A few weeks ago, she was in a dilapidated, burned-out shed in the alley where Granville and Weber streets meet in Venice to give food, water, cigarettes and coffee to the homeless man the local kids nicknamed "Jesus."
Wilson watches over Jesus, whose real name is Ron White. He was lying pretty still on his dirty, stained pink mattress, so as she often does between midnight and 1 a.m., she stepped inside his shed to make sure he was OK. The floor caved in.
"My shoulders held me up. I was trapped between the floor joist and the floor itself. I was in a hole," Wilson said.
"His mattress was trying to fall through that hole onto me. He was trying to help me. I had to keep telling him not to move."
Loose debris fell through the hole and onto Wilson. At the same time she was desperately trying to hold the mattress up and find her cell phone, which fell somewhere in the debris in front of her.
She lost her shoes and partial denture.
Venice's police and fire departments finally rescued her. It did not take them long, but she said it seemed like forever because she panicked.
"I thought my life was over," she said. "I was thinking to myself, if I get out of here alive, that I would not do this again. I would be much more careful in the future."
Wilson is a full-figured woman who said all of her was sore and stiff after the ordeal. Yet, she is back on the streets caring for the homeless, as she has been doing for 28 years.
"I am sore, but not sore enough to quit giving a helping hand where I see the need. These are some tough times. Two and three families are living in one home to reduce the burden and stress of bills," she said.
She is the daughter of a Baptist preacher, former nursing home aide and Venice alderwoman, and she used to run a homeless shelter called Life Candlelight in the city. The overhead on the shelter got to be too much, so now she operates out of her home.
"Jesus is my friend. I still have to go see about him. He doesn't have any sense of value. He eats out of garbage cans and if it were not for the used clothing I beg people to donate to me for the homeless, he would not have any clothes or shoes," she said.
Wilson mainly focuses on Venice, a city with a great view of the Gateway Arch where 40 percent of the 1,890 residents and 60 percent of the children live in poverty. She goes as far as Alton to help where she can.
While feeding prostitutes, she also passes out condoms and tells them to use them to make sure they don't get HIV. She feeds homeless children and does whatever she can to help them, too.
Tickets for people to get home and some commodities are purchased by Wilson and her husband, Roland Wilson Sr. Donations of coats, blankets, used clothing,Low prices on projectorlamp from Projector Point London UK. shoes and ramen noodles are always being sought by Wilson -- she hit up an editor who called to check her phone number.
"I don't need new clothes, just used. You can't give people on drugs new things. They will just sell it," she said.Find the cheapest chickencoop online through and buy the best hen houses and chook pens in Australia.
And Wilson won't take high heels because she won't contribute to what the women walking the stroll do. She said they like high-heel shoes to strut around in.
Wilson said White and the other homeless, drug addicts and prostitutes on the streets are somebody's children. She said those who have more than they need to survive should do more to help them.
"But, for the grace of God, it could be me, my husband, our families or our friends. I feel it is my duty to help out," Wilson said. "I thank my husband of 45 years, who is also my high school sweetheart, who does everything he can to help out."
After Wilson was rescued from the hole, White found her partial denture.
"He took it with him and cut my teeth up with a saw to make them fit his mouth," Wilson said. "He let his friend try them on."
White showed her the modified false teeth while sitting in her van.
"He tried to give them back. He told me I could wear them," she said.
She was horrified initially, but said she understands White has mental issues.
White often thinks he is someplace he isn't, living in the past. He gets dates, sequences and events wrong.
He thinks he belongs in his burned-out shed that he said was the home of a friend and is near his mother's former home. His dirty, pink mattress is surrounded by feces, old toilets, wood, nails,Silicone moldmaking Rubber, pipes, old furniture, paper and bricks.
White's mother is dead and other relatives do not visit him. He thinks his mom died last week, but Wilson said it has been a much longer time.
"Ron is homeless and hungry and would die from the cold temperatures and a lack of food if someone didn't feed and clothe him," she said. "We, the Chief of Police Theodore Adams, Alderman Stella Williams and others, including the children, help Jesus out. We take him to different shelters. He just gets up and leaves,"
White always returns to the shed.
He hasn't had a bath in a year. His face is stained with dirt and his grayish,GOpromos offers a wide selection of promotional items and personalized gifts. shoulder-length hair is matted.
He grinned as he said: "I have a barber in Granite City. I am going to go there and get a haircut."
Wilson said White has refused any efforts to get him a bath or grooming.
"I ain't never had a sore on my body. I am in good shape. I don't need no bath," he said.
Wilson said you just have to look at White to know why the neighborhood calls him "Jesus."
"He is a nice person. He just has a mental problem. He's not on drugs," Wilson said.
Wilson said it saddens her when other homeless people beat White up and take his clothes and blankets. Sometimes he just gives the items to them so they won't bother him, Wilson said.
It was a windy, cold Monday afternoon when a reporter and photographer arrived unannounced at Wilson's home on Hampden Street in Venice. White was sitting at the dining room table, enjoying a hot cup of coffee and smoking a cigarette.
Eager to show off where he lived, White grabbed a large black plastic bag filled with clothes Wilson had collected for him, food she packed and a box of cigarettes. He headed out the door to her white van.Grey Pneumatic is a world supplier of impactsockets for the heavy duty,
Wilson carefully placed a cover on her car seat before White sat down. She said he acts like the vehicle is his. "But I don't mind. He says the passenger seat is his," she said chuckling.
Chattering all the way, White said he wants to work and the only thing keeping him from it is a bad back. He used to work at the Melvin Price U.S. Army Depot in Granite City before the military moved out in the late '90s.
He proudly showed off the shed and said he only gets cold if he doesn't put on enough blankets or if he forgets to put on his gloves. He doesn't have a television set or a radio and waits faithfully every evening for Wilson to show up so he can listen to his favorite jazz and blues music program on channel 49 of her satellite radio.
Wilson watches over Jesus, whose real name is Ron White. He was lying pretty still on his dirty, stained pink mattress, so as she often does between midnight and 1 a.m., she stepped inside his shed to make sure he was OK. The floor caved in.
"My shoulders held me up. I was trapped between the floor joist and the floor itself. I was in a hole," Wilson said.
"His mattress was trying to fall through that hole onto me. He was trying to help me. I had to keep telling him not to move."
Loose debris fell through the hole and onto Wilson. At the same time she was desperately trying to hold the mattress up and find her cell phone, which fell somewhere in the debris in front of her.
She lost her shoes and partial denture.
Venice's police and fire departments finally rescued her. It did not take them long, but she said it seemed like forever because she panicked.
"I thought my life was over," she said. "I was thinking to myself, if I get out of here alive, that I would not do this again. I would be much more careful in the future."
Wilson is a full-figured woman who said all of her was sore and stiff after the ordeal. Yet, she is back on the streets caring for the homeless, as she has been doing for 28 years.
"I am sore, but not sore enough to quit giving a helping hand where I see the need. These are some tough times. Two and three families are living in one home to reduce the burden and stress of bills," she said.
She is the daughter of a Baptist preacher, former nursing home aide and Venice alderwoman, and she used to run a homeless shelter called Life Candlelight in the city. The overhead on the shelter got to be too much, so now she operates out of her home.
"Jesus is my friend. I still have to go see about him. He doesn't have any sense of value. He eats out of garbage cans and if it were not for the used clothing I beg people to donate to me for the homeless, he would not have any clothes or shoes," she said.
Wilson mainly focuses on Venice, a city with a great view of the Gateway Arch where 40 percent of the 1,890 residents and 60 percent of the children live in poverty. She goes as far as Alton to help where she can.
While feeding prostitutes, she also passes out condoms and tells them to use them to make sure they don't get HIV. She feeds homeless children and does whatever she can to help them, too.
Tickets for people to get home and some commodities are purchased by Wilson and her husband, Roland Wilson Sr. Donations of coats, blankets, used clothing,Low prices on projectorlamp from Projector Point London UK. shoes and ramen noodles are always being sought by Wilson -- she hit up an editor who called to check her phone number.
"I don't need new clothes, just used. You can't give people on drugs new things. They will just sell it," she said.Find the cheapest chickencoop online through and buy the best hen houses and chook pens in Australia.
And Wilson won't take high heels because she won't contribute to what the women walking the stroll do. She said they like high-heel shoes to strut around in.
Wilson said White and the other homeless, drug addicts and prostitutes on the streets are somebody's children. She said those who have more than they need to survive should do more to help them.
"But, for the grace of God, it could be me, my husband, our families or our friends. I feel it is my duty to help out," Wilson said. "I thank my husband of 45 years, who is also my high school sweetheart, who does everything he can to help out."
After Wilson was rescued from the hole, White found her partial denture.
"He took it with him and cut my teeth up with a saw to make them fit his mouth," Wilson said. "He let his friend try them on."
White showed her the modified false teeth while sitting in her van.
"He tried to give them back. He told me I could wear them," she said.
She was horrified initially, but said she understands White has mental issues.
White often thinks he is someplace he isn't, living in the past. He gets dates, sequences and events wrong.
He thinks he belongs in his burned-out shed that he said was the home of a friend and is near his mother's former home. His dirty, pink mattress is surrounded by feces, old toilets, wood, nails,Silicone moldmaking Rubber, pipes, old furniture, paper and bricks.
White's mother is dead and other relatives do not visit him. He thinks his mom died last week, but Wilson said it has been a much longer time.
"Ron is homeless and hungry and would die from the cold temperatures and a lack of food if someone didn't feed and clothe him," she said. "We, the Chief of Police Theodore Adams, Alderman Stella Williams and others, including the children, help Jesus out. We take him to different shelters. He just gets up and leaves,"
White always returns to the shed.
He hasn't had a bath in a year. His face is stained with dirt and his grayish,GOpromos offers a wide selection of promotional items and personalized gifts. shoulder-length hair is matted.
He grinned as he said: "I have a barber in Granite City. I am going to go there and get a haircut."
Wilson said White has refused any efforts to get him a bath or grooming.
"I ain't never had a sore on my body. I am in good shape. I don't need no bath," he said.
Wilson said you just have to look at White to know why the neighborhood calls him "Jesus."
"He is a nice person. He just has a mental problem. He's not on drugs," Wilson said.
Wilson said it saddens her when other homeless people beat White up and take his clothes and blankets. Sometimes he just gives the items to them so they won't bother him, Wilson said.
It was a windy, cold Monday afternoon when a reporter and photographer arrived unannounced at Wilson's home on Hampden Street in Venice. White was sitting at the dining room table, enjoying a hot cup of coffee and smoking a cigarette.
Eager to show off where he lived, White grabbed a large black plastic bag filled with clothes Wilson had collected for him, food she packed and a box of cigarettes. He headed out the door to her white van.Grey Pneumatic is a world supplier of impactsockets for the heavy duty,
Wilson carefully placed a cover on her car seat before White sat down. She said he acts like the vehicle is his. "But I don't mind. He says the passenger seat is his," she said chuckling.
Chattering all the way, White said he wants to work and the only thing keeping him from it is a bad back. He used to work at the Melvin Price U.S. Army Depot in Granite City before the military moved out in the late '90s.
He proudly showed off the shed and said he only gets cold if he doesn't put on enough blankets or if he forgets to put on his gloves. He doesn't have a television set or a radio and waits faithfully every evening for Wilson to show up so he can listen to his favorite jazz and blues music program on channel 49 of her satellite radio.
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