Changing the face of homelessness

"It was a cold and blustery Wednesday morning on February 9, 1972. The high temperature that day struggled to reach twenty-three degrees, and the relentless winds offered no retreat. It was on this very day that I was brought into the world. I have heard that I was born breech. I came into this world shoulder first. My umbilical cord was wrapped around my shoulder and my neck. When the nurses untangled me, I was still a shade of blue. I have never found out why, but I was born with no middle name. There were four people at the hospital that day. They were eagerly awaiting my arrival. One of these four people was my grandpa. When he saw me for the first time, he said, “Look at our brand new baby blue jay!” And just like that, I had my middle name. Little did I know then, the significance of this very name would later play a profound role in shaping my life's path. My grandparents were present that day because they had lovingly agreed to help raise me. My mother and father, of c...

"I wondered my whole life why I was given the mostly female name of Tracy. I would get made fun of in school for having such a name. It bothered me so much because of being made fun of that my teachers started to call me T.J. to help curb the bullying. This happened pretty much all throughout grade school. "Some of my early classmates would get to know me as T.J. Some who have moved away probably never even got to know my real name. "My grandpa told me a story. I am not sure if it was one of his tall tales or if it could possibly be the truth. "He told me that one night he was driving along the Platte River through a town called Tracy. He told me that he was very hungry and that he had hit a bullfrog on the highway with his car. He took this bullfrog into a local diner in the town of Tracy. "He was wondering if someone in that diner could cook the bullfrog for him. He told me as the cook came from the kitchen into the diner that he fell in love at first sight. ...

  "As I mentioned at the beginning, it was on that Wednesday afternoon in 1972 that I made my first appearance in this world. Beginning this new life, my first breath was taken as an incomplete baby. I was born with the name Tracy Gillespie. There was a man in that room awaiting my arrival. As soon as he laid eyes on me, the first words he ever spoke to me were, "Look at my new Baby Blue Jay!" That comment completed who I was to be known as. This man gave me my very first gift. He gave me my middle name. I became Tracy Jay Gillespie. This gift came from a man whom I would learn to love deeply, the man for whom I would have immense respect, the only man I would ever look up to – the man I would soon be calling my Grandpa. When I was born, I was breech. I was told that I came out shoulder first, and the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck. I was blue when I was born, and that's why Grandpa called me a Baby Blue Jay. Not only was I born without a fully completed n...

It was early on a Saturday morning when I stepped into our little local grocery store.  I had visited this little store many times. The employees who worked at the store all knew who I was and seemed to enjoy my presence. I think that the employees also knew about my home life, and that  they felt somewhat sorry for me. I walked to the store that morning running an errand for my mother. She would send me to the store with two $1 food stamps to buy an item that cost $1.09. I would then return the change to my mom so she could send me right back to the store to buy her a pack of cigarettes. I was only 8 years old at the time.  I knew what was right and what was wrong. I knew the punishment for doing something wrong all too well. Maybe I did know right from wrong, but I did not fully understand it. For sure, I thought the only punishment for doing something wrong was a severe beating.  I had not had any breakfast this particular morning and I was very hungry. That led m...