SPECIAL FEATURE CHARLES SPRING JERRY ROSEN "THEY’VE GIVEN ME EVERY KIND OF ENCOURAGEMENT I NEEDED AND THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO WORK AND ENJOY WHAT I DO." I had issues with rage and I found out that I'm bipolar, so in December of last year, I moved to Denver to get a fresh start. I became homeless on the 6th of December. I was staying in a hotel, but my social security check had got messed up. It got lost, so I didn't get my money on time. I couldn't pay for the hotel, so I had to go to the shelter. I went to the Denver Rescue Mission on Lawrence Street and stayed there. Then I was placed at the 48th Avenue Shelter. They did like a job fair there, and the Denver VOICE had their people there. They told me about it, and I was like, well that's a job I can do. All the other jobs that I had I had got fi red from because I couldn't keep a job. I could get a job I'm a nice person. I'm very friendly or try to be, but I couldn't keep a job because I had rage issues, and my mental health would act up, and I would end up getting fi red. At the VOICE, I can make my own hours. If I start to feel like I have something wrong with me, I can walk away. I can just pick up my stuff, and walk away, and go home. That way, I'm not around people and can't hurt anybody, or try to hurt myself Vending the Denver VOICE has meant everything. It's the only job that I can actually do. And it's a job that I love. I've had jobs, they were just jobs. I was there just to work. And it felt like I had to do it, but I really didn't want to. I had to go in and just make the money 'cause that's something I had to do. This is a job where I actually want to come in and do the work. I wanna go out and sell these papers and meet the people every day. I'm becoming more social. Before, I was a shut-in. I had four years in Louisiana, where I just did not leave my house I did not talk to people. I would just watch movies or eat or do whatever I needed to do, but I didn’t leave the house. The Denver VOICE is a job, but it's more than a job. It's a job that people love. And [the community] supports us. The VOICE gives us clothes and shoes that are donated to them. "WORKING AT THE DENVER VOICE... HAS GIVEN ME AN OPPORTUNITY TO EARN MONEY AND IMPROVE MY LIFE." I'm partially homeless, but not totally homeless. I'm staying at Boulder Shelter, and I've stayed with some friends and at a few other places. I found out about the Denver VOICE from this person I met. It was 2008 when he told me about it. Working at the Denver VOICE means I have a job where the newspaper tells people about homelessness. I'm so glad. I like this job very much because I can work my own hours. And I think it's a wonderful job. It’s a fantastic job. I really enjoy working with people, and I really like the job very much. The Denver VOICE has impacted my life in so many different ways. It has given me an opportunity to earn some money and to do many different kinds of things in my life. Sometimes [when I vend the paper], I have some nice people that give me really good tips. And then, some people, they're very rude, but I separate the bad people from the good people. You have to look past them and look at the good people, so I just go on to the next person. They provide us with snacks and water every time we come in. The community, I think, needs to get more involved because this is a paper that's focused on the voice of the community. So, I think that would be my message to the community – to actually give more help to the Denver VOICE and to homeless people. The VOICE gives me emotional support. They've encouraged me with my writing, encouraged me to write my poetry, and just encouraged me to get out there and get social. They've given me every kind of encouragement that I needed, and they gave me this great opportunity to work and enjoy what I do. So, it means everything. 10 DENVER VOICE November 2024
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