T. Sanders

T. Sanders’ struggle began when she was a child, when her family dealt regularly with homelessness. Her family lacked permanent housing, “We lived in some pretty precarious and extremely unstable places.” Sanders and her family alternated between living with relatives, renting rooms in boarding houses, and sleeping in cars, often without access to running water. Along with unpredictable housing came hunger. Sanders recalls loving school, partly because it contained elements of stability, “We were lucky when we ate breakfast at school, otherwise, we wouldn’t eat until lunchtime and dinner was an uncertainty.” Sanders consistently grappled with chronic hunger, “Frequently, if we did have dinner, I would save half of my dinner for breakfast”.

As an adult, Sanders has received a GED, attended community college, and in 2001, received a Masters Degree. In 2010, She founded the “Long Winding Road Programs, Inc.”, a program that provides services to at-risk youth and their families. Devastatingly, the program lost funding, and as a result, Sanders ended up back on the streets.

Today, Sanders is still working back towards permanent housing. She sees herself to representing the, "changing face of homelessness", “Without any history of addiction or crippling mental/physical health needs, I don’t ‘look’ like a homeless person. But, homeless, I am.” Along with this, Sanders feels that she understands her purpose, “to bring awareness to this issue, help those less fortunate than me, and open your eyes (whoever you are) to the realization that you have a great deal in common with the ‘changing face of homelessness.’”