When George Waltz first became homeless, he was just 16 years old. “My parents were drinkers,” remembers the man with the long white beard – he couldn’t stay at home any longer. And even later in life, the now 60-year-old had bad luck again and again. Accidents at work in a sawmill destroyed his knees, and private problems added to this. And with it, homelessness. He was last without a place to stay for seven years. And life on the streets of Eugene, Oregon finished him off.
If you walk through Eugene, you will see people with shopping carts and plastic bags on almost every corner. People confused, talking to themselves, crying, screaming and wandering the sidewalks disoriented. And all this in a “progressive” West Coast town known for its hippie image.
