According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness 2016 report, during one night in 2015, over 500,000 people were experiencing homelessness. That means they were either sleeping out in the streets, in a shelter or transitional housing program.
But there are over a million Americans who are homeless and some of them are trying to overcome it. Which is why this story about a college wrestler who made it out of homelessness is inspiring America.
Jaime Miranda used sports to keep him off the streets. He is a college wrestler who was homeless with his mother and sister. He recalls that his mother struggled to provide and they would often camp out in their car, as reported by NBC News.
Many may liken his experience to the movie about a girl named Elizabeth "Liz" Murray who went from "Homeless to Harvard." Like Liz, Jaime focused on something else to keep him off the streets. Like Liz who found out that her mother is dying of HIV/AIDS, Jaime found that his mother was dying of cancer at the time.
He used to sleep in bus stations, garages or on friends' couches. But it was wrestling that saved him. In high school he wanted to try out for football but there was no opening. Everyone saw potential in him. His high school teachers and coaches helped him get through his struggles and grades in order to get into Central College.
Going into college, his transition was difficult. He keeps remembering being abandoned in a Pizza Hut parking lot by his dad but his time in Central College trumps that past, as reported by The Des Moines Register.
He started out very angry. But Eric Van Kley did not give up on him. Van Kley is Central College's wrestling coach and he sees potential in Jaime Miranda. Now, Miranda is the co-captain of this year's wrestling team and is a senior on his way to graduation and wants to work with kids who are just like him.
Watch the clip of "Homeless to Harvard" below if you haven't seen the movie:
