Oh, I guess it's been about seven years now. You think it can never happen to you. I became homeless, and I'd never been homeless before. So it was scary. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to do. I had no family in town. It was a tough situation.

My name is Betsy Rischman, and I live in Gresham. I'm from the East Coast, but I've been out here long enough to say this is home. I have three children. They're all grown and up and out of the house. Employment on and off through the years, grocery clerk, that type of thing.

Lived up in Springwater out of Estacada for 15 years. It was nice out there. I like to fish. That's my passion. One of them fishing and gardening, and my dog. My husband died, unfortunately, so I had to sell the house and that's when I came into Portland the first time.

Out in Gresham by the high school is where I was living on at that time. Yeah, and then like I said, the bottom fell out. And it's a very, very uneasy, scary, scary feeling to just have your car.

Going into that scene, I didn't know what to expect. When all is said and done, it couldn't have been a better place for me to have wound up. It was very safe. They were very understanding, lots of resources. They pretty much taught me what I needed to do to be successful, to get suitable housing, the right kind of housing.

It got me here to where I'm at now, so that's what I'm very, very, very grateful for, having my own place and my dog too because it's tough in a car and it's tough in a shelter sometimes.

I've been here 3 and 1/2 years going on four. Thank goodness for subsidized housing. Otherwise, I couldn't afford the rent. But I feel very fortunate to have my own place and be right here, right in the middle of anything and everything I need. There's a park one block that way, MAX is right here, so it works out well.

I haven't had anybody to lean on or talk to except for the shelter. And I took that step and tested to see if the doors were still open, even after I moved out on my own. And absolutely, they've never turned me down. Heather will come here and talk to me, or she'll talk to me on the phone and she'll give me her opinion and her advice.

Yeah, they're there for me financially. I get a great deal help with my medical, my medicine, my doctor's appointments, and they've been moral support just to help me get through some tough times.

The little things become more important to you because you appreciate a lot more. Come here. They're good, for you. You can have that one. I know I do. I don't take anything for granted. I try not to.

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