Heather Yandell had an eventful June, picking up both a bachelor’s degree and keys to an apartment, all while starting graduate studies
By Holly Dillemuth, Ashland.news
Heather Yandell is off the streets and opening new doors to her future, including the front door to her new apartment.
After navigating countless challenges as a homeless person pursuing a higher education degree, and thanks to her own determination and the generosity of others near and far, Yandell, thanks to a housing scholarship, moved into an apartment at the end of June for at least the next year while she pursues a Masters of Business Administration degree at Southern Oregon University.
Heather and her husband, Chris, see their new space as a safe place to land as she continues in her MBA program after she graduated winter term with a bachelor’s degree in Emerging Media and Digital Arts from SOU and was awarded her degree on June 17.
Upon accepting the keys on June 30, the couple marveled at the washer and dryer set up and the refrigerator and freezer where they could finally store perishable food — especially her favorite, pistachio ice cream.
Their two dogs, CeCe and Link, seemed at home in the apartment as well, and set out playing with each other in the new space.
“I’m still just in shock — It’s been a long time since I’ve been indoors,” Heather said, with a laugh.
Chris recalled how the couple once washed their clothes in Bear Creek while living in a tent along the Greenway.
“We have a washer and dryer!” Heather exclaimed. “And a bathtub.”
In the past, Heather has dyed her hair so others might not be able to tell that she didn’t have regular access to showering facilities.
“We’re just really excited,” Heather said. “It’s been a long road getting here.”
Heather walked the grounds of the apartment complex and toured the community room available for tenants.
“It’s surreal,” she said. “The things that people have a tendency to take for granted ….
“It’s literally been four years since I’ve been inside and I’ve been going to school the whole time.”
That day, the forecast called for upwards of 100 degrees.
“We’re already looking forward to that air conditioning,” Heather said.
She also noticed the change in atmosphere at the complex versus being located by the freeway.
“It is so quiet here,” Heather said. “That was the first thing Chris noticed when we pulled in.”
Getting here hasn’t been easy, to say the least.
Ashland.news readers first met Heather in April, when she had just created a GoFundMe with a goal to raise $2,085 to help pay off fees so she could enroll in the MBA program at SOU. The university had denied her enrollment into the program on the first try because of money she owed.
She recalls it was a spur of the moment decision to create the fundraiser because she had exhausted all other options.
“What do I have to lose?” Heather told Ashland.news.
What did she have to gain, was more like it.
Within four days of her GoFundMe going live on social media in late March, donors came through, raising twice the amount she needed to clear a path so she could enroll in her MBA program. More than 40 people donated to her cause.
“I was able to pay off my collections, pay some bills, and I actually got my denial overturned,” Heather said.
At the time Heather created the fundraiser, she was about to graduate from SOU with a bachelor’s degree and had been living in a tent off the Bear Creek Greenway while going to SOU and, prior to that, Rogue Community College.
Donor comes forward
Among donors who helped meet Heather’s initial fundraising goal in April was a former Ashland woman who now lives in Portugal and prefers to be known for this story as Beatrice. The woman read the initial article by Ashland.news and offered to help Heather.
Ashland.news interviewed her via email in June.
“I was amazed when I first discovered Heather´s situation,” Beatrice wrote to Ashland.news. “America is the richest country in the world. We cannot leave behind people who need a helping hand.”
When she was growing up, Beatrice said she saw more community groups investing in young people and was directly impacted by them.
“Where has that mindset gone?” Beatrice asked. “We must reinvigorate our community spirit and reach out to those who need us, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because their passion and problem-solving abilities are the keys to the success of our tomorrows.”
Beatrice wrote that she was deeply moved at the thought of Heather, who is 50 years old, pursuing higher education while homeless.
“I can’t imagine having to live in the wild while trying to finish your education,” Beatrice said. “After reading some of her stories and letters of recommendation from her professors, it was clear to me that she has great talent to write clear narratives, along with tremendous strength of character to be able to get through undergraduate studies in spite of her living situation. It takes courage, persistence and determination to do what Heather has done. And she’s just getting started.”
Beatrice is a former program chair for The Women’s Leadership Conference in Ashland and, in addition to a housing scholarship, provided Heather with a scholarship to attend The Women’s Leadership Conference in May.
There, Heather got connected with additional resources, such as a local organic produce connection.
Beatrice said she was happy to sponsor Heather’s attendance at the conference and sees it as a way to become inspired and achieve goals.
“As a past program chair, I knew it would be very helpful to Heather to meet other women who could be mentors for her and learn from them what it takes to become successful in the workforce,” she said.
Beatrice felt the same about assisting Heather with her housing costs.
“I helped Heather because I´m lucky enough to have the means to do so and I’m honored to do it,” Beatrice said. “Throughout my life I have learned that what matters at the end of the day is not how much you have accumulated but how you use it to benefit those around you.”
While trying to improve Heather’s situation, Beatrice herself has been facing a significant hardship — colorectal cancer.
“I am in the midst of some very tough health challenges right now,” she said. “I have a cancer I’m trying to beat.”
She is currently traveling for radiation therapy.
Beatrice only agreed to speak with Ashland.news about the story as an anonymous source because of her philosophy on giving.
“Part of my philosophy for good works is not to reveal myself, or at least as little as possible,” she said. “I think we gain the most from the participation by being as anonymous as possible since we shouldn’t be doing it as an ego booster.”
Heather noted that when she applied for the housing scholarship, she wasn’t holding out hope. She’s used to planning for the worst.
It was the only place she could stay with her husband that provided a way for her to attend school, do her homework, and keep her possessions.
A slip on some ice changed her life
She did her homework by using her phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot and used a generator for power for the past three years.
“I had camped before, but not to this extent,” Heather said.
“I had no housing,” she added. “It’s what I have to do if I’m going to get my degree.”
Due to mental health issues, Chris, 38, couldn’t live with roommates, and due to her financial background, she wasn’t able to make the cut for many housing situations, including student housing at SOU or shelters. A tent provided stability, independence, and a place to do her homework.
Heather told Ashland.news in an interview at her campsite June 1 that she became homeless around 2015-2016, following a fall on some ice where she hurt her back and later got laid off.
A single parent at the time, she got evicted from her house.
“We had lived in our house for 13 years and had no idea how bad the housing market was,” Heather said.
She spent several years either living in a car, shelter, friend’s home or tent just to make it up until that point.
Heather noticed that more than 20 people applied for the housing scholarship, which amounts to more than $10,000, despite very tight specifications for the scholarship award, with requirements that included being a parent, enrolled in the MBA program, and facing food insecurity and/or homelessness.
Besides navigating homelessness throughout pursuing her undergraduate degree, Heather experienced numerous obstacles leading up to accepting the keys to her new apartment, including accounting issues with a full-year housing scholarship coordinated by SOU, which in the end, was awarded to her. Prior to moving in to the new apartment, she also faced being evicted from her campsite.
Heather knows there will be a transition period from camping to life in an apartment. For one thing, Heather expects her dogs to bark at every little thing.
“They have both lived indoors at some point in their lives, so, I think they’ll be OK,” Heather said.
One of the best parts for Heather? Being able to store meat and frozen food — and to be able to take a bath whenever she wants to.
“When we get our food stamps … we get to actually store food,” Heather said.
“You have no idea how long I have missed that,” she added.
She shed light on what kept her driven toward changing her circumstances.
“We deserve better than spending the rest of our lives in a tent,” Heather said. “The thought of dying on the street terrifies me, and so I am doing everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Heather has ensured that’s not a reality for her and her husband.
Supportive SOU faculty
She expressed gratitude to Beatrice for providing a way off the street through the scholarship, and to her professors at SOU for helping her reach her goals.
“My professors at SOU believed in me … It’s like no other experience I’ve ever really had,” she said. “I’m just not used to people thinking that highly of me. I live in a tent, I’m a recovering addict.”
David Bithell, chair of the Creative Arts Department at SOU, believes she is set up well to succeed. Bithell taught Heather through online classes during the pandemic.
He wasn’t aware that Heather was homeless until she presented her final project prior to graduating with her bachelor’s degree.
Bithell said it wasn’t until he was sitting in on some final projects that he learned of her situation.
“All students were charged with taking some sort of a real world problem and finding a solution through technology and media,” Bithell said. “Heather’s approach was working on a scale model of a housing situation … an idea of rethinking housing and making housing a possibility through new technology. And through her discussions and her open presentation at that point, that was honestly the first time that I became aware of her unhoused status.
“The university was figuring out how to be a university in times and periods of remote learning and I can only imagine, a very challenging time for Heather to be able to be engaging in course work at a time when you need online access,” he said.
Bithell believes Heather’s work at SOU stands on its own. Heather maintained high marks for much of her time in higher ed.
“She’s been set up really well through her own initiative and taking advantage of what we have to offer in the classes,” he said. “And then knowing on top of that, her experience and what she was going through to be able to make that happen adds an incredible level of depth to that experience and, for me, a sense of awe of the level of commitment and focus and determination to make that happen.”
Heather noted during an interview that it’s been an uphill battle and many days were too much to handle.
“Ask my husband — there have been days when I’ve been in tears,” Heather said. “And then I just think about the time that I have put into this and how proud of me my friends are, and I am.”
She’s looking ahead to the doors that a MBA will open for her professionally.
“I’m doing an emphasis in marketing, so basically, I will be able to design it, brand it, and market it all myself,” Heather said. “That is the point of all this. It’s the only way we’re going to get out of a tent.”
While that mission is accomplished for now, her work is just beginning as the program is underway.
At the time she got the keys to her apartment, her first MBA class had begun — an accelerated accounting class.
“I’m not looking at a break for the next two years,” Heather told Ashland.news.
“I’ve been told to view it (the MBA program) like a job. It’s going to be at minimum 20-30 hours of studying a week and it’s all online, so that means I am going to have to be responsible for doing this myself.”
“You know they say, ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,’” she added. “That’s not true.”
Reach Ashland.news reporter Holly Dillemuth at [email protected].
