Michele Roman talks about her life on the street and her new future.
PINELLAS PARK – To look at Michele Roman you’d never know that she was a former homeless crack addict.
The blonde mother of a teenage daughter has been drug free since August and is off the streets and living at Touched by an Angel Ministries, a shelter operated by the Rev. Jeffrey Polhill and his wife, Vonda.
“Helping people is what we do,” Polhill said. “Michele came to us for help and we extended our hand to her.”
For Roman the ministry has been a godsend. It gave her the opportunity to start life anew.
“It’s tough living on the streets,” Roman said. “They will eat you alive out there.”
“They” are the other homeless people. Nearly 6,000 of them live in Pinellas County, a number that is increasing as the nation’s economic climate worsens. They live in doorways, in wooded campsites along major roads such as 66th Street and U.S. 19, in empty buildings, and in the few shelters that are available.
“I never, ever thought that I would be a homeless person,” Roman said. “But there I was on the streets.”
A product of a middle income family and an only child, Roman moved with her parents to Pinellas County from New Jersey at the age of 15. She attended Seminole High School and graduated from the Community Christian School of Largo.
“I never did drugs as a teenager,” Roman said.
By 19, though, she was a mother. As a single parent she worked her way through St. Petersburg College and later graduated from what is now the Galen School of Nursing of St. Petersburg.
Life was good, despite financial hardships. As a licensed practical nurse she worked for Palms of Pasadena Hospital in South Pasadena and later for Largo Health Care. She liked nursing and helping people, but then the roof caved in when she lost custody of her now 16-year-old daughter.
“I started using drugs and became addicted to crack cocaine and other narcotics,” Roman said.
Her weight dropped from about 130 pounds to under 90. She lost her nursing job.
“I wanted to die,” Roman said. “I didn’t care any more ... “
Roman lived with friends, or in halfway houses, on the streets and for a while called her car home. She won an $8,500 settlement from an automobile accident and spent it all on crack.
“The money was gone in a week and a half,” she said.
She was arrested for disorderly conduct, DUI and finally for felony possession of narcotics. That’s when she decided to turn her life around.
“I knew I couldn’t go on like that,” she said. “The last year was a horror story.”
On Aug. 11 she completed detoxification and shortly thereafter moved into the ministry. She talks with her daughter regularly.
“I’ve been alone in the world for so long and now I have people that care,” she said.
But she still has a long road to follow. Because of her felony drug arrest she attends the Pinellas County Adult Drug Court administered by Judge Dee Anna Farnell of the 6th Judicial Circuit Court.
Completing the program will result in the dismissal of her charges. Defendants appear before Farnell every 30- to 45-days during the 24-month program and they must remain drug free.
“She’s a wonderful and understanding judge,” Roman said of Farnell.
Because of her drug arrest Roman also faces the possibility of losing her nursing license. She still must appear before the Florida State Nursing Board, even though her drug arrests resulted from street activities and not theft from a medical facility.
“I want to return to nursing, and I want to help people again,” Roman said. “I want to become a functioning member of society.”
She eventually wants to return to school to become a registered nurse.
The ministry, Roman said, has helped her in many ways. The religious-based organization does that with scores of people each day who live and work at the facility.
“I always had a fear in life of not ever to become homeless,” Roman said. “I now have a fear of never again becoming homeless.”
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