community voice

Gathering his crutches, Herb Vann helped himself up off the sidewalk. He had been sitting in front of the Rite Aid on Broad Street and Oxford Avenue, looking slightly disheveled with a plastic bag wrapped around his right shoe and asking for 75 cents to catch a bus.

About to embark on an icy journey toward Broad Street, Elaine, who declined to share her last name, shook her head in disgust.

When Rob Hall was 17, he told his girlfriend he didn’t have any money to do anything for her for their first Valentine’s Day together.