RAPID CITY -- Sometimes she wakes in the middle of the night and worries she's not a good mother.
She listens as her children sleep nearby, their rhythmic breathing a small comfort, a hedge against anxiety and fear that threaten to overwhelm her.
She listens to the night sounds so close, just outside the thin walls of a tent she and her children -- Mary, 17, Edward, 12, and Aimee, 4 -- call home.
This is Marsha Fillion Reznick's life. A single woman, 43, huddled against the night in a tent with three of her four kids. It's the only home she can afford to provide them.
"Basically, I've been moving for the last three months," Reznick said. "I can't afford a campground. Campgrounds are expensive."
She works as a part-time cashier in Acme, a minimum wage job.
A recent divorce, a bad car accident and crushing living and transportation costs left Reznick homeless and locked in financial shambles. Hers is a constant struggle to find a new place to live and to take care of her children.
On Monday, she was on the move again, lugging her tent and belongings to the lawn of a friend's home in Alden. Left behind was the property adjacent to her longtime Rapid City house, the home she once shared with her ex-husband and children.
Reznick was forced to give up the house after her divorce because she couldn't afford the $358 monthly land contract payments.
Lingering injuries from a January car accident left her unable to work long hours, and make it difficult to find a good full-time job.
A lack of money means less security and greater challenges in caring for her children.
Reznick has half-time custody of three of her four children. When she has them, they stay with her in the tent.
"My son hates it. If the weather is really bad, I don't have them stay," she said. "It's not easy. It's very difficult to keep everything clean."
Reznick and her children shower at friends' homes and must travel each day to the store for groceries.
"I can't really cook for them and food stamps don't allow you to buy premade food. I can't keep leftovers. I can't keep things cold," Reznick said.
Her ex-husband lives with his mother and the children stay there during his periods of custody.
Reznick had an offer for shelter space in Traverse City, but it didn't come with guaranteed beds for her three children. She wouldn't go without them, she said.
She applied for state and federal housing assistance and is listed 212th on a waiting list for Section 8 housing. Reznick also waits to hear about other assistance programs.
"I can scratch enough together to get a place, but can't afford to keep it going," she said.
Reznick's woes are compounded by mental health problems. She is bipolar and while her doctor gives her free samples of medication, she sometimes borrows money to help pay for medicine.
That's another concern for Reznick: How will she afford her prescribed medication once she does find another home?
"Rent will take away from that," she said.
In the meantime, Reznick wants to find affordable housing in Bellaire, where her children attend school. However, she doesn't yet know where she stands until she learns what public assistance she qualifies for and how long the help will last, she said.
Her plight is not unique, said Kathleen Arndt, executive director of the Friendship Shelter in Gaylord, which is seeing more and more homeless clients on their doorstep.
The homeless shelter averages between 33 and 35 clients from Otsego County, up from an average 10 to 12 just a few years ago, Arndt said.
"Many times it involves substance abuse problems and many have additional health problems and can slip through the cracks," she said.
Often they have trouble keeping solid employment and simply cannot come up with monthly rent money, Arndt said.
"We're not seeing it from a lot of foreclosures. More often it's because they can't afford the rent," she said.
A homeless survey will be done in August in Otsego County, when officials will hit the streets and check area motels and campgrounds for those without a place to live, Arndt said.
The struggle to carry on and maintain a semblance of family life isn't easy, Reznick said.
"Finding a home is the first thing on my mind in the morning and the last thing on my mind at night," she said. "This is not the way I wanted my children to live. It's difficult and I just try to keep a happy face on."
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