One was born was in Colorado, but raised from toddler age in San Diego. She went to PB Jr. High, Mission Bay High, then Mesa Community College where she studied photography. She got married and had two kids right out of college, so she became a stay-at-home mom. She then channeled her nature as a “people person” into working as a care giver, a profession she loved and took great pride in. It’s also profession her oldest daughter was naturally drawn to. That daughter, according to Rene, is tall, beautiful, brilliant, and supervisor of a care facility in the Bay Area. The younger daughter survived being born not breathing. After two months in a NICU unit, Rene eventually taught her to eat on her own, without the feeding tube. That daughter now lives with her biological father in Idaho.

Rene has an outgoing personality, says hello to everyone passing by, and is generous with her fellow street dwellers when she has a little extra cash. The hardest thing about living on the street, where she’s been for the last year, is finding a place to either go to the bathroom, or to shower. “It’s degrading,” she said. “You’re standing there and you have to use the restroom SO bad, and you’re begging them to use the restroom, and they won’t let you. ‘You have a quarter?’ Where am I going to get a quarter from?! Come on now!,” she added, recounting the usual dialogue that transpires in those situations.

She ended up on the street after breaking up with her ex-boyfriend, largely due to her drinking.

“It’s real heartbreaking. I’m alone,” she said, with a tone of finality. “I have friends out here, but… I’m gonna be honest, I’m a spoiled rotten brat. I was brought up a spoiled rotten brat, and I’ve been with men who spoiled me rotten, and now I try to spoil myself when I can.”

She was traumatized after a series of emotionally-charged events happened close together; her father died, her child was born disabled, and she went through a divorce. She married again and went through a second divorce. All of that drove her to drink. Eventually a co-worker saw her drinking on the job, so Rene just figured she would be fired, and walked away from the job she loved. She later saw that same co-worker, who let her know they were just going to ask her to get treatment, not fire her.

On the street, she had to learn things the hard way. She would fall asleep next to her cart, and wake up to no cart, no clothes, no food… all her belongings had been stolen. The little shopping carts cost $40, she said, that’s not nothing for the people on the street. It takes a while to get replace a warm blanket, fresh clothes that fit, and a new cart. Now she sleeps with the cart handle under her head.

Rene would love to go back to work and have a nice place to live again. “But look at what I’m wearing,” she said. “Who’s going to hire me wearing this? We need access to showers and a place to keep our stuff while we’re at work.” She wasn’t sure which should come first, the secure housing or the job; it’s different for everyone, she said, depending on your level of comfort, your personal needs and how much stuff you have.

Her drinking has slowed way down she said. And she takes heart in all the people who really care about each other. The she had to go to the hospital due to a nasty infection from a spider bite, she was gone for about a month. When she returned to her neighborhood, people were excited to see her. They thought maybe she’d died. “People are really really nice out here. They say ‘Hi Rene! Do you need anything?’ So, it makes living out here a little easier.”