Bobbie Prince sells The Contributor in downtown Nashville. She's been sick with pneumonia, in and out of the hospital and having a hard time fighting back.
She is dressed in clean black sweats, grey hair pulled neatly back. There's a horseshoe-shaped scar in the middle of her forehead. "Abusive relationship," she explains. "Cut me with a scalpel. He's gone a long time now though."
Bobbie came from Manchester, Tenn.
"I left there in '92. I dropped out in 10th grade and worked assembly line at the chicken plant awhile. Then I was a cook at the nursing home. Stayed there until I got too sick to work.
"I was diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder. But we didn't know what that was back then. Ever since I was a kid, I always thought there was another person watching me, all the time. Then the voices got bad. Wasn't no medicine so you self-medicated, drank or did drugs. Then, when that didn't work no more you had a drug and alcohol problem too. That's how I became homeless.
"It's been 10 years on the street. You survive by falling in with a clique. People living same way as you. Drugs and alcohol. Abuse. I have high blood pressure. Diabetes real bad. AIDS. But I'm not afraid. You have to make peace with who you are and where you've been.
"I slept at the Mission. Under the bridge. Empty buildings. Abandoned cars. Ten years. Lots of guilt and shame. Weren't no hope. I was hopeless. Thought I was un-helpable. I really believed that.
"I hit bottom and ended up at Vandy psych. First Response and Cares reached out to me. A place called Eckman/Freeman helped me find a place to live. Then I got connected with The Contributor. In a way, hitting bottom saved my life.
"It's hard to sell the paper being ill. But you have to make it work. Lot of days I wouldn't eat if not for The Contributor.
"I made $3 so far today. It helps tremendously. Not just the money, it helps me to get out of the house and have a focus. To work and meet people.
" I have a son and three grandkids".
(Bobbie removes photos from a Ziploc bag. Her eyes light as she shows pictures.)
"Even at the worst, I carried these pictures.
"I don't know how much longer I'll be here. My story is hard but maybe it will help someone not have to walk the way I walked. To know there's hope. Every day is a blessing. Every day."