Invisible Faces
Their Stories
There are a variety of reasons why a youth or young adult leaves hope and begins a chapter of their life on the streets. Many of those reasons are due to family dysfunction, parental neglect, and family addiction. Many are also left on the street to fend for themselves in towns and cities they don't know. Some are turned away by families solely for their sexual and/or gender identity. And when they become homeless, they often feel as though they are invisible to the communities around them. These are some of their stories and experiences, so they are no longer invisible.
When I moved to Olympia, I was 21 years old. I had barely aged out of foster care in Oregon and I’d graduated from a residential mental health facility just a couple months prior to coming here. I had relapsed on drugs a couple weeks before I moved here after almost 3 years clean and sober. When I moved up to Olympia, my mom, her boyfriend, and I all started using together. I had no idea just how low my addiction would take me this time around, but it nearly broke me more than once. I went through many mental health breakdowns and tons of depressive states in which I thought I would never come back from. I’m diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder which the drugs, of course, didn’t help with. There are many times I went through episodes where I was severely hallucinating with severe delusions and paranoia. I don’t remember hardly anything that happened during those times, which is absolutely terrifying to me to this day. I spent almost 6 years on the streets of Olympia doing drugs and sleeping in alcoves or just straight on the sidewalks. I felt like I was all alone until I met Our Ark and the people working with Our Ark. It took me time to trust them, but once I did, they became people I could trust and rely on being there for me when I needed it. There was an incident back in 2022 where I was hit with a machete when walking back to town from my friend’s campsite. I had to get 20 staples and 6 stitches in my head and when I went to the hospital, they could see my skull, that’s how deep the blade cut me. I have no clue who did that, but it is a miracle I survived. Even after that happened, though, I went straight back to what I was doing before even though Our Ark and other support teams tried so hard to get me to accept their help to get me off the streets and into a better living situation. I didn’t care about myself or whether I made it to see the next day. Actually, there were many times I just wanted to end my life because it was so hard and I felt unworthy of living. I never thought I would be able to turn my life around until I had my daughter. I found out I was pregnant in 2023 and when I went for my ultrasound I was measuring at 4 months along already. I was in shock that not only was I pregnant, but that the baby survived for 4 months through my heavy drug use and abusive boyfriend at the time. I struggled throughout my whole pregnancy with homelessness until about a week before I gave birth when I got funding from a program that put me in a hotel room then a family shelter. I gave birth to my daughter March 25th 2024 and have been off the streets and sober since. Our Ark even came to the hospital to meet my daughter after she was born and continues to support me and be a part of my daughter’s life still to this day. My baby turns 2 years old this year. We have a 2 bedroom apartment, her dad is sober as well living with us, I'm in college at SPSCC, and I'm volunteering with Our Ark now as well. My life is beautiful and much more worth living now. I am so thankful to Danny and the Our Ark team for helping me and caring about me when I felt like I was alone in the world and didn’t matter. I genuinely don’t know where I would be without their love and support. They saved me more times than I could count from hurting myself or ending my life. I will forever be grateful for them coming into my life when I needed it most. -Glayz Welch
Nathan
Between 18 and 23, I went through some of the hardest years of my life.
I didn’t have stability. Most days, I felt invisible… like no one saw me.
Then Our Ark found me.
They helped with food, clothes, hygiene, and sometimes a place to stay—but what meant the most was that they listened.
They helped me get my ID… something I couldn’t do on my own.
That changed everything.
For the first time, I had a real chance to start building my life.-N.J.