I saw a woman on the street corner holding up a sign that read: "It Could HAPPen To you ... motorhome Stolen ... Took it All ... Will Work Anything Helps ... no phone ... no tent no Food ... Thank you god bless" (click on picture to expand ) I conducted a short interview with her. Her name is Angela B. She was using the bathroom in a Walmart, when her motorhome was stolen from the parking lot. She says she had left the keys in the motorhome. I asked which Walmart. She said the one in Yelm. Everything she owned was inside the motorhome, including her wallet and 3000 dollars of cash. She says she had a bank account at BECU, but she found out the account was overdrawn, the thief had used the cards in her wallet to empty out her bank account. Her cellphone was in the motorhome also. She said police told her that they will not conduct a search for a motorhome reported stolen if it is stationary. Only if it is being driven around on the road. I asked her how big the motorhome was, she said maybe about 20 feet long. I asked her when her motorhome was stolen. She says it was about 2 weeks ago, but wasn't sure the exact day. It's easy to lose track of time when you're homeless. (The day I interviewed her was February 8, 2024) She had tears in her eyes and almost came near the point of crying as she described what had happened. The temperature outside was 47 °F (8°C), just before lunchtime. She said her husband recently left her. She said her husband is 89 years old, and she 49. Her husband had left her the motorhome. She said she was raised in Spanaway, and claimed that never once in her entire life has she ever left the area between around Olympia and Spanaway, she has never travelled on a vacation. She said she lived a boring life. She says since her motorhome was stolen, she can't get to her job without transportation. And said she is also not able to work at a job without a place to sleep and clean herself, since to have a job she needs to be rested and keep up proper hygiene. I have heard of this before. Many homeless people with shelter are not able to get much sleep. They were worried about their personal safety, if someone will might attack them or steal their belongings, or it is too cold and unconformable to be able to get much rest. I asked what her job was. She said her uncle runs a hall for retired veterans, and she would help around the house for those who needed help. She said she needed 27 dollars more to be able to buy a phone because she needed internet access. I asked her if there was anything else she wanted to let people know. She said she would've given the shirt off her back if someone needed help, that she would've even let them stay with her (in her motorhome) if they needed it. "Nobody wants to help, nobody cares." She said her only addiction is cigarettes. I did ask her how she ended up in her present situation, before her motorhome was stolen, but she just looked at me puzzled and said she was doing perfectly fine before the motorhome was stolen. So I guess she just accepted living out of a motorhome as normal. Some people do come from poorer backgrounds, and the cost of housing in this region has rapidly been going up over the last 20 years, to the level it's not surprising some people cannot afford real housing. What I think this story illustrates is that a lot of people are closer to becoming homeless than they think. Sometimes it only takes one unexpected bad thing happening and a person can end up in a very bad situation. In this case this woman's entire home was stolen away. I also think about how many people underestimate the effects of crime rates. In many parts of the U.S. the theft rates are quite high. In this case, the theft of her motorhome was devastating to this woman. There are many people poor people who do not have enough money to afford replacing things that are stolen.
