Phil Eckert:  A profile of resilience

Note to Reader:  What you are about to read is one formerly homeless man’s account of why he was homeless. This individual consented to the interview and could refuse to answer any questions. This is his story; take it as you will.

While sitting in the Burial Grounds Coffee Collective on a recent Sunday afternoon, Phil Eckert mentioned that his addiction to methamphetamine began across the street in 1999 in Olympia’s Sylvester Park.

“I met some people I thought were cool and decided to hang out with them. They busted out some drugs, and I thought, ‘Why not?’” he related. 

“It was all downhill from there,” he said.

Born in California in 1980, Eckert told The JOLT that he had grown up on welfare with a mother who was a meth addict. “She did her best, but it was kind of a bad environment,” he said.

In 1997 he left high school, got married, and traveled across the country, surviving by working at low-paying, manual labor jobs. Two years later, he turned up in Sylvester Park.

“Between 1999 and 2008 I was pretty much strung out on meth,” continued Eckert. “I was homeless most of the time, and I did whatever it took to buy what we needed.”

His life took a turn for the better when he got clean in 2008 and stayed that way until 2014. But as his second marriage fell apart, he relapsed and began to use and sell meth.

“The marriage was falling apart; we’d party on weekends; one thing led to another; I was soon back to using and dealing drugs; I was living in my car; and I was in and out of jail for possession,” explained Eckert.

In 2019 he received word that his mother had died of cancer. 

Having been estranged from his family since he left high school, he later learned that she had entered treatment, turned her life around, and worked as a treatment counselor for over 19 years.

“Losing my mom was then and still is the hardest thing I’ve ever dealt with,” said Eckert. 

He went on say that he used drugs to numb the pain of her death; that he lived in a tent for eight months in “The Jungle” where he sold drugs to other homeless individuals; that he ended up under Department of Corrections supervision; that he did not check in; that warrants were issued; and that in January 2021 he was arrested and placed in the Nisqually Tribal Jail.

The Jungle is the nickname of a large homeless encampment. It is a 6.75-acre forested area south of the Ensign Road entrance to Providence St. Peter Hospital at Martin Way. The City of Olympia owns most of it. 

While incarcerated, Eckert received a message from a former girlfriend who reminded him that he was 40 years old and that it was time he got his life together.

“I thought about that, and I knew she was right,” continued Eckert. “I was really tired of the crap, and once I got out of jail I stayed with some good friends until I got into an Oxford House in Tumwater.”

He cleaned up and  began to work in restaurants and in construction in what he called “the rebuilding of my life.” 

Since 2021, he has been clean, has a residence in Olympia and is gainfully employed at Cascade Gasket and Manufacturing Company, Inc. in Auburn.

“To get to where I am today in life has been a hard journey,” Eckert concluded.   “But if my story of resilience reaches one person that is going through what I went through and helps them make the decision to change their life, then my work has been worth it.”