LAS VEGAS, NEV. (ANS) -- Homeless people roam the 95 degree streets of Las Vegas, some going through trash cans, some sitting there with signs asking for money, and some just sitting.

Kenny

No one seems to pay a whole lot of attention to them. They might almost be part of the scenery. During a recent trip to Las Vegas with friends, I found Kenny on Fremont Street.

According to Wikipedia, “Fremont Street is ... the second most famous street in the Las Vegas Valley after the Las Vegas Strip. (It was) named in honor of explorer John Charles Frémont and located in the heart of the downtown casino corridor.”

With all of the bustling activity, liquor, vendors and casinos, experiencing Fremont Street was something akin to spending a concert night at the Hard Rock Pavilion, the State Fair and all of our casinos rolled into one. It’s known as the “Fremont Street Experience.” Kenny’s a part of the “experience” not talked about so much.

I asked Kenny, who was in a wheelchair, if he was hungry. He said he was, so I gave him a gift card for a fast food restaurant. He agreed to talk with me for a few minutes about being homeless in Las Vegas.

He said he is surviving, but life is difficult. Kenny said he’d been in Las Vegas for 18 months, homeless for about five years total, and came there because he believed he could find work. He’s been in a wheelchair for about six months.

Being homeless in Las Vegas, he said, “Sucks. Pardon my English but it sucks ... I shattered my ankle, lost my job, and of course I ended up losing my apartment cause I couldn't pay for it. That's what happens when you work under the table; you don't get no benefits.”

Kenny described a typical day. “Panhandling to survive; to eat. To have a drink so you can go to sleep on the bare ground.”

He added, “I have a lot of health problems all of sudden and I won't take pills so I ended up drinking; ended up getting addicted to that. (I) should have took the darn pills, ha ha ... ”

Kenny said he has been attacked and robbed three times – close to where I was talking to him.

He said, (I was) “trying to find a place to sleep ... cause I try to stay away from all the others, because they’re the ones that steal from you. They’re the ones that attack you. You have no friends out here. You just have people that want to take from you.”

Kenny said he gets moved on a lot by the police. (It’s) constant. It depends on their moods, and which officer, but yeah .. they make me move.”

I asked Kenny if there was a law against panhandling. He said, “Yeah, but there's not supposed to be a law against flying a sign that doesn't ask for money but they gave me a ticket for it. Oh, they're gonna give me probably five days (in jail).”

I wondered what Kenny would say to people who would say he could get help if he really wanted to.

Drinking, he said, makes some area homeless services inaccessible to him. The alcohol he uses to numb the pain has now resulted with him waking up with the shakes.

“So I have to have a drink to calm down and cure my stomach and I can't use the services,” he said.

Heart Attack Grill

As our conversation continued, I learned that Kenny had worked all his life. He said he’s been a carpenter, an electrician, a painter and a gardener. He said he’s fighting for disability benefits.

I asked Kenny if he had one wish what it would be. He said it would be to get a bus ticket back to Santa Cruz, Calif. While he doesn’t have family there, Kenny said he does have friends, access to health care and a place he can get a job. Tears were running down his cheeks as he’d been talking.

I asked Kenny if I could pray with him. He gladly accepted. Will you also say a prayer for Kenny?

After leaving Kenny and continuing my journey down Fremont Street, I passed the Heart Attack Grill, where anyone over 350 pounds eats free. I couldn’t help but thinking that this was somewhat ironic. Only in America, right?

Jeremy Reynalds is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, a freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "Homeless in the City." Additional details on "Homeless in the City" are available at http://www.homelessinthecity.com. Reynalds lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@comcast.net.