"If you want to pay rent and need to get money you can donate blood," she says. "My dad does that."

Homeless, 9, and coping with a hard life
For Brehanna, a loss of school, friends and a beloved stuffed animal

updated 9:02 a.m. PT, Sat., May 9, 2009



After her father loses his construction job and her family is evicted from their home, a young girl struggles with her new life.

PORTLAND, Ore. - At first, 9-year-old Brehanna didn't seem to understand.

Her family was being evicted from their home in Tualatin, a Portland suburb. Her father, Joe Ledesma, a homebuilder for 20 years, was without a job and couldn't find another. He couldn't pay the $800 rent on the three-bedroom house where he, his wife Heidi and daughter lived.

And he couldn't get through to Brehanna as they packed the family's navy blue 1986 Pontiac Firebird that she would not be able to bring her bed. She would not be able to bring every toy or trinket, or that checkered desk she had spent hours painting and sanding, either.

***

"We are having a hard time paying rent," she tells her reading teacher Mary Weller. She yawned and coughed, battling the second cold she has caught in less than a month at the shelter.

"But if you want to pay rent and you need to get money you can donate blood," she says. "My dad does that."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30644993/