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I would like to start sharing my story now about my experience with homelessness, what I did to survive & how hard I tried to make my homelessness Invisible to the people around me. I’ll be doing short stories periodically.
This is March 2016
Tower District
Fresno Ca
At this time I was offered a room in a back garage that was being converted into a small studio. I was already attending CMAC (Community Media Access Collaborative). How I got in is another story lol.
I was always hungry & always asking staff for food or their leftovers from lunch. One day Cesar (staff) walked in from lunch carrying a lunch bag. “I’m hungry, what we got today” I asked. “I’m sorry, it’s all gone, I was just tossing out trash” cesar said.
My stomach was like “Damnnnnnn”
I said Hangry “what do I need to do to get some food”
Cesar response “you have all the tools you need here, make a food show, then you will always eat”.
That’s exactly what I did.
I wrote my proposal for the show & got the approval to do it.
I was nervous because I needed a team to be able to put it together.
Anita (a lady at cmac & my angel) helped me on my last show UGM (that story another time) but that was at the studio. This was going to be on location. Anita and I grabbed 2 cameras & mics then walked down Fulton street and asked restaurants if we could film a food show. I asked for 4 different entrees of their best plates and we would taste test it and film as we ate and gave our opinions on food.
You see, this would benefit both of us. They would get a show on TV and I would get food to take with me.
Problem solved 👍🏼.
I named the TV show “Fresno Eatz”
I got a big crew to help me out and we then went out to local community owned restaurants and filmed the show.
We all ate good🤗.
This photo was at one location in Tower district. As you see, I look far from “homeless”. I would get ready in the bathroom at CMAC. I would get my hair and make up done by a friend at CMAC & dress the “I’m not homeless” part to stay Invisible about my homelessness.
I did this because, if someone knew I was homeless, they would treat me differently, so I would hide it as best as I could. Doing that drained me. Why couldn’t I just be me?
Why couldn’t I just be an individual that needed help.
When people started to find out, they would ask me if I were a drug addict or alcoholic. I responded “No”. That’s when they assumed I wanted to be homeless. 😓
That’s why I started interviewing our street families so the community can understand who we are and why we became homeless.
That’s how “Fresno Eatz” tv show started & how I was able to get food to survive.
Thank you CMAC for not throwing me out when you found me hiding out in your building. Thank you Cesar for sitting and teaching me the skills I needed. Thank you CMAC crew for all their hard work on set. Thank you Anita, you did so much and was my rock during my toughest times. Thank you Myisha for making me look good 🤗 hair & makeup.
Thank you Michael for helping me escape my homeless reality. He is another Angel that helped me through my tough times.
Trying to survive homelessness in Fresno Ca is very hard. Trying to hide & fake your not homeless is exhausting.
Never judge a book by its cover.
We are Homeless
We are Human
We are Not Invisible
~Dez~
#fresnoeatz #homelessinfresno #homelesslivesmatter #tvshow #shoplocal #supportlocal #howisurvivedhunger
#endhunger #endhomlessness
We Are Not Invisible 