Story from the heart
NZPA Boston Lashanda Daniels, aged thirteen, did not have to spend any time in the library doing research for her prize-winning essay on the homeless. For five months she slept at a city shelter, sharing one room with her mother and four brothers. During the months she spent there, Lashanda told only her closest friends where she went each night; her family has since managed to find an apartment, but the memories of the shelter remain vivid. “First you hate yourself for being in that predicament,” she said. "Then that feeling of hate spreads towards those around you. You find yourself being jealous of those who have a home and you feel as if everyone looks down on you.” In her essay, written soon after she left the shelter, Lashanda described self-pity as the enemy of the homeless. The contest, “What Can We Do About Homelessness?” was sponsored by the police department and a radio station and drew more than 600 entries.
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Press, 28 June 1989, Page 19
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166Story from the heart Press, 28 June 1989, Page 19
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