Marvin C.

Marvin grew up in Baltimore in a Christian household with a loving family. His mother was a nurse, his father a forklift driver: “a working class family” as he put it. “It was a loving, nurturing, pretty basic upbringing,” he said. And even though he flourished in the Baltimore community, when his aunt moved to California, everyone else seemed to follow.

“I’d never been outside of Maryland, so, California sounded really really fantastic,” he laughed. “I don’t know if I could take the four seasons again.”

Marvin moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and finished his last year of high school at Hamilton High School, graduating with one of his cousins. After that he earned a degree as a Medical Assistant and worked at “now I think they call them skilled nursing facilities.”

Somewhere along the line he got involved in substance abuse and life became unmanageable, he admits. “I ended up in the streets cuz I had substance abuse issues. Substance abuse, man, it’s awful.” He has been getting help through a 12-step recovery program based on Christian principles, one that offers different scripture for each of the steps.


Working his way down the coast to San Diego, through word of mouth, he was directed to the First Lutheran Church downtown for a good meal and camaraderie. “I’ve been coming here for over a year now. I love the spirit here, the camaraderie, such loving, caring people. I love the environment here.” He has even more praise for the food. “The food is just excellent. I mean for free?! You can’t beat it. It’s excellent… You know they’re really a blessing, and I thank them because man, they’re really a life line.”

He hasn’t taken advantages of the TACO services on Monday nights yet but said he wants to talk with a dentist about getting some dentures. “I’m only 54, I want some kind of teeth. I can’t have my natural teeth any more so I’ll take any kind of teeth available!”

Marvin tends to stay away from crowds. He doesn’t like conflict. “I’ve always been a loner, but I’m never really alone, you know. I like people, I love people, but with the situation I’m in right now, I am a loner, and I’ve learned from my situation on the streets that’s the best way to be.”

Last year, just after Christmas 2017, his foot started to swell up. After the third day, it didn’t get any better. In fact it got worse, so he called 911. Doctors told him there was no circulation in his foot. “As me being a diabetic, they had to amputate my toes on my left foot. Yeah all five of my little toes-ies,” he said with a sad face, then chuckled: “I miss ‘em. So that’s how I ended up in a wheelchair.”

Being a loner he doesn't much like the idea of being in a shelter around other people he doesn’t necessarily choose to be around, though he understands that is the way it has to work in a shelter. When the winter months arrive and it starts raining he’s going to have to go inside to a shelter somewhere, he admits, but until then he’s going to wait it out on the streets. He contacted a captain at the Salvation Army and asked if he could work again as a bell ringers from Thanksgiving to Christmas, and they’ve promised him a job earning minimum wage during the holiday. He can’t pass up an opportunity to earn a little money.

After that he plans to go north to Long Beach where he’s located a rescue mission with a Christian-based program. “Yeah first week of January: new year, new me,” he said. “I like what they stand for,” he said of the rescue mission. “It gives me a foundation.”

He advises other homeless to seek out programs that can help them get motivated to do something with their life, to create goals. “To me this is not living. I’m just existing being out here. But there’s hope. Get with the program and get a life!”