Racheal has a roof over her head, but she hasn't forgotten how hard it was to survive on the streets
Before Racheal Dulaney’s mother died of cancer, she made Racheal promise to leave her abusive marriage. If she didn’t, her mom said, she’d come back to haunt her.
“And I very much believed her,” said Racheal, “because we’re an Irish family.”
So six years ago, Racheal left her abusive husband, her two sons and a home in Redding, California, and headed to Portland with her brother. He wasn’t going to let her go through this alone.
Four days later, they ran out of money and ended up sleeping in a doorway in the rain. Racheal had never been homeless before.
“It was shocking,” she said about how people would walk past them. “They didn’t even bother to ask if I was OK.”
Racheal ended up in the hospital, her body temperature down to 94 degrees.
“It’s been a long, long road,” she said. Racheal quickly figured out how to take care of herself and her brother, but it was a brutal life. They posed as a couple to get into a shelter for a while. They lived in tents and slept in hospital lobbies. She got into another abusive relationship that took her to Austin, Texas, where she was isolated and alone. She had a son and gave him another family through adoption.
“Giving up my son was the toughest decision I ever made, but it was the greatest act of love I could have given him. He was 3 days old.”
Today, he’s 4 years old, and she thinks about him every day. Her older sons, back in California, have also been adopted.
“They’re amazing kids,” she said. “My son tells me that now he has two great moms.”
Racheal met Raven Drake, the Ambassador Program coordinator for Street Roots, in January 2020. They clicked, and Raven invited Racheal to share a tent. Then, when Raven got housing, Racheal and her brother joined her.
“Raven has become my sister,” Racheal said. “She’s my person that is always there for you no matter what.”
While Racheal has a roof over her head now and a home with her brother and Raven, she has not forgotten how it felt to be alone, ignored, cold and sick on the streets. During February’s snowstorm, she was at the Street Roots office, helping 43 vendors get dry clothes and warm jackets, hats and gloves. She is part of the Gratitude Brigade at Street Roots, calling and writing cards to people who donate money and supplies.
Being homeless for so long, Racheal said, “gave me a drive and determination to never ever treat anyone the way I was treated. To try to understand what’s going on. We’re all just one paycheck away from being in that doorway.”
Today, Racheal sells Street Roots outside the Dollar Tree at the Oregon Trail Center in Gresham and in Old Town at Southeast First Street and Burnside Street.
She also dreams of starting a shelter for LGBTQ+ people. Portland has 11 resources for women who are victims of domestic violence, she said, and just one specifically for the LGBTQ+ community.
“As a cisgender woman,” she said, “I’ve had certain privileges. And I don’t find that right at all.”
For people experiencing homelessness now, Racheal has some encouragement, mined from her own life: “It’s always darkest before the dawn. Just hang on. I’m praying for them.”
And for herself, too, she has compassion for her past. “I’ve made peace with it. It happened. I can’t change it. All I can do is be smarter.”
She said she’s learned not to repeat the cycle of abuse. “I deserve a lot better than I have been settling for,” she said.
Street Roots is an award-winning weekly publication focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.
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