Rising Up
Rising Up
Sara Juliano, 41, made her way back to Maine after living in a large tent city in Florida. The nearly 1,500 miles of hitchhiking brought her to Waterville to be closer to her daughters. The life is the same though.
Juliano arrived alone with nothing. She found an empty spot in a tent on the island courtesy of Shawn Stanford and Amanda Frasier. The couple had just been evicted from their apartment but had extra space in a tent that was being used to store their belongings that they were able to keep after moving into the tent.
Juliano, at barely 5 feet tall weighing maybe 100 pounds, was no stranger to homelessness. It’s been a part of her life for as long as she can remember. An independent and wise person to the streets, she’s very capable of taking care of herself. She, however, needs assistance to inject herself with drugs. A friend has to perform that task. And it probably saved her.
Soon after the colder temperatures arrived in October, Juliano was the first person to leave the encampment for a spot in the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter.