I can and I have also helped her find job leads. I have asked all the homeless service connections I know in the area to help -- none can! I practically beg media to come do her story. Sometimes it works, but the exposure is still not enough. If you are a documentary production crew or news media, please come follow Carey for a few days. The story of a homeless mother raising two children while living in a van needs to be told better than I can. What I experienced yesterday has changed me. Carey's story is powerful and I strongly believe this is the story the world needs to hear and see.
If you live in the Pacific Northwest and can help please contact me or Carey directly. Let's get this family the support they need. Let's get this family into housing.
Follow Mark Horvath on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hardlynormal
National Center on Family Homelessness
Local News | The fastest-growing group among local homeless ...
If you want to make a more powerful statement about America's decline, take a white person, male or female -- say a marketing manager -- who had a middle-class career, a middle-class lifestyle, and lost it all in a corporate layoff at the age of 50. Show how that person never did live extravagantly nor beyond their means. Show how they followed every rule they were ever told to follow. Show how that person will never again find a job like they had. Show how, from now until social security, all they will find are temporary, part-time jobs at big-box retail or fast-food.
Then you will have a case that everyone can get behind. Other white people will think, damn, if that happened to them, it could happen to me. And people of color will think, damn, if that happens to white people, with all their privileges, how screwed are we people of color going to be if we don't push back?
As far as getting on the front page of Huff, that is up to the editors. I am powerless over their decisions. I do bring good stories to their attention, but that's as much as as I have. I got a good idea who this is even though you don't list your real name. You aggressively came after Carey and then me about getting on the front page of Huff. I am sorry that what we told you didn't satisfy you, but we told you the truth.
I only had one car which I sold. I am driving a loaned car for this road trip. I did give up my apartment for a few reasons. One of which is there was not enough money this year for me to make a road trip to help homeless people and affect real, positive change. There still isn't enough. The other is I hated where I lived and it was time to make a move. Third, I needed freedom. So many great opportunities come up to help organizations fight homelessness I felt trapped. Now I can travel and help people.
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Why was a petitioning people to help Carey? First, if you were following I asked people to donate and I would pass every cent over to her. $320 was donated and $320 was given to Carey. After I met her older daughter and spent a day with Carey and her youngest I wanted to do more. Oldest daughter is sixteen. Three year-old kids have cell phones these days. There was also a situation while i was there that prompted me to get a cell phone for her daughter. It was a decision made for security and safety of the family.
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With you and yours, the world will become the 50s diner you remember it to be...
The presence of technology in her van does not surprise me; this is a technological age, it is very cheap, and it's everywhere. I don't see that as a good foundation to base a judgment on. Nor do we know for certain that the father is a deadbeat. Maybe he died? Government assistance programs are very hard to qualify for and a lot of well-deserving people get squeezed out. There are thousands, tens of thousands, of families in this situation. You should come see the families where I live! California is economically depressed. Many are lucky to have a car to sleep in.
Is it appropriate to say here why I can relate? Because I am also "houseless." I'm blessed with a vehicle to sleep in, and a friend's back yard to park at, and while I don't have children, I do have animals, because I am helping other people who are worse off than I, who can't enter shelters or other facilities with their furry family members. I help them and they help me. And thanks to the same friend whose back yard I occupy, I have wi-fi in my vehicle. :) operationfuzzymice.blogspot.com
God bless this family and anyone who steps in to help them or any other houseless family. It's a group which really does need a lot more coverage.
Also, she seems well connected to libs in the media, clearly, if you REALLY wanted to, I am certain you could easily pull a few thousands together to help her. All that money you plan on giving to Obama in 2012, here's a better person to give it to ya think?
FYI: The owner of this website is a millionaire....just in case you're unaware!
Here's another take on the same story.