Changing the face of homelessness

I experienced my first eviction when I was 8 years old. I was in the third grade at Hyde Elementary. I was excited when the bus dropped me off because I had a new kitten that I named Sunshine. When I went inside the house that Friday afternoon, I discovered that my mom had left on a weekend vacation to Southern Missouri. There was a guy there whose name was Buddy. He was to be our babysitter. I did my normal thing and started playing with Sunshine. At some point after dinner, I noticed that Sunshine was lying on the ground, not being himself at all. The babysitter said that I should call my grandpa. He did not think that Sunshine looked well either. I called Grandpa. Grandpa was there in less than 10 minutes to pick up Sunshine and myself. We went down to Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was determined Sunshine didn't have a fighting chance. Grandpa and I went outside with Sunshine. I did not watch as Grandpa stepped on Sunshine's head to end his suffering. I did, however, h...

  As soon as I turned 17 years old and became an adult I tried. I walked straight into the Buchanan county prosecutor's office on a mission. I spoke with the county prosecutor and informed him that I was a victim. I shared with him how I was sexually abused at the age of eight. I was there in his office trying to press charges against a sexual predator. I was informed that I was out of the statute of limitations for such a crime. I was not allowed to file assault charges against this man. The prosecutor then advised me what I could possibly do. If I could find or if I knew any other victims that were within the statute then they would prosecute. If I could somehow find one of his recent victims I would be allowed to be a character witness. Which would be almost the same as testifying against him.There were definitely other victims. Mostly all the victims that I had talked to were also out of the statute of limitations.Some of his victims were other family members.I finally located ...