“If you have the opportunity to take a shower, you’re going to take a shower. You’re going to take a two hour long shower if you can.” ⎯Oli

“It’s wild when I hear people talk about mental illness like it’s some kind of cute, romanticized thing. You don’t understand. You don’t understand how hard disabilities actually are.” ⎯Oli

“Most of our kids have severe trauma… They’re in a constant state of fight or flight … It actually causes brain damage, long term significant trauma.”⎯ Michele Gehr, Eddy House Executive Director

“[Eddy House] has helped me out a lot. I’ll have no food, I’ll be fresh out of food and they’ll be like, “Hey. Come eat some food …” - Oli

“I hate asking people for help. I’m like, ‘Look, you don’t understand… I’ve been thinking about this for two weeks and now I’m asking because I’m about to die.”” ⎯Oli

“People who are homeless⎯I don’t look homeless⎯you wouldn’t think I was homeless if you saw me walking down the street. I keep myself up; I find ways to shower; I have nice pieces of clothes, people donate. You go to Eddy House, you see those kids; they’re in Adidas, they’re in Nikes. The people who work there often look less privileged than a lot of the kids do.”⎯Oli

“In 2015, when we opened, we had fewer than 100 kids. Last year, in 2018, we had 682. Nevada has the fastest growing homeless youth population in the country.” ⎯Gehr

Reporting and Photos by Elliejean Nestaval shared with Our Town Reno