Indianapolis, IN
Indy mom preps her 3 kids for Christmas in a hotel
There used to be a holiday tradition in Precious Sarver’s home. Two Christmas trees. One for her, one for the kids.
This year, there’s only one tree.
It cost $5 at the dollar store. And it’s sitting on a table in the family’s eastside hotel room, where they’ve been living for more than a month.
“I do everything right,” Sarver said through tears, “and I end up here.”
Sarver, 46, said she and her three children had no choice after a landlord forced them out in hopes of charging more in rent to the next tenant.
Sarver spent some time looking for another place to live, but even the search is expensive. She estimated spending a couple hundred dollars just on application fees. The housing search became even more difficult after the death of her mother.
Now, Sarver is paying $343 each week for the hotel room. There are two full beds, an air mattress, TV, fridge and microwave.
“Look where I’m at,” she said. “I never would’ve thought in a million years that I’d be homeless.”
Sarver has already told her kids that Christmas will have to wait this year. That was after not being able to make them a Thanksgiving meal.
But the tree wasn’t optional. It’s an all-white miniature version, sharing table space with boxes of cereal and paper plates. The family loves the holiday season. Her oldest son counts down the days until B105.7 FM starts playing Christmas music.
“We do the Christmas thing,” Sarver said.
The only thing missing from the tree is ornaments. Those are sitting in one of the two storage units that Sarver is paying $180 for each month.
‘I can’t be the only one’
Sarver said she’s not the only one struggling at the hotel. There’s a mother with five or six kids, and another woman who just gave birth.
“I can’t be the only one,” she said. “I gotta imagine older people going through this is insane.”
They’re part of what homelessness advocates sometimes call the “hidden homeless.” They live out of their cars or double up with friends and family. Or, in Sarver’s case, they end up in an extended-stay hotel.
“Most of the people that clean this place live here with their kids,” she said.
Even outside of the hotel, Sarver can see the extent of the homelessness crisis in Indianapolis. There’s a woman who sits in the cold with a blanket, Sarver said, and no socks.
“So I stopped and gave her a McChicken,” she said. “I don’t have anything else.”
‘I know God’s got a plan’
Sarver said she takes pride in doing the right thing: paying bills on time, helping others, volunteering at a local school.
Things only got worse for Sarver’s family when she accidentally dropped $520 in the hotel hallway.
Security footage shows a man picking it up and walking away.
“That was my phone bill, food money, gas,” she said.
That money also could have helped Sarver cover a security deposit, which she said is one of the biggest obstacles between her family and a home. Plus, Sarver has a nerve condition in both legs that requires her to use a cane, so finding a home isn’t only about money. She also needs something accessible.
Sarver collects about $1,900 a month in disability payments between her and her youngest son, who has special needs. And she gets help paying rent through the Indianapolis Housing Agency’s Section 8 program.
But the program doesn’t help with a security deposit.
For that, Sarver said she’d need to come up with about $1,700.
It’s hard to see where that money will come from.
“But I know God’s got a plan,” she said. “It’s gotta be something else for us.”
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.
Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers housing and labor. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick and Bluesky @tyfenwick.bsky.social.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – While Louisville is famous for one race in May, a Derby City native is set to make his first appearance in a different iconic May race.
Jacob Abel will be making his first appearance in the Indianapolis 500 on May 24, racing for Abel Motorsports, founded by his father, Bill Abel.
“I am excited and grateful to be able to return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to have a shot at the Indianapolis 500. It’s been a lifelong dream to compete in that race and to have the opportunity to do it with Abel Motorsports and Chevrolet makes it even more special,” Jacob said.
Both Abels, the driver and the team, had breakout years in 2024 with three pole positions and three wins in the INDY NXT drivers’ championship, propelling the 25-year-old driver to the NTT INDYCAR Series the following year.
Practice for the 110th Indianapolis 500 begins on Tuesday, May 12 with qualifying being held on May 16 and May 17. The race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway goes green on May 24, coverage begins at 10 a.m.
Copyright 2026 WAVE. All rights reserved.
INDIANAPOLIS — A person was stabbed in downtown Indianapolis Sunday evening.
According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, officers were called to the intersection of East Market and North Delaware Streets around 8:28 p.m. to investigate a stabbing. When police arrived at the scene, they located an adult male victim with apparent stab wounds.
IMPD has confirmed that the victim was transported from the scene to a local hospital in critical but stable condition.
Investigators believe the stabbing “stemmed from a disturbance between multiple individuals and the victim.”
IMPD has reported that it has not identified or detained any suspects or persons of interest at this point in its investigation of the stabbing. Police have indicated that they are hoping witnesses come forward with information that can help them identify or locate the suspects.
“The officers now are doing a complete investigation,” IMPD Lieutenant Frank Wooten said during a media briefing Sunday night. “They’re going to investigate this to the best of their ability. We’re going to try to locate our suspect, arrest the suspect, prosecute the suspect and hold that suspect accountable for this heinous crime in Indianapolis. This is not an indication of what our city is about. This is not an indication of what we do downtown, and we hold this to be very serious. So, we will hold whoever did this responsible for their actions tonight.”
Sunday night’s stabbing represented a continuation of a violent weekend in downtown Indianapolis.
Early Sunday morning, two men were critically injured in a shooting near a White Castle on South Street. Before that shooting occurred, police arrested two juveniles on gun charges at Monument Circle.
Police also conducted a shooting investigation near the Hilton hotel located at 120 W. Market St. around 4 a.m. Sunday. Nobody was injured in that shooting.
Elsewhere in the city, a person was injured in a shooting in a CVS parking lot on Kentucky Avenue Saturday evening. Another individual was killed in a shooting outside a residence in the 2300 block of South Pennsylvania Street Saturday night.
Public police reporting systems indicate IMPD has investigated nine shootings that caused injuries since midnight Saturday. During that same timeframe, IMPD has investigated six shootings that did not result in any injuries and five stabbings.
Numbers available on shootings and stabbings in IMPD’s public reporting system may not be complete, as some reports on weekend shootings and stabbings may not have been entered yet.
“This is not what we want Indianapolis to be,” Wooten said. “This is not what we expect out of the citizens of Indianapolis. We expect them to be safe, come downtown and have a good time, and be able to go home the same way they came down here. So, we will hold these suspects, once located, accountable for this crime.”
INDIANAPOLIS — One person died in a shooting on Indy’s near south side on Saturday evening.
According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, officers were called to the 2300 block of S. Pennsylvania Street at approximately 9:45 p.m. on report of a shooting. This is a residential area located near Raymond Street and Madison Avenue.
Officers reported finding an adult male suffering from an apparent gunshot wound outside a residence. The victim was rushed to an area hospital in critical condition, but later was pronounced deceased.
The Marion County Coroner’s Office has not released the deceased’s name at this time.
Police ask anyone with information about this shooting to contact Detective Kristina Friel at the IMPD Homicide Office at (317) 327-3475 or e-mail the detective at Kristina.Friel@indy.gov. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at (317) 262-TIPS.
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