Anne Quarles: A Study of Homelessness

Each afternoon, Anne Quarles watches people pass by, some faces are familiar, some are new, and some pass by too quickly to tell. Rarely do they stop.

When it’s hot, the pedestrians are eager to go back to their air conditioned homes. When it’s cold, they bustle by just to grab a coffee. If it’s raining, they hurry home to stay dry. Anne, however, is subject to whatever the world brings her way. Hot, cold, or raining, Anne watches the mirage of people pass by.

Anne Quarles is homeless.

As a high school graduate in the small town of Portland, MO, Quarles viewed Columbia as a place filled with opportunity. Yearning to discover a new horizon, Quarles packed her bags, hugged her family members goodbye, and prepared for a new era of independence.

Quarles knew finding a job was the most important part of her transition. Initially, she registered with the non-profit organization, Love in the Name of Christ, which helped her find employment at Hardees for ten years.

“Love INC helps, but they ran out of funds,” Quarles said.

“I worked at Hardees for ten years, but I was fired. I might not have had extra, but I had what I needed.”

Quarles, now 43, said finding lasting employment has not been easy. Each day, she is victim to the harsh judgments of those telling her “to get a job”. She has found that Columbia’s exhilarating opportunities are only available for select individuals. Therefore, she has found herself trapped in society’s double standard.

“Places don’t want to hire me,” Quarles said. “If they see you with your bags, they say, ‘Why would we want to hire you?’ When they know you’re homeless, they don’t want you.”

Despite the frustration, Quarles is persistent to get back on her feet. Until Quarles receives a callback or a job offer, she sits at the corner of 9th and Locust between the hours of 11 a.m.- 2 p.m., hoping to collect enough money to make it through the day. This also means facing public scrutiny.

“People roll their eyes at me. I wish I could tell those people that they are one step away from where I am. Anyone can lose their job and be stuck just like me,” Quarles said.

Quarles’ good friend Jenna Hitt, who struggled with homelessness after moving from Sedalia to Columbia, also despises the public

scrutiny.

“People think it’s a choice and sometimes it’s not,” Hitt said. “They underestimate how hard it is to get a job. Homeless people are often stereotyped as drug attics or dangerous, but they actually are really good people that just have struggles.”
Quarles says the most common misconception that leads to snide comments is the public belief that all individuals should be able to rely on shelters or close family members during times of trouble. However, such assumptions are often inaccurate. For Quarles, her family situation is much more complicated.

“My family is pretty good, but they don’t know I’m homeless,” Quarles said.

“My Dad has got cancer and my Mom is in a nursing home. My sister has four kids. I just don’t want to stress them out with that, I know they’ve got their own problems and I don’t want to add on to it.”

Just as family cannot be of help at times, it turns out that neither can the homeless shelters. Although there are three shelters in Columbia, Quarles, her boyfriend Cain Williams, and Hitt all separately reported that funds are never available, or that they are always at capacity.

“They need more shelters,” Quarles said. “We know where three are, but every time they say, ‘We are out of funds.’ They are so full you can’t get in. We need more assistance, the shelters try to help but they run short.”

Although Quarles does not have family available to help her, and although there is no room at the shelter, Quarles is undeniably happy. Close friends say that there is something different about her aurora.

“I don’t know how Anne stays so optimistic, but I love it,” Hitt said. “Anne is an inspiration. She has a good heart, a really good

heart.”

Just like Hitt, an ordinary passerby might deem Quarles’ optimism baffling or even impossible. She does not have an air conditioner in the heat, a coffee when it’s cold, or a car to keep dry in the wind and the rain. Quarles however, would say that her heart is filled with love. The love for her boyfriend, Cain Williams, and the love in her Christian faith bring her joy.

Williams and Quarles met in February of 2013, at a bus station.

“When I first met her, I was like, ‘Who is that girl?” Williams said. “We had cocktails, and basically started hanging out.”

Williams attended two and a half years of college for industrial technology and was initially employed at the Broadway motel, working as an assistant for an elderly blind woman. One of Williams’ responsibilities was to help with taxes. Unfortunately, the woman continually accused him of taking her money.

“I wasn’t doing anything,” Williams said. “She just wouldn’t pay her bills and I kept telling her she needed to pay them in order to not accumulate more.”

Quarles and Williams decided the risk of continual accusation was not worth the job, as it could be damaging to his reputation when trying to get hired in the future. In the fall of 2014, Williams joined Quarles on the streets. Despite their lack of money, their adoration for each other is apparent.

“One week I went away to my Mom and Dad’s house, and he had missed me,” Quarles said. “When I got back, he gave me a little stuffed animal penguin. We called it Treasure. I was so sad though, because he fell out of my backpack. I used to keep that with me all the time, it was just so sweet.”

On top of Quarles’ love for Williams, she said faith plays a significant role in her life, and knowing that has a purpose each day she wakes up.

“I woke up this morning,” Quarles said. “When I wake up, it’s another day that I am here. I always try to keep my head up.”