FRESNO, Calif. _ Meet Janet.
She's homeless, as the grocery cart filled with her belongs might've suggested.
And yes, she's addicted to drugs.
Not the life someone would've predicted for her had they'd known Janet just a few years ago.
She used to have a job for more than 10 years, ironically as a drug and alcohol counselor.
She owned a home and was married.
It was her dream.
So how did Janet end up on the streets, addicted to methamphetamine and wandering around Fresno?
As street minister Lance Pearce, who spends his off days from his job as a Selma police officer by reaching out and praying with the homeless, said: "If you're willing to open your heart, and listen, we all can probably relate _ to Janet and other homeless people like her.
"Because if you've ever been broken, you know the pain, the void. It takes just that one moment of weakness, a bad decision, and they fall, and struggle to rebound."
Pearce shared his interaction with Janet from earlier this month on his Facebook page and generated quite a buzz.
Feel sorry for her? Or feel annoyed that some people want you to feel sorry for her?
On the day Pearce met Janet (who declined to give him her last name), she sat next to an abandoned store near the corner of Shaw and Feland avenues in northwest Fresno.
She was trying to stay out of the rain, eating cookies, with her shopping cart and all of her belongings by her side.
Pearce, as he's done so with many other homeless people he's spoken to, asked if he could pray for her.
But Pearce had a few stipulations.
He first wanted to ask a few questions to get to know her, try to find out what led to her demise, and whether she was a believer in Jesus Christ and the power of prayer.
Janet agreed and eventually opened up.
Pearce discovered that Janet wasn't just addicted to drugs. She said she continues to use meth to help her survive the streets.
"It helps to take away her hunger and keeps her awake, so she doesn't get hurt," Pearce wrote in his Facebook post.
There's pain from her past that Janet likes to block out, too.
But she eventually reveals that she suffered a job-related accident that caused her to be placed on disability. Plus, her once dreamy marriage turned into a nightmare, with Janet's husband turning physically abusive and using meth.
"It would not be long before he would get her to start using methamphetamines," Pearce wrote. "At first, she did not care for it. However, after several months she had gotten hooked and it took over."
Within three years, Janet lost everything.
The domestic violence was too much. She had no one to turn to, and no where to go, except the streets. She's been there since _ four years and counting.
Pearce said he's optimistic that Janet simply admitting she's addicted to meth could be a sign she wants to get her life back on track.
But he can see that she's not ready just yet.
There is comfort in being homeless with others who can relate to her struggles.
"She feels that she is safer living on the streets with her friends, than to live off of the streets and alone where someone can hurt her again," Pearce said. "But the key is, if they admit the real truth of how their life took that wrong turn, they are recognizing some fault and then they can change it.
"That's what I hope."
At the end of their conversation, Pearce said a prayer for Janet then asked if he could take her photo.
He wanted others to see Janet's eyes _ the pain, the hurt, the hunger, the worry, the struggle with addiction.
It's part of Pearce's series of portraits and testimonies of homelessness in the central San Joaquin Valley called "Portraits of Hope."
Pearce hopes it raises awareness of the homeless, the addicted, and those broken and in need.
"People who aren't supposed to be victims, sometimes end up becoming victims," Pearce said. "It's easy to look with a jaded point of view.
"Maybe people should realize that they once were like everyone else."
