Until my recent trip to Anchorage, Alaska, I had never heard the term “Chronic Public Inebriate,” yet in Alaska the word “inebriate” is spoken everywhere. It is so grafted in Anchorage’s culture that even the homeless call themselves inebriates. At first it bothered me, but I soon learned that Anchorage’s homeless problem is very complex, caused by severe alcohol addictions.

I met Kim while he was panhandling on the side of the road. His wife had gone up the street for a cup of coffee. Although to an Alaskan this last week was a bit of a heat wave, I still had a hard time holding the camera without gloves because it was so cold. Probably around 35 degrees!

Kim started drinking when he was nine years old, and he’ll be fifty-two this May. Alcoholism is a horrible disease. Looking in from the outside, people think that drinking is a choice. But at some point along the way, alcohol completely takes over and the choice is gone. Alcoholics need booze just like we all need air, making it nearly impossible to stop. Add to that the dehumanizing experience of living without permanent shelter and people will drink until they die, which is what’s happening in Alaska.

Kim is very knowledgeable about laws that local city governments are trying to pass to solve this crisis. No matter what laws are passed, people addicted to alcohol will find a way to get it. Kim talks about his friends drinking Listerine when they cannot get served. One of his friends was the first homeless inebriate found dead last year. The man’s body was found with an empty bottle of Listerine next to it.

I wish I had answers for Kim and the people of Alaska. Please watch this video and share it with everyone you know. People are dying, and we must find a solution.

Special thanks to Hertz

I met Michael on the streets of Denver, playing his guitar. After being a personal nurse for someone who kicked him out, he returned to the streets he’d been on for 20 years before.

Michael never panhandles; instead he plays his acoustic guitar on the streets. If you listen to him, it’s not hard to imagine how he makes enough money to get by. But recently, the Denver police have been cracking down on ordinances that ban him from playing music between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., despite being quieter than the loud buses and bars around him.

It’s hard to see how such talented people (like Rico from last week) can end up in such tough circumstances. How many people with hope and talent do we pass each day, dismissing them because they have nowhere to call home?

***Michael sang his three wishes making this one of my all time favorites

Shawn moved to Colorado to be with someone, but then they broke up. As of March 2007, he was still working some, but also living in a shelter. He was frustrated at the way the shelter was treating the homeless of Boulder.

Shawn had plenty of wisdom to share and some challenges to the shelters in Boulder:

“You want to create an atmosphere where people feel good about themselves…when you accomplish something, it makes you feel good inside. Most of us are trying to do the best we can. We made bad choices…but no one chooses to be homeless.”

There are times he wants to sit down and give up, but he’s got possible job options ahead of him. I hope he chooses not to give up when he feels like it’s too hard and can help others choose the same.

Near the end Shawn shares some interesting points about poverty and homelessness. What do you think?

I first met Rico at the Glendale Winter Shelter, drawn to his large canvas of bright colors. We’ve had some rainy weather in Los Angeles this winter, and the National Guard allowed us to keep the armory open during the day. Rico didn’t mind the rain; it excited him because he could work on his art.

There is no way to paint a bright colorful picture of homelessness. But there is something incredible about the spirit of a person who has vision that can conquer any challenge. Rico‘s life is not easy. He’s lived on the streets for two of three months since moving to Los Angeles.

You could consider Rico lucky because he has a talent that might soon deliver him out of a horrible situation. Thing is, though, I’ve seen many talented people give up on the streets. The difference? Rico is a fighter. The creativity is not just what he puts on the canvas but what he puts in his heart to make it through another day.

Public radio reporter Rob Schmitz followed me the day I interviewed Rico. Below is the InvisiblePeople.tv story

Boston has been on the street for 15 years. He has mental health issues, and he consistently fights with depression and addiction. As a child, he lost both of his parents–his mother to murder. From there, it was to his grandparents, an alcoholic and dysfunctional household.

He left there for the streets, and in his own words, he met a lot of good people with a lot of bad habits. With no alarm clock and no ability to shower, a job was hard to come by.

He was most grateful for clean socks. Thanks to Hanes, I was able to give him fresh socks, the one physical thing he was in most dire need of.

Boston sees a light at the end of the tunnel, and he sees a future for himself and his family. He was a true encouragement. His three wishes were only to help those around him. And he’s fine with being on the streets if that’s where he needs to be to help and bless others.

The truth that’s often lost is mental health issues could happen to any of us, or any of the ones we love. But we often view them and the homeless who experience them as beneath us.

Here’s to hoping Boston keeps moving towards health and success

Brian has been without a home for the last 39-years. A Vietnam-era veteran who has recently discovered he is HIV-positive, he feels like he is still trying to find his way through life.

Now, he is experiencing homelessness and recovering from heroin addiction in Des Moines, Iowa, and he laments being 54-years old and trying to reassemble his life. He longs to go back to school and write self-help books.

Given three wishes, Brian would ask for a good life, peace in the world, and that the woman he loves wouldn’t drink so much and become angry with him.

It’s encouraging to meet a man with hopes stacked so high. At the same time, it’s disheartening to wonder if adversity is stacked just a little bit higher.

Gypsy is homeless on Iowa. The hardest part for her? Her children have been sleeping at a friend’s house for the past two months.

She gets to see her children during the day, but she wishes there were more to do. They can only stay in the public parks and attend free feedings. Some days, they misses these meals, and her children end up going without food.

Children should never have to suffer through homelessness.

Asked about her three wishes, she wishes for her children to be successful in their lives and for the people she’s met on the streets to do something positive with their life. After these two wishes for others, she can’t even think of a third.

Soon, Gypsy and her children will return to her home of Arizona thanks to the generosity of a church buying bus tickets.

Jody lives in her car, while her 19-year-old son Phillip lives in a shelter in St. Paul, Minnesota. After being unfairly evicted from her apartment, she sold all she had to buy a car to live in.

As I was giving out socks, Phillip approached me. His shoes have holes all the way through, so he is unable keep his socks from wearing out. That’s how I entered into my conversation with these two. Thanks to Hanes I was able to help with much-needed socks

Their three wishes are simple—an apartment, a job, and car repairs.

We don’t often consider that the face of homelessness starts young. I hope to meet Phillip again one day with a story of success and victory rather than perpetual homelessness.

I saw Pearl sleeping in front of a shelter in St. Paul, Minnesota.

She lives in fear of those she lives among. She laments those among the homeless that are strange, scary, and cold-hearted. It’s not all of them, and she knows some are “really kind.”

She spends her days on the lawn in front of the shelter, as she’s not prone to wandering the streets. With pain and trouble, she calls the shelter in St. Paul her home—unable to meet the income requirement for a case manager.

A truly warm and kind heart, Pearl isn’t what many of us expect when we try to put a face to homelessness.

I love interesting people. In Washington, DC I observed ‘Nature Boy’ walking down the street. He was such a contrast to the neighborhood I had to find him. As luck would have it we met at a park across the street from the White House. While driving the Embarcadero in San Francisco I got a glimpse of a man trying to leverage his wheelchair to dig deeper into a trash can. The next day I went back purposely to find Dale. For maybe a year now I would pass by ‘Bird Man’ regretting I didn’t have my camera on me. The times I drove to his Echo Park location off the 101 with my camera he was never there. Today that changed.

Ninja as he likes to be called has been on the streets for 20 years. He says the birds are attracted to him because he has a heart full of love. The very sad part is I often see him sleeping on the cold concrete under the freeway overpass.

I can very much relate to ‘Bird Man’. When I was homeless my pet iguana D.O.G provided me with a gimmick to increase panhandling revenue.

When I asked Ninja for his three wishes without hesitation he responded “health, wealth and wisdom”