Will Sparks turns 38 next month. He is someone the system calls “perpetually homeless.” He ran away from an unsafe home in Clovis, New Mexico, when he was 14 years old, and except for short periods, has been unhoused for more than 20 years. I cannot do justice to Will’s story in a short profile like this, but will share a little about what he told me. I met him in line at Feet Forward a few weeks ago – without a doubt one of the most gregarious and outgoing men who attends “Tuesdays in the Park,” and after meeting me once, he surprised me by remembering my name. I told him I was writing these profiles and he was willing to share his story (and his picture), but was clear to me that his life has been complex. It is a story that includes prison and multiple stints in jail and half-way houses; it is a story also of addiction, numerous stays in rehab, and finally getting clean from heroin, alcohol, and oxycontin. He has been clean since 2009, although he still uses weed (and has medical license).

 This is a story with pieces many will recognize – like a semester studying at CU, which got totally disrupted when his then wife took his grant money and left the State. His dream at that time had been to be an alderman in Boulder. At one point, he was hired to be on “The Homeless Real World,” a mocumentary that got canceled. But addiction derailed too many of his life plans, and he ended up with multiple drug violations and a burglary and trespassing charge (for breaking into his own house when he’d been locked out). Will did not make any excuses for himself or for why things happened as they did. He spent four years in prison, and then broke his probation, which made him a fugitive. This past May, with a job (and later unemployment), he turned himself in. He is now back on probation with two years to go, and goes in once a week to get drug-tested (excluding marijuana).

 Will has been married more than once, and has children (including one now living in Canada). After being homeless and in and out of jail as a teenager in New Mexico, he ended up in Louisiana where he lived with his wife in Gonzalez. They had to leave after Hurricane Katrina, which is how he first ended up in Denver. FEMA put his wife up in the Aristocrat Hotel, and then she left Colorado for good in 2006. Will worked for a while as a doorman at the Marquis Theatre in Denver, but he said his primary work has been as a “struggling artist.” He currently has a band, SFS (Sick From Society; a mix of reggae and ska and “sick boy music”) and they play wherever they can get gigs, including Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Wyoming. Will said he returned to Colorado more in the winter months because it is quieter. He most recently received a housing voucher through the Boulder Housing Authority lottery system, and now has 120 days to find an apartment that will take his housing voucher. Will explained that his housing will then be covered for 90 days, and after that his rent will be determined by his income. He has worked with MTS Mobile Staffing before, and is a certified flagger and traffic controller. He is also now working on getting his license and passport so he can go visit his child in Canada. For the past two months, he has been sleeping in a friend’s camper van and focusing on his music. His hope is that after he gets housed, he will also have the opportunity to pursue voice acting, which has been another dream of his.

 I don’t want the worst days of Will’s life to define him. I don’t want that to be true for anyone. I liked sitting outside talking with him and I understood why people in the unhoused community consider him someone who “sherpas up” (which Will explained to me is a Rainbow gathering term for helping people out). He said his “greatest adventures always start with helping someone else.” After listening to him share his story – which is a vulnerable one, and not always pleasant or easy to take in – I hope that Will is able to now really accept help himself. I hope he gets that apartment, gets work, and that he gets to practice his music with a roof over his head, and out of the cold. If Will continues to do what he’s doing, and he gets the support he needs, I think Will’s story will be a true turn-around one.