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# Homeless rewarded for rising to occasion
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/homeless-rewarded-for-rising-to-occasion/
- Published: 2005-09-24T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T07:49:02.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Community, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless, Homelessness

*By JASMIN PERSCH Special to the Daily Press*

BERGAMONT STATION — With a brand-new minivan, a home and her own business, Maria Lukvec never expected to become homeless.

And when she did feel herself slipping into homelessness, she denied it.

Lukvec’s party supply store was losing money because of mismanagement, according to a personal profile. Within two years, she and her children

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 24, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/092405.pdf?ref=smdp.com)