They are saving to rent a truck so that they can take their belongings and move back to Illinois. In November things were going well for Barry Eckermann. Things were going so well that Eckermann went back to his hometown of Rock Island, Ill., to load up a truck with enough furniture to fill his new house. Back in Illinois, his parents pleaded with him to stay there, but he was determined to live in the Bay Area near his two children of whom his ex-wife has custody. Eckermann is sitting at a long wooden table on a rickety metal folding chair inside the Sunnyvale Armory.
Basketball nets hang from the high ceiling at either end of the rectangular building.
Perhaps some will be sleeping, and others will be awake, wondering how they ever ended up there and how they can avoid ending up there in the future. For now, they watch an old TV with the bunny ear antennae that rests on one of the tables. These people are not the traditional version of homeless with whom everyone is familiar. Most of the homeless do not fit this description. Most of them work hard all day.