Janice Rains-Moran, the efforts of whom Community Impact Newspaper profiled in February, spent three nights in the hospital. Since then, 23-year-old Marnae Brown has been charged with injury to an elderly individual.
Friends have established a GoFundMe to help raise funds for Rains-Moran's medical expenses.
Rains-Moran's daughter told ABC13 the attacker pulled out her mother's hair, knocked out her teeth and gave her a concussion. The incident happened the night of April 16, outside the Riviera Apartments at Clear Lake on Buccaneer. Cameron Cave said it is hard to see his grandmother that way.
"It's rough. It's just an older lady. Like defenseless. I mean, who could do that to someone like that? She couldn't fight back," Cave said.
Rains-Moran has spent years helping the homeless. She builds relationships and helps with housing and other resources, said her daughter, Danielle Rains. Cave said the attack felt like a betrayal.
According to court records, Brown is homeless and may have a mental illness or intellectual disability. She remains in jail on a $10,000 bond.
Other homeless advocates, like Karen, who wanted to be identified only by her first name, know there are sometimes risks with outreach, but now there is fear.
"Anyone working with the homeless, now you have a heightened awareness because someone has been attacked," Karen said. "It broke my heart. She works so hard."
Karen said she hopes for more resources for the homeless from the city of Houston so that what happened to Rains-Moran doesn't happen to anyone else.
