"Perfect Poverty" by Stephanie Morse

Living on the streets is never easy. You don’t know where your next meal is coming from. Nor do you know where you are going to rest your head. You don’t have a job so you have to be creative on how you get your money. You can also break the law to make your money. Street life can take its toll on your mind, body, and soul.
One way to eat is to go to feeding. Feeding is when you go to places to get free food.

Churches are the main source of feeding they have handouts at least three times a week at different times of the day. If you know the times and places you should never starve, however the food they serve is questionable at best. Another way to eat is to steel from stores. The food is better but you run the risk of going to jail for about a week. The food there is worse than church.

There are a lot of places you can sleep. Where you sleep has a lot to do with the weather.

If it is snowing you want to find some where there is cover like a cave. The Plate River has many of them to choose from. Another option you have, if you have the means is a tent. You have to find a place to set it up. The place has to be far enough away from people so they don’t call the police. If the police are called you have to pick up and move. You might have to leave everything behind and start over. That is something you get used to, it is more of a head ach then anything.
If it’s cold and you have little money you can pitch in with other people and get a room for a few days, then you can shower and sleep in a bed. Something most people take for granted.

You can also brake into an abandoned building. This is called squatting. If it is warm outside you can sleep where ever you know is safe.

As for making money there are a few ways to make it. You can spange. That is asking people for money. You can fly a sign. That is the same thing as begging for money, you just do it on an off ramp of a highway. You can also sell drugs to make your money. That is fast money and if you don’t do all your product you can make a decent living. That can also put you in jail for longer then a week.

Just not knowing where you will sleep and what you are going eat can take its toll on your body. You don’t have the nutrition you need to really be healthy. The stress takes its toll on your mind. Not really having true friends and trusting no one can weigh heavy on your soul. When you put mind uttering substances in your body it affects your body. You don’t eat and you don’t sleep. Not sleeping can make you crazy. Like seeing and hearing things that are not there. Drugs can put your soul into a black hole of nothingness.

Life on the streets is not something you choose it just happens to you. You simply do what you need to do to make it to tomorrow. This life is one of the hardest things to climb your way out of.. It is no way to live. If you make it off the streets you are one of the lucky ones.