Polk County Public Schools help nearly 4,000 homeless students each year
HAINES CITY In February, Haines City High School senior Brielle Barnes’ already tenuous home life spiraled into homelessness after she and her mother got into an argument and Barnes began living in her car.
“I stopped going to school because I was wearing the same clothes and I didn’t have anywhere to wash them,” said Barnes, 19, adding that she slept in her car for about two weeks before a friend invited her to stay with her family. “I ended up doing E-learning. My best friend since kindergarten said I could come move up here with her.”