Burying Important Items

Since Daniel has been living on the streets, he says he’s learned to keep one eye open so that nothing gets stolen. He’s learned to take extra precautions, going as far as even burying important items while he sleeps. But getting his ID back now, he says, is the first step to finding proper housing to live in.

Working in construction for the past 14 years, he’s grateful he still has a job that keeps him somewhat afloat. At times, it allows him to not only look out for himself, but for others living on the streets as well.

“Thank goodness I have a trades skill that I learned and I have some college [experience],” Daniel said. “This past weekend, I had some cash and I’m always thinking, ‘Well what am I going to do? So I bought a couple of guys some clothes, I got another couple of guys a room.’”

According to Daniel, looking out for other homeless people like that is part of the camaraderie among those on the streets. As a further example, with the help of a friend Daniel was recently able to arrange a hotel room. Around that time, he met a homeless woman who didn’t have any money, food, or a place to stay. Consequently, after sharing a meal she helped him go shopping, something he doesn’t typically like to do, and he bought a few things for her as well. Later on, he let her stay at the hotel so that they could both relax and get proper sleep.

“As soon as she was comfortable, she just slept,” Daniel said. “And it’s because you know that you're actually safe, with your Gatorade, beer, or whatever your little comfort is and actually let your guard down [that you can sleep]. So I just kind of let her sleep and watched the TV real low.”

Even though they were complete strangers, it’s the respect that comes with looking out for each other that Daniel appreciates.

“Even though you’re a stranger and I don't even know you, I love you anyways,” Daniel said. “I still have that protective bond. So if I ever see her again, it's going to pick up just like that and she was the same way with me. [There’s] that level of respect because when my eyes were closed, she was up. And that's, that's just kinda how it goes unspoken though, you know?”

Daniel says sometimes the help he provides bites him back, but he says he forgives others who are in need.

Burned by Generosity but Given New Chances Himself

That’s not to say that the people you help won’t take advantage of your generosity, however, he says. As while his guard was down, he says, she took a few things of his.

“You know, the devil brings a bone to your door, the devil brings one away,” Daniel said. “You have to learn how to survive one way or another. I knew she took from me and stuff like that when my guard was down. But I wasn't going to call her out on it because I know you’re just doing it because you don't know that I would've gave it to you anyways.”

Despite the times his generosity is taken advantage of, Daniel still finds room to understand and forgive.

“If you're gonna use the word love, you got to understand the meaning of it,” Daniel said. “They say when you become precious to God, you become important to the devil. I might not condone what you do, support what you're doing, or encourage you to do some of the things you do, but I'm going to love you regardless of what you do.”

For Daniel, spreading generosity is just one way he can pay forward what he’s received from his boss at his construction job.

“He was just like you're a good worker and I believe in second chances,” Daniel said. “So I just show up on time and do my job.”

Daniel’s second chance comes after spending five months in jail for trespassing on casino property. He had been walking all day and just needed a place to sit.

“I’m 34 years old and have never been in trouble, but I got put in jail for sitting in a dirt parking lot,” Daniel said. “It wasn't even the casinos, it was their overflow lot and there weren’t any signs or nothing.”

When he refused to move from the dirt lot, he was put in jail. Before he could post bond, however, his attorney had him undergo a competency hearing. But during the hearing, he says he got in an argument over an improper schizophrenia diagnosis, which landed him in a maximum security mental ward for the next five weeks.

“They look at me [when I got there], and they're like, ‘Oh, you're not going to be here a long time,’” Daniel said. “It felt so good to hear that because it's about as bad as you can imagine it [inside]. Thank goodness I wasn't on pills or nothing like that.”

Learning from the Mental Ward and Previous Homelessness

During his brief stint at the mental ward, Daniel was able to track down a doctor who recognized he didn’t belong there. Yet, the process for him to get out still took five weeks.

“[Five weeks] may not seem like a long time, but it is in a maximum security mental ward for the criminally insane,” Daniel said, referencing an inmate he met that was in for a double murder. “I mean, I'm not saying everybody in there is bad, but I’m just saying that there's two different kinds of crazy. I just have a mouth on me.”

Now that Daniel is back on his feet with his job, he hopes to find some housing in Reno. It’s not the first time he’s been homeless, however, having learned from a brief homeless stint in LA. At the time he was a part-time student while also working in construction part-time.

“I got denied housing, food stamps, and all that because I was a part time student,” Daniel said. “But if I kept my job and dropped the student, then I would get food stamps.”

So Daniel dropped out of his studies, which was the reason he went down to LA to begin with. It’s through experiences like this that he learned it’s the people that understand the loopholes of the system that benefit the most. Oftentimes, it even comes down to certain strategies on how one fills out certain application forms, he says, something Daniel doesn’t have time to do while he’s working construction.

“We're up at six o'clock and work until two or three on the days we get picked,” Daniel said. “I need the help a lot more than some, but I don't always know what they want [on the forms]. I have never taken the time to be like, ‘So what am I supposed to say to these ones?’”

Meanwhile, it’s the people he works with as well as those in the city of Reno that keeps him going everyday.

“That's one thing about Reno, too,” Daniel said. “I always say it's just a bunch of small town people in a city and [my] company is definitely like it. It takes a village to raise a kid and they're always eager to show you something if you want to learn and they're just great like that.”

Daniel likens the city of Reno to a black hole, for despite however established you might be elsewhere, there’s something about Reno that seems to draw you back in, he said. There’s a sense of joy that comes from the little victories he sees in people each day, too.

“That's why I don't mind buying clothes for [other homeless], even though I probably could have got a room for a couple more nights,” Daniel said. “It's the right thing to do anyways. And there's nothing like fresh socks, you know what I mean? So we get some socks and underwear, a shirt that fits and it may only cost $28, but that's a big deal.”

To Daniel, it’s bringing joy to himself and to others that is ultimately what will matter at the end of it all.

“The Egyptians, right?” Daniel said. “In order to get into their heaven, you only had to answer truthfully to two questions: One was did you find joy in your life? The second one, was how did your life bring joy to others? Consider that in your day to day life. Would you be able to answer those two honestly?”

Daniel’s answer to that question was quite simple: “Absolutely, yeah.”

Reporting by Scott King for Our Town Reno