Homeless Woman with Children-Marisa

all right marissa yes marissa um so you are you have been living on skid row yes we've been lebanon's kid up until recently tell me what um well see the thing was is when we were living on skid road we were staying at the shelter and so i had to go to the hospital for like about three days and so when i came back to the shelter they didn't ask me for paperwork or nothing the guards told me that i had to leave for two years because i wasn't in my bed space or whatnot i explained to them that i was at the hospital they didn't ask me to see no papers they took all of our stuff and they wouldn't give it back plus a little bit of money that i had mind you it's like eight something in the night when i had got released almost nine so i knew nobody right here even though i'm from here i've been gone for a while so so let's back up a little bit yes you're you've been living on skid row with your four kids yes and two dogs yes um who are your kids what are your kids names uh that's elijah erica moody and angie so they range in age from four seven nine and two wow yes tell me about how are you living in a tent on skid row with four kids oh well see we weren't living in our own tank we ended up staying with my friend what she has a fridge you know she had all the electrical stuff she had a bed and you know what i'm saying so by the time that the program had found us the path program they had entered us into a hotel so that's where we've been staying for the rest of the time so just recently you got housing yeah like about four or five months ago yeah so you've been in the steward hotel yes um how did you end up in this situation oh well see i had i had my house i had my car my job i had got hit by a truck and dragged five miles my son got hit by the same truck but just lesser and dragged two miles and thrown into the main street and so when that had happened is when we became homeless like shortly afterwards because i couldn't i mean i'm in the hospital i couldn't keep up with my bills you know so and this is where oh that was in new mexico yes so you're living in new mexico and albuquerque yes and then you what about the father of the children well their father lives in mexico and he the sister of him stated that he had passed away and this is my mind you when i was two months pregnant so from there on i haven't heard nothing from him yeah you suspect that he's not passed away well i thought that in the beginning but like i also thought that sister wouldn't lie to me as well you know so at the same time it's kind of thinking one way and then you know what i'm saying like him not answering or having any kind of uh physical contact with him is where i'm thinking that it is true you know that he is has passed away yes yeah so you've been on your own for how long now uh oh it's been a while um i would say it's been a long while yeah i mean she's gonna be three soon you know what i'm saying since the yeah since you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're you're youngest yeah yeah and how are you supporting yourself well number one i was asking for ssi i was asking for ssi and um that didn't come through so they said that i have to ask again for ssi and then i went towards the government for the kids they said that you know these two weren't from the you know from usa and then all of a sudden they started making a bunch of excuses and then from there you know what i'm saying um i try to get like legal assistance you know and like it was the time of the covet so everything was shutting down they weren't really helping a lot of people so now i'm back on track and uh who's been helping us is friends you know church people my uncle my number one uncle you know so that's what's been getting a spy you know and besides me selling purses jury makeup you know what i'm saying that's also what had got us by you know are your kids school age yeah they they get home steady yeah so living on the streets has got to be how how long are you on skid row um i would say like maybe two months yeah not that long yeah wow do you have any family anyone you can rely on or help my uncle yeah yeah my uncle's the one that helps us get by buy groceries diapers wipes the necessary needs if we need anything else besides that you know he's the one that i go to yeah and you're you're how old me i'm 40. you're 40. yeah yeah but mind you i couldn't walk i was from out of that car accident i couldn't do nothing you know my church was coming checking on the kids and feeding the kids and you know even though i could get up here and they're in the wheelchair and whatnot you know and then um you know just people that i knew they were coming by checking on the kids you know helping out so yeah you have quite a few scars all over your body yeah yeah this is all from the car accident and there's more but they're underneath so yeah yeah yeah the right side of your face as well yeah well this is road rash yeah yeah as well as this underneath my shirt is road rash it's just a little bit more lighter because they were able to scrub it out yeah what a rough life you've you've got now yeah but we're blessed we're still alive we're still together we're still pushing so we're very blessed you know what i'm saying with the lord's help you know miracles happen every day you know and i'm one of the miracles they're one of the miracles you know what i'm saying and drugs and drugs are not part of your life oh no unlike everybody no way i don't know smoke yeah but everyone else here on skid rows yeah well you know people do what they want to do you know what i'm saying and if you hang around with the crowd they kind of you know what i'm saying say that you're the crowd or whatnot but for me you know they see the kids you know what i'm saying and they know that i'm a good mom they know that i take care of my kids they know anybody you could ask around here knows that i don't touch nothing never having never will yeah you're very protective of your oh oh that's a hundred percent a hundred percent especially you have to down here uh anywhere anywhere right it doesn't matter where you're at you know what i'm saying you always have to watch your babies because that's your jewels you know what i'm saying you'll never get him back you know never you know so you really got to take care of your jewels you know what would you like to see happen well for me you know i'm planning on either trying to get you know an rv space or like a house you know what i'm saying if i could ever get one i don't care what it looks like even if we have to fix it up you know what i'm saying but as long as it's livable to be able to fix up little by little you know is what i really want to do you know what i'm saying um so you know what was your childhood like oh no god man forget it i wasn't you you would never see my family out anywhere you know they were very respectable people and you know church-going people and like if they were alive you know they'd just be like oh no you're not out there you know i mean besides the other part of my family that i don't know like that that i went and i went to new mexico for now those part they wouldn't really care if we were outside or not you know so your parents passed away oh yeah yeah yeah my mom i really didn't know her you know but she's passed away and my dad he's passed away as well so you were raised by who oh i was raised in the government yep and the system but my mom that i got she was actually a good woman you know what i'm saying i got lucky so your biological parents why did they not yeah yeah they passed away why do they not raise you i don't know what happened to them yeah i couldn't be able to tell you did you even know them not my not my mom my dad i did yeah my mom i didn't know her really yeah did you ever see that maybe you ever imagine that your life could have been like this where you're living in no no because i had everything i had my house my car my job i had everything you know what i'm saying but one minute you have everything and then the next minute what was the biggest factor that broke you know that put you in this situation the car accident because i couldn't keep up with my bills i was in the hospital i couldn't go to work and the kid's father kind of disappeared or died yeah and and you know time was ticking to go back to work and since i didn't go to work you know what i'm saying and the bills piled up you know so i mean i i had the people help me as much as they could help me you know what i'm saying but it just wasn't good enough you know you're you're now relying on the goodwill of of people you meet on the streets oh i'm not relying on them i rely on my uncle you see what i'm saying yeah i don't if i don't get nothing outside my uncle always supplies for us you know so i'm not really worried about if somebody gives me or if they don't give me because he always gives to us you know that's just him he's always been like that you know and when i have i try to give back to him you know when he's in need yeah wow yeah and pretty soon we won't be in the hotel we'll be moving in with my uncle we just have to raise up a certain kind of money that he said that he needed in order to move from where he's living because he's a um he's a veteran so like they'll only help him so far and then he has to have uh money which he does get money every month but it's not enough you see what i'm saying to move into this new place that he wants to get for all of us yeah that way we don't have to be back and forth or whatnot your kids are very well behaved yeah i mean they're squirreling around but what kids don't you know they're i mean you gotta love it so you have elijah you have erica who's erica this is erica that's angie and moody moody that's moody moody and elijah pop your head up there elijah look look in the camera look buddy he wants to see you in the camera can you sit by your mom can you stand by your mom come here baby he's having fun on the carpet we don't have carpet so he's like just dragging away [Music] so i mean you get depressed or angry or frustrated over what you're going through not at all i mean i i get pain you and i'm saying but i just come out and walk it off you know like i don't get mad because there's no reason to get mad just like when my pastor had told me he goes marissa do you forgive this man who did this to you and i told him i said pastor i don't even know this man you know what i'm saying and he goes do you think that you could uh find it in your heart to forgive him and i said i forgive him you know what i'm saying but it doesn't mean that i forget you know what we're going through and he goes do you think that i could invite him to the church you know maybe he needs a little bit of prayer and i told him i said go ahead who am i to deny somebody else of the lord you know what i'm saying so i told him i said go on ahead and invite him if you want to you know and he was surprised that i forgave the man you know he was like was it a hit and run or he didn't know that you were it was an older man and he says that he didn't see us but i find it kind of hard that he don't see a big old humongous stroller in his rear-view mirror and underneath his tire he could hear the pop he you could hear or you could feel when you hit something or somebody you see what i'm saying he was saying that he thought it was a rock or something so he was not convicted of anything it's two people he was issued two citations and let go i was pronounced dead on the scene you see what i'm saying so like you know what could you do you know what i'm saying you could just look forward to life like i mean look you know i got my kids with me what more could you ask for yeah so elijah's fine he survived fine oh yeah look at him yeah he looks pretty as crazy as ever what more do you want and you know he's a good baby what have you learned from all of this you've been to oh no i just learned you know what i'm saying like don't cherish you know your house your car your job you know what i'm saying the material stuff you know and don't be because you got money like all the time i had money you see what i'm saying i was never without any money in my pocket and i was maybe like it happened because i always thought i was better than everybody you see what i'm saying but god takes you down a notch you see what i'm saying and he lets you know just because you got money and precious things in your house that doesn't mean anything the life is number one you see what i'm saying the kids are the number one as well you know so i think that's what he made me realize you know that money and cars and this and that is not everything it's your family you know what i'm saying your life you know so i got a second chance you know what i'm saying he could give anybody a second chance are you in the snow yeah yeah all right marissa and family thank you so much for sharing your story yes and [Music] i wish you the best of luck maybe maybe the viewers might want to donate to the gofundme that might help yes you guys are a little bit yes you can do that by uh the link that's in the video and uh in the description and uh and specify that you wanted to go to marissa and her family and you could do that yes yes all right you guys we really appreciate everybody's time that you take to watch the video and we appreciate everything that you guys do out there and god bless everybody and have a blessed day all right you guys thank you very much you

Channel: Soft White Underbelly

Views: 417,999

Keywords: soft white underbelly, swu

Id: e6si5v3WLx4

Length: 15min 25sec (925 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 28 2022