When I was 18 years old, I wasn't ready for life. Still, the foster care system couldn't hold me anymore, and I went out halfway across the country, neither financially nor emotionally prepared for the journey. Due to my lack of preparation, my car ran out of gas several hundred miles short of my destination of Colorado Springs, Colorado. I was able to hitchhike into town in fairly short order, and, after calling a few churches, was given directions to the local homeless shelter.

Through the next two weeks, I found out much about homelessness in America. There are, of course, a number who don't live in the shelter, but under bridges, culverts, and the like (while in Las Vegas, I often wondered how many unreported homeless people died in the flash flooding that follows the desert rains). These individuals are very solitary, and shouldn't be approached. Their solitary nature comes partly from mental illness, but partly from life experiences (One of the most horrific tales I heard about the homeless who live on the street was about wealthy kids who liked to "roll" bums for sport).

The first place I was directed was to the social services office to apply for food stamps. For the homeless person, food stamps are not for food (outside the occasional soda and chipd from the 7-11); that can be easily obtained at the soup kitchens and the homeless shelter. Food stamps are a marketable commodity, and there are always willing buyers. But when you have nothing, anything extra is welcome, and in the case of food stamps, they could often provide bus fare (back in those days, they still had paper food stamps; spend as little over the even dollar amount as you could and receive the remainder in change).  I discovered the soup kitchens, which are as full of passing hikers and students as they are of homeless people, and are one of the best places to people watch that you can find.

But the most important thing I discovered about homelessness is how hard it is to get out of the trap of homelessness. I would routinely get job interviews to be turned down because "we don't hire anyone from the shelter". When you're 18, without credit, and with a homeless background, a safe, secure apartment is all but impossible to find (this was before I discovered that living in the university district is the most affordable way for a poor young person to survive in America). Every day, holding your hand out for spare change looks better and better; I have often wondered how many homeless were "reduced" to such choices after trying everything else.

Sad to say, but my "way out" of homelessness was the fact that I committed a crime and was incarcerated. I had the rare fortune of encountering a wise judge who sentenced me to work release, which gave me an opportunity to save money and earn enough (as well as gain job references) to get an apartment once my time was served.

The reason I was able to obtain a job was because of a program geared for work release inmates through the county. The program focused on job skills, interviewing skills, and covered the key basics of obtaining and holding a job (showing up on time and sober, for instance). Without that program, and without the wisdom of a judge's decision, I might never have made it out of the trap of homelessness. I have often wondered how many others are where I once was.