James Reed

English ver.

By: Amy Li, Leah Liang, and Sarah Liang

(Names ordered alphabetically)

Six years ago, a typical day in James’s life was working from six AM to eleven PM managing multiple gas stations. Within a couple of years, his life changed drastically, he began living on the streets and his battle with Cyclothymia, a rare mood disorder.

Growing up, James had a relatively normal childhood. As a kid, he aspired to become a star athlete playing football or baseball. Unfortunately, his parents divorced when he was ten, leading to a stressful and pressure-filled childhood. As James got older, he worked long hours each week as a mechanic at three gas stations. He worked seventeen hours daily and even had to fill in for his co-workers which caused excess strain on his mental health. Over the years, James’s mental health only got worse. Though James didn’t have issues with drugs or have a criminal record, he always found himself in waves of depression. In 2014, he was diagnosed with Cyclothymia, a disorder causing frequent mood swings. These unsolved mental issues prohibited him from continuing his work, and as a result, James became unhoused.

Life on the street wasn’t easy. Finding food, shelter and bathrooms became a daily struggle for James. He spent most of the day on these activities, leaving little to no time for him to get the help he needed. He spent most nights out in the quad of the Sunnyvale Library and usually hid his belongings in a nearby bush. Other unhoused people experience similar problems. For many of them, their main method of transportation is by foot or bike, being limited by the distance they can travel, it is difficult to find a safe location to sleep in and a public bathroom they can use. Applying to jobs was also difficult due to the lack of resources, such as phones and computers, and the reputation that comes with living on the street. In addition, James has been struggling with an abdominal hernia and was advised to lose around 10 pounds before he can have surgery.

While on the streets, a couple government programs were helpful to James, such as CalFresh, which provides food stamps to buy food at grocery stores, and Medi-Cal which lets him have basic health care coverage. However, these did not solve the issues entirely. For example, like many unhoused people, there are no places for them to store food or to cook meals, so it is still hard to get hot meals. Fortunately, James found help from Hope’s Corner and The United Effort Organization, Inc. (the “UEO”), both non-profit organizations dedicated to helping the homeless. He was able to get hot food from Hope’s Corner’s station at Mountain View, and through the UEO, he was able to get free phone and phone service under the LifeLine Program so he could stay connected to society. The people from Hope’s Corner and UEO were friendly and helpful to him, later he himself started to volunteer to help others like him.

Now, after 4 years on the street, James has gotten some stability back in his life. He is currently living in an ADU (accessory dwelling unit) under the generosity of his sister and her husband. Now that he is in a relatively stable living situation, James no longer has to worry about basic physiological needs, and can spend his time planning out his life day by day and cooking healthy food for himself rather than consuming whatever is made available to him.

Just like any active member of society, James has goals and aspirations of his own. He hopes to become a productive member of society and have a car of his own; he hopes to go camping, surfing, and snowboarding like he did before; he wants to be able to live life happily without having to spend nearly half of his time worrying about physiological needs. Step by step, he is getting closer to his goal of life like it was before he became unhoused.

James’ Experience of living on the streets has not made him discouraged or cold. In fact, having gone through this, he has become more caring and always tries his best to help those who are in a similar situation. Ever since he moved into the ADU, James has been taking time out of the day to volunteer at The United Effort Organization (UEO) on Wednesdays from 8-9am and on Saturdays from 8-10am and also helps out with weekly food delivery to local RV dwellers. He also helps each week with meal delivery to local RV dwellers.

We are really happy for James in getting his life back on track and hope that his other fellow unhoused friends can improve their living situation and quality of life through the help and generosity of others.

Chinese ver.

By: Amy Li

六年前，詹姆斯的生活就是当着多个加油站的经理，每天从早上六点工作到晚上十一点。但几年的功夫就让詹姆斯的生活发生天翻地覆的变化。他开始了漫长的街头生活，同时又不幸患 Cylothymia，一种罕见的精神疾病。

詹姆斯小时候过着相当正常的生活，一直以来的梦想都是成为一名足球运动员或棒球运动员。非常不幸的是，他的父母早在他十岁的时候就离婚了，这也导致他的童年充满了焦虑和抑郁的情绪。随着詹姆斯年龄的增长，他开始长时间的在三个不同的加油站打工。他每天 工作十七个小时，偶尔还得补同事们的位。日积月累的压力导致他的心理健康逐渐恶化。尽管詹姆斯没有吸毒也没有犯罪记录，他总是陷入抑郁中。 2014 年，他被诊断出患有 Cyclothymia，一种导致情绪频繁波动的心理疾病。最后，他由于精神问题未能得到治疗而失去了工作，沦落街头。

街头生活并不易。最基本的饮食和住宿问题占据了詹姆斯每天大部分的时间和精力。除此之外他几乎没有时间去寻找他需要的帮助。他大部分时候晚上都在Sunnyvale图书馆前的院子里度过的。他把所有的个人物品都藏在附近的草丛后面。他的同伴也会遇到类似的问题。对于他们来说，主要交通方式就是步行或骑自行车，因此很难找到能够安全过夜的地方。由于他们缺乏手机和电脑等资源，而且露宿街头，所以申请工作也很困难。此外詹姆斯还患有腹疝。

在街头，一些政府的计划对詹姆斯也有所帮助，例如 CalFresh 会给低收入人群提供食品券, 用以在杂货店购买食物，Medi-Cal 能让詹姆斯得到基本的医疗保健保险。然而，这些并没有解决最根本的问题。比如说，有许多无家可归的人都没有地方储存食物或做饭，所以仍然很难吃到热乎的饭菜。幸运的是，James 得到了 Hope's Corner 和 United Effort Organization, Inc.（ “UEO”）的帮助，这两个非营利组织都致力于帮助无家可归者。他可以吃到Hope's Corner准备的热饭，并通过 UEO 获得 LifeLine Program 下的免费电话和电话服务，以便与社会保持联系。 Hope's Corner 和 UEO 的人对他都很友善并热情的为他提供帮助，后来他自己也开始志愿帮助像他这样的人。

现在，过了整整四年的街头生活后，詹姆斯的生活已经恢复了一定的稳定。在他姐姐和她夫的慷慨资助下，他目前住在一个 ADU（附属住宅单元）中。他现在的生活状态相对稳定，詹姆斯再也不用担心基本的生理需求，可以每天花时间规划自己的生活，为自己烹制健康的食物，不像以前，有什么吃什么。

就像任何积极生活的社会成员一样，詹姆斯也有自己的目标和理想。他希望成为社会上富有成效的一员，拥有一辆属于自己的汽车；他希望像以前一样去露营、冲浪和滑雪；他希望能够过上幸福的生活，而不必花费将近一半的时间来担心自己的生理需求。一步一步地，他越来越接近自己的生活目标，越来越接近露宿街头前的模样。

詹姆斯流落街头的经历并没有让他灰心或冷漠。事实上，经历了这些之后，他变得更加有爱心，并且总是尽力帮助与他处境相似的人。自从搬入 ADU 后，James 每天上午 8 点到 9 点和周六上午 8 点到 10 点都抽出时间在 United Effort Organization (UEO) 做志愿者，还每周帮忙为居住在房车的居民运送食物。

我们为詹姆斯的生活重回正轨感到非常高兴，也也希望他的其他无家可归的朋友能够通过他人的慷慨帮助改善生活状况和生活质量。