PHOENIX, AZ — A Phoenix woman who once found herself homeless after a health crisis and unexpected car repair bill has turned her experience into a children's book and a new chapter in her own life.
AnnaMarie Harris, now a homeless advocate, was living in Mesa and working 3 jobs when her circumstances suddenly changed. Overwhelmed and out of options, she said she made a decision to just start walking.
"I decided I'm going to start walking, and either I'm going to die walking or die trying, ya know?"
A short stay at a shelter eventually led her to St. Vincent de Paul and Rosalie's Place, where case manager Anna Contreras said she saw potential in Harris from the start.
"I told her when she came in, she was going to be my superstar. I could just tell from her, her personality, her motivation," Contreras said.
St. Vincent de Paul offers clients a safe place to begin rebuilding their lives, often starting with something as basic as transportation. For Harris, that meant a bicycle.
"St. Vincent gave me a bike and a beautiful, beautiful bike — not even you know, just a broken — a beautiful bike, in perfect, in wonderful condition — by them doing that, that gave me the opportunity to be able to get to where I needed to be, so that I could get a job, and so I could continue to get to work," Harris said.
The organization also provides financial literacy classes, help with legal documents, and requires clients to register to volunteer.
For Harris, those resources led to a new job and eventually a new apartment.
"It felt so amazing to know that that I wasn't — that I'd made it out of the situation that I really thought was going to break me completely, you know, and I couldn't possibly have ever done that without St. Vincent," Harris said.
Harris has now completed the children's book that tells her story.
The book begins, "My shoes were worn. My shoulders hunched. My clothes were all in tatters."
She closes it with these final words.
"I'm so very thankful for what was given to me, more grateful than you'll ever know."
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