Chris Sheppard and his eight-year-old son Malik carry the last of their belongings up the street from a Motel 6 to WoodSprings Suites on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. After months of moving from hotel to hotel every few weeks, the Sheppard family, who became homeless last summer, was finally able to move into an extended stay hotel.
“A lot of people think, ‘Oh, ya’ll have done something, one of you guys must be on drugs or something or you’re lazy’ … but that’s not us, that’s not our story.”
When the Sheppard family first moved to Colorado Springs from Atlanta in 2017, Christopher had a steady gig as a chef and restaurant management; they’d come with big dreams and the savings, and prospects, to see them through. But then Chris started to lose his eyesight to a genetic disease. He had to leave his job at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and his career as a chef, in 2020, and begin drawing disability. After that, the family quickly burned through their savings and debts began to mount.
An eviction for non-payment of rent in July 2022 made finding a new place effectively impossible, so they moved into the first of a series of motels.
They became stuck under the ballooning stigma and debt of an eviction that locked them in a desperate cycle of living week to week and month to month in motels, always a heartbeat a way from homelessness.
As they bounced from motel to motel not homeless but not technically tenants anywhere, they were beyond the reach of most social service programs and aid.
After The Gazette profiled them in “Extended Stay” readers donated $17,000 to the family through Sheppard’s GoFundMe and angel supporters paid for days and weeks of their stay at a hotel until they were able to pay off most of their debt and secured an apartment in June of 2023.
Chris packs his families bags as he prepares for what will hopefully be their last move until they can find permanent housing. For months, the Sheppard family have lived out of half-packed bags and suitcases, always prepared for the next moving day because many hotels require residents to leave after 21 or 28 days.
Christopher carries his families bags from a Motel 6 to WoodSprings Suites just up the road on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. After being evicted from their apartment last summer, the Sheppard’s sold everything they owned, including their car, with the exception of a few suitcases, a half-dozen bags and backpacks, a TV and their sons Xbox.
Chris drops the first load of bags in a new extended stay motel room on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. With no car, and his wife at work, he had to make three trips to carry the families belongings from a Motel 6 they were staying at down the road.
Christopher walks to CSL Plasma from a nearby bus stop to donate on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. The donations bring in about $450-per-month. “That really helps with food, until we can get food stamps again. When you have zero coming in you appreciate all of it,”
Sun shines through a window, framing Christopher as he rides back to the motel he and his family are living at after donating plasma on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. Sheppard rides a city bus for hours, often waking up at dawn, to donate plasma at a center about six miles away from the motel on North Chestnut Street twice a week earning $110.
Christopher leans in closely so he can read the screen of the TV to help Malik set up his Xbox in their new motel room.
As Malik plays on his Xbox and his wife Angela relaxes after a long day at work, Christopher cooks dinner at the kitchenette in the families motel room on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023. Many of the motels they have stayed in throughout the last year had only a microwave to cook in.
Christopher and Angela in their motel room on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023. The pair moved from Atlanta in 2017 with savings, good credit and investments, but after about a year he realized he was losing his eyesight to Macular degeneration, an ailment that runs in his family. Eventually, medical bills started eroding their savings and Christopher had to quit working, ultimately resulting in their eviction in the summer of 2022.
Christopher and Angela load the last of their bags from their final motel into a vehicle as they move into an apartment on Tuesday, June 6, 2023.
Angela picks up the key for their new apartment after Gazette readers donated $17,000 to help the family get back on their feet.
Malik helps his mother lay out a doormat minutes after arriving at their new apartment.
Christopher Sheppard lies on the floor with his son Malik in his bedroom after moving into their new apartment on Tuesday, June 6, 2023.