LEXINGTON, N.C. — Crystal Prince is no stranger to helping others.
She shows up to council meetings in Davidson County to speak on behalf of those who are unhoused. Prince wants change to happen sooner than later.
Three times a week, she visits a nearby homeless tent city to check up on the individuals who have no other place to call home.
Tents that serve as homes are somewhat clumped together in a makeshift community off Swing Dairy Road. Most of these people lost their homes due to falling on hard times, and in Davidson County, there is only one homeless shelter. Once it’s full, there is nowhere else for them to stay in the county.
Prince often brings whatever she can. This time she brought them sandwiches, peanuts, granola bars, and she even made chili and placed it in plastic containers.
It’s taken time for some of them to build trust with Prince.
“Some people are just not welcoming to me, and I want them to feel comfortable to welcome me, so that I can be able to help them. They've gotten mistreated for such a long period of time,” Prince said.
As Prince enters the woods, she notices Rhonda Walser, who she has gotten to know over the past few months.
Walser lost her home that was willed to her and has been living in a makeshift tent made of spare wood, rope and tarp.
“I never thought I would see myself in this situation,” Walser said when Prince asked her about living in the woods.
While talking to Walser, both of them became emotional.
“If it wasn’t for y'all feeding us, there would be nights where we wouldn’t have had anything to eat. Am I ashamed to be out here? No,” Walser said.
Prince said seeing how they live in the tents made her think of her late father.
“It goes personal, my dad was homeless in Baltimore, and before he got placement, I just wonder, did he live like this in Baltimore?”
Before her dad died, he made her promise that she would help homeless veterans. After visiting Walser, Prince checks up on a homeless veteran, Dennis Clark, who served in the Vietnam War.
When she finds him, she’s shocked at what she sees.
Clark was living in the woods, too, and on the way home one night, he got hit by a car and was thrown 25 feet. He said that after he was seen at the hospital, they discharged him back to the woods.
“They sent you home to go back in the woods like that?” Prince asked Clark. He shook his head to confirm.
After speaking with Clark, Prince learned he has cellulites, a skin infection, and diabetes. With the condition he is in, he’s worried he may lose his leg soon.
Prince assures him she will do all that she can to help him get the services he needs.
“I don’t do this for money, I do this because it’s the right thing to do,” she told him.
After she left him, she made phone calls to veteran services in the area and was able to get him temporary housing.
There is no plan to accommodate the homeless population in Davidson County. According to the assistant city manager of Thomasville, there will be a retreat for the City Council next month where members will discuss what resources are available and what they can do for the future.