In this episode, you will hear Evy, HR advisor, and Danielle, senior program coordinator, share their experience of homelessness and food insecurity. Evy grew up in California and shares her story of moving from home to home while taking care of her siblings. Evy also shares how she put herself through college and grad school and worked at top companies to become financially secure and now, as a new employee at Mayo Clinic, she is working by choice. Danielle talks about living in 26 places by the time she was 26 years old and how she left her unsafe home at the age of 16 to live with a friend. Danielle didn’t recognize until later in life that she had experienced sheltered homelessness. Both share their journey of navigating life and how the support of friends helped them survive.  

Two types of homelessness experiences:  

According to Britannica.com, sheltered homelessness are individuals who spend the night in emergency shelters or in transitional, or temporary, housing. Unsheltered homelessness are individuals who sleep on the streets, in cars, in abandoned buildings, or in other places not intended for human habitation. 

Food insecurity is defined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a situation of "limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways".