Patrick Levine goes to school at Broward College during the day, works part-time at Publix in the afternoon and sleeps at a homeless shelter at night.

Levine doesn’t struggle with drugs or alcohol. He doesn’t have a gambling problem or a mental disability. He is just a 24-year-old college student who ended up at the Coalition of Service and Charity (COSAC) homeless shelter because of rough economic times.

Working only 18 hours a week as a bagger at Publix, Levine can’t afford to live on his own, something he discovered just a few weeks after he moved out of his family’s house.

"I’ve been on my own since December of 2008," says the nursing student. "Because I couldn’t get enough hours at work, I couldn’t pay rent."

Only a couple weeks after leaving his family, Levine ended up living in his car. Then, in January, Levine moved into the COSAC shelter, where he had been volunteering for years.

"I love living here; it’s the bomb," he says. "I thought they would be more violent and out of control and dysfunctional, but all of them are pretty functional."

Growing up, Levine says that he was raised to have a negative outlook on the homeless. Now, he says, he doesn’t have the same vision, especially since he is one of them.

"I try not to judge people," he says. "My previous thoughts were because of how I was raised. My views changed when I started reading the Bible."

While Levine is happy with staying at the shelter, he plans on eventually moving out when he becomes financially stable. In the meantime, he says he doesn’t rely on money to get him by: "I rely on God more, not finances."