The homeless population is one that many times goes unnoticed. Each person's story on how they ended up homeless is unique, but few of those stories are ever shared. One program aims to change that.
Jim McCarron is about to share his life story with a group of Buchholz High School students. This guest speaker hasn't won any awards nor is he a distinguished Buchholz grad. What he's brought to share is an important message, so others don't follow in his footsteps.
"At the age of 16, with my skate buddies, we thought it was okay to go harass homeless people," McCarron said. "But little did I know that from the age of 16, when I was 24 years old I would end up being homeless sleeping in the woods."
McCarron is part of the Faces of Homelessness Speakers Bureau, a National Coalition for the Homeless project. The goal is to educate the public about homelessness and what they can do to end it. The Gainesville program began last summer and there are a total of eleven speakers.