Scoop, 50

'The Go-To Guy'

"I almost died behind the Maverik station. I got NARCANed [life-saving drug for overdoses]. One of the managers of the Maverik station up on North Temple and 200 West knew me, and she got me – I had refused the hospital at first – she got me down to the detox center at VOA Detox  [Volunteers of America Detoxification Center].

I had gone through all my money and ended up homeless again. But I’ve been sober and off meth since September of last year.

The things that have helped me out the most since last September is Hannah at the library. She’s a social worker, runs a group every Wednesday out at the [Salt Lake City] library. It’s not like AA, but it’s a community, coffee and conversation group. Anybody can come, whether they’re homeless, drug addict, it doesn’t matter. It’s more for your mental, emotional health. The library, VOA and Odyssey House do it together.

Being a part of any group, I think, helps the homeless, especially. Being a part of groups helps us because … when we’re homeless, we’re fighting down there at the bottom, for a place to stay, and where’s my next meal coming from. But it’s important to have that third level, to have that socialization because we’re social animals. Having something to do every day and having a schedule helps us homeless a lot.

Homelessness has been more recently. I was homeless back in 2002 and 2003, before I helped form One World Everybody Eats Café. And then I wasn’t homeless pretty much until my battle with custody over my kids. That hit me in 2013. Finances. Everything else. My company folding under – I owned SLC Rockstarz [sic] at the time. I was co-owner of Rocky Mountain Hard Core Clothing. We were pretty good for a while. I experienced homelessness again because of Covid.

Helping other people helps me. I’m kind of the go-to guy at places. People come to me for info. I even created a little thing on Facebook called Rumm Rumm’s Corner. This is my dog, Rumm Rumm.

I play harmonica, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, bass, piano and I’m learning bagpipes right now. I have a master’s [degree] in political science, and I have a culinary arts degree, and I’m a master chef… and I’m an ordained minister."

Photograph and story documented by Stephen Speckman.