WEBVTT

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[Slow Piano Music]

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I had been working in restaurants for

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about 13 years in management. Um, I

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decided to take a jump and go to a

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completely different industry. However,

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after the first month, the owner of the

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company stopped paying me. And after 9

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weeks of not getting paid, I

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unfortunately lost the the place I was

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living. I uh ended up having to stay in

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my truck with my two dogs because I

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needed to keep shelter over my head. I

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think it was maybe the 29th or 30th of

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November. Either way, it was a Sunday

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and that night was supposed to be the

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beginning of the cold uh season and the

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temperature was going to drop all the

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way down to like between like 0 and 10.

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Some of the people in the neighborhood

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saw that my truck was being towed and

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some of them brought over some sweaters.

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One of them brought a tarp. I was able

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to make a little makeshift, you know,

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shelter for us. I had nowhere to go. So,

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a a ACS gave me the Westside's phone

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number. I called them directly. The

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gentleman I spoke with told me where

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where I was physically at that

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only just a couple of blocks away

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there's a bus system that runs and you

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just have to go wait for the bus. All I

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needed was a chance to get some rest,

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cleaned up. You get three meals a day.

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It's safe. It's warm in the winter time.

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It's cool in the summertime.

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You're not, you know, you're not

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constricted to stay there. There's bus

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systems to get you to and from, you

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know, it's it's not what you think it is

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or what you've heard it is. It's a much

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better situation. You get an actual bed

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that's like wider than a single, you

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know, like it's not just a twin

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mattress. Like it's a it's bigger. You

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have an actual bed. You have space. They

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give you a locker, you know? like you

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can feel safe there.

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Just walking in to try to like let

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people know about my own sober living

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program. I've seen a huge difference

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compared to like when I was there, you

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know, like and even while I was there, I

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saw this progression of like as as

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people were getting kind of moved out,

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other people coming in, I saw like just

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the shift in tone of the whole place,

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you know, and now some of the people

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that I've spoken to, they just love that

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like the renovations that are being done

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in the dorms, you know, they're they're

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feeling a lot of more comfortable there,

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which is great, you know.

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[Slow Piano Music]