Cookie came to San Diego when she was six years old, from Mississippi. She and her siblings had a quiet life for the most. Her mother did janitorial work at San Diego State University, several theaters and large office buildings around the city.

Cookie, now 48, went to Pacific Coast College to study office management and home health care, one of her proudest personal achievements.

Then she had three children; putting her career on hold. As a single parent, it was hard to juggle managing children and earning a living. Her kids found their way into quick money on the street. And while she kept up her part time work at department stores and doing in-home health care, she spent more and more time on the street herself, just to be near her boys.

“It’s too easy to slip into street life when all your friends and the people you hang out with are living here,” she said. “It’s easy to drink and do drugs if everyone is doing it. People get lazy. You need a substitute if you want to get off the drugs and alcohol.”

Cookie is the nurturing type. When not caring for people, she adopts pets. She dog-sits for friends who are in prison for a few months. She has two puppies three month old puppies, Tifu and Nyla, and dotes on them, making sure they get good pet food, not discarded people food. She’s waiting for the next street clinic for pet owners so she can get them their shots.

It’s been six months since Cookie had her last in-home health care job. That’s how long she’s been on the streets downtown. “My bones are getting tired of sleeping on concrete,” she said. “It’s getting on time to go inside” to one of the shelters. Just not one that’s too far away from her friends and family on the street.