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“I was in the woods about 2.5 years, and I had a place down here behind American Family Fitness. I built a big tent that had a big old tarp and we had tents inside of it and we kept it all warm with kerosene heaters. Winter time made it hard because of the mud and all that stuff. I had to make a tent over our tents to keep mother nature off of us because the tents are very thin and the wind will blow right through them. I took a 30×60 tarp and made a building out of it. I woke up one morning and it was snowing…I had to crawl out of bed because the tent was on the floor. We wouldn’t have made it out last year if it weren’t for my sister. She came out to stay with us and she bought all the kerosene with her disability money and I bought all the food with my stamps. My brother’s homeless too, he ain’t got a job and he can’t get a job.”

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“I have some good and some bad memories from my childhood. I prefer the memories that are good. I grew up in Prince William/Stafford. When I was 14, my father died and I was in a foster home for 6 months. I’m still close to my foster father- my foster mother passed away a few years ago. I always call them grandma and grandad. I became homeless when I couldn’t work no more. I can barely walk and I gotta use a stick to get around. I got degenerative disc and narrowing of the spine…I don’t really know what it means. The only thing I know is I can barely walk because of it. I’m hoping that I will get my disability here soon. I originally hurt my back when I was 24. I hurt it roofing, and then I hurt it again when I was a sheet metal mechanic. I couldn’t do that work because I couldn’t carry the tool pouch.”

 

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“Hopefully my grandkids will remember me as a loving grandfather. I have 2 kids and 5 grandkids. I got one grandkid I haven’t seen yet because she was just born in February. I enjoy my grandchildren. 2 of my grandchildren were born 5 days apart- they’re my oldest and will be 4 in July. My one grandchild, she just takes off running and she’s got short legs and the way she runs just tickles the crap out of me. I gotta laugh at her! And then the baby…she comes over here and she’ll crawl up on my lap and just sit there with me. I’ve never heard her cry unless she’s wanting something or someone’s done something to her. But she had problems when she was born and she had to go to the childrens’ hospital in D.C. But she’s okay now. The last one who was just born, she’s all fine. So that’s a really good thing.”