Meag’s Story: "More than 1 million children experience homelessness in this country every year, and the impact it has on them now will change who they are for the rest of their lives."

Winter Walk believes that ending homelessness starts with ending stigma. Our mission is to uplift the voices of those who have experienced homelessness, breaking down negative images and stereotypes through storytelling and education. Our work is grounded in the belief that raising awareness through personal stories helps create lasting systemic change. By lifting these voices, we strive to foster understanding and create meaningful impact.

Meag Shaffer, our incredible Chief of Staff at Winter Walk, has generously offered to tell you her story here on our blog.

What was life like before you became unhoused?

Proof Santa is real. 

I was always very conscious of my family’s precarious financial situation, even as a young child. 

I joke that I knew how rich or poor we were at any given time by what kind of mac and cheese we were eating: boxed was “broke,” frozen was “somewhat solid” and homemade was “financially secure.” My father delivered milk to stores and restaurants in NYC, and he would steal milk from work for us - those giant bags meant to go into dispensers - and giant blocks of processed cheese. Those were staple foods of my childhood, and I knew they were stolen - I even asked him to steal my favorite juice, a 5-Alive knockoff the company made- and I know I was lucky to have them.

We didn’t have a phone for years and would walk to a payphone to call faraway family on holidays. I can remember standing out in the cold to hear ‘happy birthday’ from my grandparents.

I learned to never ask for things, outside of birthdays and Christmas. Somehow, and I don’t know how they did it, my parents often got us most of the things on our Christmas list. Because of that, I believed in Santa for much, much longer than most kids do, until I was about 12 or 13. I just didn’t believe my parents could ever afford the gifts I got each year. It made me believe.

As an adult, I can see how much stress was put on me as a young child that really shouldn’t have been, and the anxieties I deal with as an adult as a result of that.

When did you become homeless, and how did it happen?

Meag’s school picture from the first year her family was homeless.

I was homeless twice as a child. And I’m a little embarrassed to admit this - I didn’t even realize it until I started working at Winter Walk. I think of myself as a very open minded and socially conscious person, but even I had preconceived notions about what “being homeless” really meant.

The first time was when I was 9 years old, and we had a fire in our rental duplex that destroyed my family’s home and all our belongings, except for our photo albums and my brother’s teddy bear, which a firefighter saved. We spent the next 4 months “couch surfing,” while waiting for aid claims to be processed and for my parents to save the funds needed to rent a new house. We spent most of that time at my aunt and uncle’s house. I had cousins my same age and slept on the floor between their beds. I was a bedwetter at that age. One of the worst memories I have is coming back from a stay at someone else’s house to find the carpet wet, and when I asked, they told me they had to pay to get the carpet cleaned (not unkindly, but knowing it was because of me was humiliating.) Listening to my parents and aunt and uncle fight was horrible, because I knew we were a burden to them and their family because we had to stay too long.

The second time we were homeless was after we moved out of state, and into a tourist area with something called “winter rentals,” where you have housing until the summer season. When our lease was up, we had nowhere to go. My father had made friends with someone that owned a campground who donated a site to us for the summer, so we spent 3 months living in a tent. We went to a relative's house to shower and do laundry. It was hard having those comforts feel out of reach, and sleeping on the ground for so long was no treat. But the hardest part was when we were back in school and the kid whose family owned the campground looked at me with such sympathy when I passed him in the hallway. I can remember feeling so full of shame, and fear that he’d tell other kids in school. I don’t think he did, and I thank him for that.

What was most challenging about living life unhoused?

As a child, it was really, really scary, wondering what would happen next or if things would ever get better. You know the results of what’s happening, but you don’t really know what’s happening or how it’s going to change. It’s confusing and scary to feel like you have no control whatsoever, and that things could get very bad at really any time.

What are things like for you now?

Meag sharing her story at the 2025 Winter Walk.

It’s been more than 35 years since I was homeless. I am extraordinarily lucky to enjoy the relative security of homeownership now. Like anyone with significant childhood trauma, it’s something I deal with nearly every day. But I have an incredible support system in friends and family and I’m very lucky to have a great life.

As a parent myself now, I resolved to never allow my child to bear the burden of knowing if and when finances are tight. In the last year, they said something like “we’ll just buy a new one” after breaking something; and even though it was an inexpensive item it made me realize I’ve swung the pendulum a little too far in the other direction. So, I’m working on finding the right balance now.

What is different for you because you've experienced life without housing?

I spent my 14th birthday going to the superintendent’s office getting my working papers, and I’ve never been without a job since then, other than a couple of times I was laid off in the white-collar world. As a teenager, I worked 4-5 jobs every summer to contribute money to my household. Even in my 20s I was still contributing money to my parents to help them make ends meet, until my mother died and I became estranged from my father. I have an incredibly strong work ethic that comes from this experience; my mother didn’t have a job when I was a child and my father rarely worked after an injury, so I learned to associate "unemployed" with “unhoused.”

What is something you wish everyone understood about homelessness?

No one deserves to be homeless. If you’re the type of person that rejects funding for social programs that help families because parents “need to get a job” or “get their addiction in order,” please think about the kids that live with them - that can’t get a job or recover from addiction on behalf of their parents. They deserve food, safety and security as much as anyone else does.

What is something you wish everyone knew about people experiencing homelessness?

Homelessness is not just people sleeping in shelters or on the streets and it’s not just adults. There are more 1 million kids experience homelessness in this country every year, and the impact it has on them now will change who they are for the rest of their lives.