From Homeless to Glamorous

Teen has her night at the prom

By Mara Stine

The Gresham Outlook, May 12, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (3 Reader comments)

Jamie Sparks, 17, who recently moved into a Gresham homeless shelter for families, attended her friend Logan Webb’s senior prom on Friday, May 8, after local businesses and residents donated everything from dinner to a spiffy car to make the occasion special.

Jennifer Hummel / Hummel Photography

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For a few blissful hours on Friday night, a Gresham girl forgot she was homeless.

Jamie Sparks, glamorous in red satin and a sparkly tiara, danced the night away at her first prom thanks to the generosity of local businesses and residents who donated everything from transportation to dinner.

“It was one of the best nights of my life,” said the 17-year-old David Douglas High School senior, who attended her friend Logan Webb’s prom at Fir Ridge High School on May 8. “I was in a dress just like the other girls. I looked good just like the other girls. And I had fun just like the other girls. And that was really cool. I felt just like everybody else.”

Sparks moved into My Father’s House, a Gresham shelter for homeless families, in late April with her mother Jodi McCarthy, sister Jayde McCarthy, 11, and brother Joel McCarthy, 9.

It’s the latest stop of many for Sparks, who’s bounced from foster homes and relatives’ houses since seventh grade, when her mother was arrested for burglary and auto theft.

She’s lived with an aunt in Southeast Portland, her grandmother in Molalla and her 21-year-old sister in Oregon City. But a year ago, seeing stability in her mother’s new life, she decided to give her another chance.

Jamie moved into her mom’s two-bedroom apartment on Southeast 122nd Avenue just south of Powell Boulevard. Jodi, an unemployed machinist, earned $632 a month in welfare, just three dollars less than her $635 rent. Food stamps kept food on the table for her three children and emergency energy assistance from Human Solutions kept the heat and lights on.

Christmas eviction

But when the state cut Jodi’s welfare by $200, the family was evicted the day after Christmas. After opening presents from the children’s schools, the family literally chucked out the Christmas tree, boxed up belongings and fought frozen roads to move them to a storage unit.

“We didn’t have anywhere to go,” Jodi recalled. She doesn’t have a car, so the family – with a blanket, pillow, small television and a bit of food in the fridge – hunkered down in the apartment until police forced them out.

The family moved in with Jodi’s sister, who lives in the David Douglas school district where the children go to school. Every day, starting at 8 a.m., Jodi called and visited social service agencies – JOIN, Union Gospel Mission, Central City Concern and Catholic Charities – trying to find a new home for her family.

Meanwhile, Jamie’s friend at Fir Ridge High School suggested she go to his prom. Jamie assumed she’d find a cheap dress and forgo the event’s other bells and whistles. As for transportation, she thought they’d either walk or take TriMet. “I figured that if I wanted it bad enough, we’d figure out a way,” she said.

Her mother wasn’t so sure. “I knew the cost of just the dress would break me,” Jodi said. Away from the children at night, she cried at the thought of all she couldn’t provide.

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