My name is Vance. I am 61 years old and have been a volunteer for the past four years at St. Mary’s Dining Room. This is my story. By trade I am a journeyman electrician. I worked hard. I had money. I owned my own home and paid cash for a one year old car. I had a family. I was a husband to my wife and a father to my children. But I was also selfish. I didn’t realize the value of what I had. Soon enough drinking and drugs took a costly toll on me and my family. By 2001 I had two failed marriages and found it increasingly difficult to function in society. I started going to jail, then prison, and spent the next ten years either in prison or on the streets. I lived in sheds, underneath a work bench, any place I could find really. One winter I spent my nights in a laundromat in a mobile home park. I slept sitting up against a...
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