Nita - From a Will to the Streets

Nita is a 4th generation Italian woman in her 60s currently experiencing homelessness. She shared that her ancestors had an extremely strong work ethic and would not want her in this position. Nita grew up in Colorado with 3 siblings, one of whom passed away 10 years ago, and her mother, a talented violinist. She mentioned that she had a very stable upbringing and received two college degrees, one in psychology and the other in sports medicine.

Nita's life was stable until she began taking care of her mother in her 30s. She was the only sibling who put any effort into supporting her mom, so the responsibility was always on her. In 2007, her mother changed the will in Nita's favor so that she could inherit their family's home. Her siblings did not take this well, and this is when Nita's life began going downhill. Her siblings challenged the will, forced her out of the house, and later left her homeless. Nita shared: "They don't care - the money was more important than my life. My brother and sisters wanted me to perish in poverty. That would be my 'punishment' for changing the will in my favor. I needed to 'pay' for the rest of my life. If I were to die an early death, these siblings could have more of the estate." Her mother was also placed in a nursing home against her will and was placed on medication that increased her chances of a stroke from 20% to 40%. In 2009, this medication ended up killing her mother. Nita shared that her siblings' goal was to kill their mother as quickly as possible. Her mother was not able to leave the nursing home for any reason, nor was she able to have any members of the clergy come visit her. For the first two years after being kicked out, Nita stayed and worked in a care facility as a caregiver.

In 2017, Nita met a man named Nikko, who she stayed with for about 5 years. She shared: "Nikko was a good man when he was nice, but when he wasn't, it was totally different. It was like living with two different people." Nikko was extremely abusive and put a gun to Nita's head on multiple occasions. In order for her to leave this relationship, she had to put him in jail because he wouldn't let her get away otherwise. He has currently been in jail for 1 year and is set to serve 4 more years for two incidents: he threatened to kill Nita while a witness was present and he later did a third-degree assault on her when she was dropping off his belongings.

Nita has now been hard at work trying to take care of herself. She is currently living in a hotel and is consistently applying for work, housing, and any other available resources that may be of assistance to her. She shared: "I don't want to be in this position. My home is here in Colorado, and yet, I'm in this position because of what my family chose to do. I want to share my story because I have a feeling that... this could happen to anybody. It's about money, it's about greed."

To donate to Nita, please visit her GoFundMe page.

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