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Daniel Roberts was just off of Lawrence St. downtown Denver Colorado and I met him as he was packing up his last night’s setup. He was putting on Chapstick as well as conducting personal hygiene. What caught my attention to him as opposed to the others in the saturated area was, he was wearing standard issue winter weights as we called them which is a military thermal underneath shirt or “poly pro”. I said did you happen to serve, and he said, “Hell yeah!” US Navy Great Lakes Naval Station where he worked as an Ad Aviation Machinist Mate on H2 helicopters. He said our job was to use Sonar buoys to look for submarines while working with battleship destroyers. Daniel said he went to Cuba, Desert Shield/Storm.
As he finished packing up, we were walking past an ally where he walked in picked up four cans after crushing them and threw them away. He said what my peers don’t get is if we pick up our trash other people won’t treat us like trash. He told me that as he can he picks up their trash. He said we can be homeless but don’t have to be nasty. During our conversation he mentioned that he served from 88-92 and after he got out his wife left with his two kids. Even though he lives on the streets he had a prepaid card and any earnings he receives he uses it to get prepaid cards to put minutes on it to call his children. As we walked, he told me we were headed to the convention center where
Project Homeless Connect is an annual, one-day event that is open to people of all ages who are experiencing homelessness – or facing housing instability. During this one-day event guests are able to access an array of services ranging from ID services, housing services, resume workshops, vision check and healthcare to veterans’ services, childcare, pet care and much more.