The grim reality of what it’s like to be homeless can, for the most part, only be told through the eyes and voices of those who have lived it or are close to someone who has.
For Jarod Beardon, he said his personal experience of being homeless has scarred him in ways he has yet to come to grips with.
“I remember having to walk the streets at night, having to look for a safe and secure place. I remember feeling so tired that I felt like at any moment I could pass out on the streets or in some random ditch. I remember having a working cellphone but not having one number or person that I could call that would let me stay the night,” he recalled.
Beardon said his bout with homelessness started in Arizona and continued after he relocated to Utah. He shared his story with a crowd of people who gathered at Pioneer Park for a candlelight vigil to memorialize more than 75 individuals who died while experiencing homelessness in Salt Lake County over the past year…