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  • Jack’s Journey

© 2011 Erika J. Schultz/ The Seattle Times

Kim, 47, left Chicago with her sons, Jack, 9, and Tom, 19, last April hoping to find a secretarial job and a new start. Kim tried to navigate a complex web of social-service agencies, while keeping Jack clean and fed without running water and electricity at times. Although money is tight, and obstacles are around every turn, they try to keep optimistic. They have each other, Jack’s active imagination and hope of a better life in a new city. Jack warms up by the Nickelsville campfire, waiting for his beans to cook. Keeping him fed and clean without consistent running water and electricity was difficult in Skyway, Kim said. Jack marches through Nickelsville, the only tent city that allows children, with a bamboo stick given to him by a fellow resident. Jack left third grade in Chicago in mid-April. Since then, his mother, who is planning to enroll Jack in school in the fall, has kept him reading magazines and books. “My mom is a supporting woman,” Jack said. “She cares about everyone and everything.” Jack watches his dog, Gracie, while his mother, Kim, shops for dinner at a Skyway corner store. Jack pouted because Kim denied his request for chicken nuggets. She needed a meal she could cook over the campfire or on a grill. Jack examines the American flag that hangs at Nickelsville’s entrance. The tent city is run on “direct democracy,” where homeless residents are elected from within the camp to run the facility. Jack looks for worms next to a small creek at Nickelsville in Skyway. Imaginative, gregarious and active, Jack would sometimes enlist other residents to help him look for worms. On other days, he’d play with a pogo stick, in mud puddles or with the camp’s resident kittens and dogs. Kim and Jack brought Chinese takeout to their favorite lakeside park in Seattle. Jack’s fortune: “Your life will be happy and peaceful.” The nearest showers to Nickelsville in Skyway were at the Tukwila Community Center— a round trip of a couple of miles, up hills without sidewalks and through traffic. Kim and Jack approach a big hill that bridges Interstate 5. “I’ve discovered that’s the secret to every hill in Seattle. If we just take our time, and go really slow, we can get up eventually,” she said. With his flashlight and family dog close by, Jack plays with his toy plane before falling asleep in his tent at Nickelsville. He wears “Transformers” and “Star Wars” pajamas. His mom made their sleeping area out of a feather bed, couch cushions and more than a dozen moving quilts. Trips from Skyway to Seattle’s Urban Rest Stop were often all-day affairs for Kim and Jack. They relied on friends for rides to the center, which provides free showers and laundry. Here, Kim and Jack page through National Geographic magazines before cleaning up. Jack’s captivation with the magazine became evident to staff members during their visit. They asked Jack if he’d like to take some home in a paper bag. Delighted, he loaded up so many that the bag broke on the way out the door. Jack runs around wearing his Urban Rest Stop coveralls, with pants and sleeve cuffs rolled to fit his small size. Patrons dress in the coveralls to wash all of their clothes, including the ones they came in with. “The Urban Rest Stop is one of the only places families can take care of their needs as a unit,” said Ronni Gilboa, program manager. Gilboa said other facilities usually segregate services by age and gender, which can be difficult for families with children. Kim currently supports her family through unemployment checks and partial child support. She spent all her money relocating the family from Chicago, and putting their belongings in storage. Kim said the majority of her worry is for her son Jack. “I’m trying to do as much as I can to keep him having a normal childhood,” she said. After examining their new space, Kim asks Jack to scoot out of the room. Several Christian organizations helped Kim pay her deposit and offered $100 toward their first month’s rent. “There are people that need it [Nickelsville] in a pinch,” Kim said. “We didn’t take advantage of it. We stayed there. We left. That was it.” One of the first things Jack finds at their University District room is a spider. Here, he is seen through a small window next to the front door. “They [the bugs] are amazing,” said Jack, who wants to be a scientist when he grows up. “He just loves observing things,” Kim said. Jack rests on a mattress while moving into their rented room, where they share a bathroom and kitchen with other residents. “It was just a huge sense of relief to just get the hell out of that tent,” Kim said. Kim, Jack and their dog, Gracie, play around inside their new room. Kim said she treasures the quality time they’ve spent over the past couple of months. “For as hard as it’s been, I would have never gotten the opportunity to spend this time with him,” she said. Jack plays video games while Kim searches the Internet in their room in the University District. Although their family found housing, Kim then faced issues with bed bugs, landlords and finding help with childcare when looking for work. She also worried that her unemployment assistance would run out at the end of the year. Finally, in December, a low-income housing organization hired Kim for part-time desk work. Jack is repeating the the third grade.