VOICES OF OUR COMMUNITY OUR Streets: SHARON BY PAULA BARD “I’VE BEEN OUT ON THE STREETS SINCE ’90. Thirty years, off and on. I’m 51 now. It started with domestic violence. I felt more secure out here with my friends. I’m from Pine Ridge, Oglala Sioux Tribe. I was adopted. I wasn’t raised in my heritage. I was raised by white people. I was taken from my mom. Well, my grandmother, and she got to a point where she was getting old enough, she couldn’t take care of me, so she gave me up, she chose, okay. She wanted me to have a good life. She knew if I would have stayed up there, I probably would have been dead. Nobody’s really paying attention to where I was. She was too old. And I, you know, I appreciate so much that she did that. My mom, she was young, she had two kids. My dad passed away the day before I was born. But I met her, and I met my real family. They’re all passed away now, they’re all gone. I did have a good life. My adopted family gave me a really good life, and they were white. I grew up in Nebraska. And, they were always encouraging me to get ahold of my family. I’m still meeting family, I have a big family, big extended CREDIT: PAULA BARD family, I wasn’t raised around them. So, I’m learning right now, all this stuff, and it’s so exciting for me. Who my people are, what they’re standing for. But I am a person that likes to be happy and positive, and I think it’s because I have been hurt a lot, you know, and let down. So, I think that’s what keeps me going. My sister’s out here. My sister’s working with me, and I can’t leave her by herself. She was adopted, too. Yeah, so we’re both, we, you know, we’ve been through a lot. Because we lived in two worlds. We’re not afraid. We can help each other out. Yeah, that’s the only way we’re gonna get to anything in life; work together. You know, nobody hears about the Native women who have been killed. I know it’s like we’re not important, and like I was saying, if you’re on the street you don’t exist. You know, we were robbed. Our land. We’re going to keep going on and be strong, no matter what. Others want to cry about what happened to them. I can’t say I was there when our ancestors were there, but still, they taught us how to be strong, be who you are, no matter what.” ■ OUR Streets are stories of Denver’s unhoused residents as captured by Paula Bard, who walks the streets of Denver to photograph the faces and collect the stories of those our city has abandoned. HOW TO HELP The money we take in from vendors helps us cover a portion of our printing costs, but we depend largely on donations from individuals, businesses, and foundations to help us pay our rent and keep the lights on. 1 4 GET THE WORD OUT We rely on grassroots marketing to get the word out about what we do. Talk to people about our organization and share us with your network. Support us on DONATE Donations to the Denver VOICE are tax-deductable. Go to denvervoice.org to give a one-time or recurring donation. You can also mail a check to: Denver VOICE | P.O. Box 193 | Denver, CO 80201 3 VOLUNTEER We need volunteers to help with everything from newspaper distribution to event planning and management. Contact program@denvervoice.org for volunteering information. 5 SUBSCRIBE If you are unable to regularly purchase a newspaper from our vendors, please consider a subscription. We ask subscribers to support our program with a 12-month pledge to give $10 a month, or a one-time donation of $120. Subscriptions help us cover our costs AND provide an amazing opportunity to those who need it most. Go to denvervoice.org/subscriptions for more information. @denverVOICE 2 ADVERTISE Our readership is loyal, well-educated, and socially concerned. Readers view purchasing the paper as a way to immediately help a person who is poor or homeless while supporting long-term solutions to end poverty. If you are interested in placing an ad or sponsoring a section of the paper, please contact us about rates at ads@denvervoice.org. October 2021 DENVER VOICE 3
4 Publizr Home