| Produced in collaboration with homeless people and shown
on PBS, this thought provoking homeless video is recommended by the National Coalition for the Homeless. The video is
widely considered to be the best and most broadly applicable case study available on the scope and diversity of
homelessness in America. |
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Tina Meyer became involved with the homeless video when she was fifteen, homeless, living on the streets, and three
months pregnant. We met her at a McDonalds frequented by run away and throw away kids.
Among these kids "McPunks" was home and to each other they were "family." In this surrogate "family" everyone had a
family role to play, ranging from father and mother to distant cousin. Together they shared the money they panhandled,
helped each other locate "squats," and gave each other the affection they may never have gotten at home.
Tina had been living on the streets for a year when we met her during the Winter. She had run away from home allegedly
due to physical abuse. She lived primarily on the money she got from pan handling and scrounged each day for a new place
to sleep.
By Spring the burden of carrying her pregnancy on the streets drove Tina to return to her "biological family." There she
established a livable arrangement with her parents, who were very happy to have her back. Later that Spring, she gave
birth to an eight pound baby boy who was not only healthy but very photogenic.
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©copyright, 2005