every now and then it becomes difficult to express in this blog how i feel about the homeless, homelessness and everything that comes with it. when those times come, i have to fall back and just write what i'm feeling and hope it comes across like i mean it. at times it does and at times it doesn't. these times pass and i'm able to express my opinions, feelings and whatever else comes to mind again. that's the good thing about having a blog, you can write and express whatever you want. it doesn't matter if anyone agrees with it, sympathizes with it or disagrees with it. 

i do wish there was a way to better convey to you how i feel about the homeless, their plight and how i truly believe we could solve homelessness and the issues surrounding it, if we put all our resources into a concrete, solid and common sense plan of action. i would like to be able to better express to you how we feel about the work we do with the homeless, why we do it and what it means to the homeless themselves. we think what we do is important and we feel we are giving a needed service to the homeless,otherwise we wouldn't do it.we bypass the gratuitous, however well meaning it may be, brown bag with a sandwich and bottle of water and try to give items that are much needed, not only for some small comfort, but for the health and survival of the homeless. in any case, we believe in what we do, how we do it and why we do it. i can tell you from personal experience that the things we try to give the homeless and the particular group of homeless we specifically target serves a good purpose, are needed and often are not given by organizations. we also try to be there when others have said no or the items needed can't be obtained. 

we are not a large organization. we are two and sometimes three people. we have no aspirations of being a medium or large organization. we operate around the fringes of the homeless and it serves our purpose very well. in the near <hopefully> future we are going to make a few changes so we don't constantly struggle for resources. we are vigilantly working on that. i very well may be able to do this full time. but that is in the future. today, the needs of the homeless remain unchanged and many unmet. yes, it is summer and the homeless are no longer in danger of freezing or any of the other things that come with winter weather. but they face different, but just as daunting, challenges in surviving the summer and often brutal heat that comes with it. just as in winter, we do the best we can do to help them thru another season.winter is looming just around the corner and with once again freezing weather and the dangers that come with the cold weather. we are trying to get a jump on winter this year.

but it is a struggle for us to continue doing this. we are constantly scrambling for resources. we are constantly trying to raise money to obtain whatever seasonal items we need. we constantly wonder if the money we need will be there when needs arrive. we struggle just to operate from week to week without consistent donations.so far we have been blessed and have managed to obtain the money we need from season to season to keep going. 

we did not obtain enough money to acquire the hot weather items for the homeless and distribute them to the various sites like we wanted. we supplied what we could, when we could, but some needs went unmet. we are once again struggling with the amount we need to keep operating and prepare for the winter. we need your help to do this. i realize, probably more than you could know, how tight money is and what personal budgets need to be met. i realize different people can do different things at different times. but i also realize most of you could do something. whatever reasons you have for hesitating, put them aside and realize that what we do serves us no purpose other than helping the homeless. we don't benefit by it and we gain nothing but personal satisfaction knowing that we have helped another human being at a very difficult and low time in their lives. if you have donated before, consider doing it again. if you haven't donated in the past, please consider doing so today. 
we don't have the luxury of waiting and neither do the homeless. the need is real. the need is now. in some cases tomorrow may be too late. 

donate today, big or small, so we can continue to help the homeless. don't be concerned that as little as ten dollars isn't enough. you'd be surprised how far it goes. if we could get enough people to do just that, we could easily meet the goal that we need. if you can, please consider a recurring donation. those types of donations help take the guess work out of whether or not resources are available to continue our work.

we need your help. they need your help.go....donate today big or small on our donate section or the home page.
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see you around town

homeless110

in a perfect world the annual point in time count that is taken annually is a test that measures the health and well being of our homeless agencies and the effort to reduce homelessness. in a perfect world we would do this yearly and see some progress from the prior years in bringing homelessness to a manageable level. it is also a test of how the homeless themselves are doing and the well being of the individuals experiencing it. in a perfect world. we face an enormous task in this country at the present time of dealing with unprecedented numbers of homeless people in every major city in the united states. not only in the inner cities has homelessness increased but it permeated every part of our society from the middle class to the poor and spread into our smaller cities and suburbs. it has reared its head in rural areas like never before. from seattle to portland to washington dc to nashville to salt lake city to houston to new york city we face record numbers of homeless people and a crisis like we nave not faced before.

the year 2016 will be remembered for many things in the homeless advocacy world, but one thing that will be high on the list again is our seemingly surprised reaction to the fact that homelessness has not been significantly reduced in this country. despite record low unemployment, a record high stock exchange, a seemingly booming economy and the highest accumulated wealth this country as ever seen, we have made no major inroads into bringing homelessness to a manageable level despite what we want to call our best efforts. we should be embarrassed and maybe somewhat ashamed that the results were as negligible as they were. despite predictions and proclamations from various cities that progress had been made and homelessness had been reduced, the data and numbers coming from the pit count says otherwise. the over capacity missions and shelters speak the truth. no city was left untouched and no area of the country was spared. we continued in 2016 to follow programs that have not been working. we continued to rely on a very distant federal government to guide, mandate and fund us into following programs that were not effective, not cost efficient and did not relieve the daily struggle of the homeless much, if any. 

we now enter into a new year with a republican congress, a republican senate, a republican president, a majority of republican governors and a very large majority of republican state legislators. republicans...who are known for austerity, budget cutting and slashing programs, particularly social safety net programs to accomplish their budget balancing agenda. we are entering into an era of defunding programs and grant cuts like we haven't seen in decades. we will now be forced to rethink how we do a lot of things without sacrificing our ultimate goal or our mission of ending homelessness. we will have to reshape, rethink and reorganize our efforts in fighting homelessness like we've never done before. suddenly we do not know what is going to happen, how much is going to happen or when and if it will happen. truthfully we probably never did know. we dug ourselves into various sides of the homeless battle and played self serving games with peoples lives and well being. we ignored the obvious facts that what we were doing wasn't working and the directions we were taking were leading in circles.we now must reorganize ourselves and fill our advocacies, agencies and organizations with flexible, creative people and surround them with the tools and programs that work instead of tossing our precious resources and money into programs that are doomed from the beginning. we have a chance and an opportunity to learn from 2016 and the years prior and begin anew. we have a chance to improve the lives of the homeless and give them what we have been promising for too long but not delivering...an end to their struggle. 

we now face a choice to begin 2017. do we continue to follow the same path and fail or do we begin anew and explore different avenues to end homelessness? do we continue to let our agency leaders make deeper tears in the fabric of our credibility or do we use the passion that we all once had in fighting homelessness and take a new route to the same end? do we continue year after year to act surprised at the lack of results in reducing homelessness, or do we admit we've been wrong collectively and bring our new ideas, new messages forward....with new messengers. we can always hope. however, we can't always begin anew. this year we have that chance. 

see you around town
​homeless110

650 thousand. that's the number of homeless people that are estimated to be in the united states of america on any one given night. that does not include those taking refuge in missions, shelters or other locally run places because they have no place to go. that does not include those who are in short term detox centers, rehab facilities or other programs because they do not have a place called home and had rather be in a program than take their chances on the street. the 650 thousand are the homeless who sleep on the street, in campsites or other places each night. i think that number may be conservative and it probably is closer to the 800 thousand to a million level. stop and take just a moment to think about that number....a million men, women and children in our country, our state and our community who sleep on benches, in abandoned buildings, in tents and other various places because they don't have a place where they can call home. in america....the land of opportunity, the land of wealth and the richest country in the world with more resources than any other. 

idealists among homeless advocates or those working for homeless agencies like to repeat cliches when it comes to the homeless. they say we can end homelessness with whatever the popular program of the year happens to be. they use terms that sound official, effective and quiet frankly make for a good read on the homeless news feeds. they state, repeat or quote different volumes of information, financial figures or mounds of data from the federal government to prove that these programs are working. this happens month after month and year after year. but the number of homeless people in america remains the same. the headlines from across the nation when it comes to housing the homeless and the success we are having in the effort to reduce homelessness sounds great. just scan thru the homeless news feeds and you'll see it. but if the number of homeless people basically remains unchanged, if the women and children are still dying on our streets due to being homeless, if we still have over 13 kids dying alone every nite, then how can that be called success? it isn't. it's a disgrace. it's shameful. it's sad, it's an indictment about the moral compass of this country and each one of us. 

we need to change our thinking. we need to change our strategies. we need to change our whole homeless advocacy and agency network. we need to do that now, not ten years from now when we realize the latest plan isn't working. we need to do that as soon as possible so we don't allow any more needless deaths or misery. we need to find another way to deal with homelessness before we indoctrinate yet another generation to homelessness and all that comes with it. but how can we do this? what can we do differently than we have done in the past that will have a quantifiable impact on the homeless population? what can we do to rescue the homeless from the streets?

trying to make a difference requires something that this country seems to have forgotten in recent years. it requires commitment, it requires will and it requires more attention than a two day trending line on twitter. it requires the compassion and willingness to help our fellow human beings and take responsibility for the well being of our most vulnerable citizens. we need awareness of what's happening in our own city and our own neighborhood. we need awareness of the suffering of the women and children who sleep alone on our streets in the city we live in. we need to be aware of the people behind the coats, beards and hats we pass every day.we need to decide to step up and have an impact on the people in our own city who don't have a roof over their head or any place to go. we need to decide that this shouldn't and no longer can happen in our city. our city...the one we live in. the one we work in. the one we call home. the one we should be proud of, but can't be as long as there are people struggling to just survive another cold night or search for someplace warm on the cold days or are in constant worry about the next meal or where they will find it. our city.

i've always said we will never solve homelessness from a federal level, no matter how much money is dumped into the process in any one given period of time. the money eventually dries up and we end up at square one or worse. we can only solve homelessness from a local level. it begins and it ends with you and i. only we can do it and do it effectively and efficiently. you might say to yourself...why should i ? you might say to yourself...it's not my problem. you should say to yourself, if not me...then who? if i don't help this woman, if i don't help this child, if i don't help this elderly person....then who will? if i don't take responsibility for the men, women and children in my own city, in my own neighborhood....then who will? if i can't be a part of the solution for this atrocity, then what will the solution be? will it ever be? if i don't help the homeless survive another night, another week, another month...then who will. if you don't.....some won't.

history is full of people who made a difference. history tells us that one person can indeed make a difference anb begin a collective movement to solve an injustice, to solve an issue that goes against the very basic morality of each of us. time has told us that each of us can make a difference. history has also told us what happens when we don't step up and take responsibility for those around us. it's time to take back the responsibility and ownership of the problems in our own city. it's time we stop thinking that someone else will do it or the government will solve the issue. while we think that, while we ignore the problem, people continue to die needlessly. children continue to suffer. women continue to struggle to survive. our streets. our city. our citizens. our people.

stand up. say enough. let's all solve the issue of homelessness...together...individually...collectively...each of us. each one of us.

see you around town 

everything must come to an end sooner or later. that's the way of life and nature. and so it is with this blog. i feel i've reached a point where there's nothing else to be said. there's nothing more i can say to you about homelessness or the homeless that i haven't already said. hopefully some of you have come to a better understanding of the homeless. hopefully some of you have used that understanding to make this world a better place and have helped someone along the way.

i feel like i've been one of the lucky ones. my time being homeless wasn't a titantic struggle, although it was certainly difficult. i escaped homelessness. i teetered on the edge of returning now and then but managed to avoid returning. for those still struggling with the issues of homelessness i hope they too can find their way out of it. i'll keep this website open and perhaps make an entry now and then about something. but my energy is spent and my time now is such i don't have much to devote to researching and writing. to be honest, i don't have the heart to do it anymore. the plans i had for an organization to help the homeless didn't materialize due to the lack of financial support it takes. 

as for me, i'm going to spend my time drinking coffee, looking for that curly haired girl with the big smile and trying to make my small part of the world a better place. as for you, thank you for reading this website and for those who helped along the way, a big thank you. try to view the homeless as a person first and look beyond the stigmas of homelessness. whether it be good or bad that you see, loo at the person, not the situation. help someone when you can. smile at everyone and say good morning. 

see you around town
​homeless110

poof, you're gone. just like that you disappear. no magic, no smoke and mirrors. no nothing...you're gone. as far as the people and world that you know, you're gone from the face of the earth. no, you weren't kidnapped to be held for ransom by a terrorist group. no, you didn't fall into a sinkhole or dive from a bridge into the water. you did not lose your way on a dark, deserted road and wander into the thick woods. but you're gone. suddenly, without any warning. no notice, no advance signs, no letters, no emails, no phone messages. one day you were there, living your life. the next or so it seems, you are gone.too often it happens that quickly. a massive layoff where you work. an accident. a severe health problem. drugs or alcohol. domestic abuse or divorce. there are any number of reasons you could be here one day and gone the next. and when homelessness happens like that, suddenly, unexpectedly, often a trail of disaster is left behind. a trail that will lead you in circles for months or even years to come. a trail that is behind you but also in front of you. you have left a legacy for your family and even your friends of one big pile of disaster that is now heaped at their feet. it can cripple you and make you unable to move in any direction except down. at a time when you need your wits, your strength and the support of your loved ones, you are left with none of these. you are expected to stand tall and make sense of the mess surrounding you at a time when you are at your weakest and most vulnerable. 

is this really what we want for our family members who are struggling with homelessness or are on the verge of becoming homeless? the world as they knew it has disappeared before their very eyes. it has been forever altered. they are no longer part of your world and in many ways you are no longer part of theirs. it's all come to a screeching halt. they have to keep moving as if nothing is wrong and nothing has happened. you have to keep moving also and continue on with your life. it takes all their inner strength just to survive each and every day in the world of homelessness. you wake up, put one foot in front of the other and continue to navigate the bumpy streets that you will come to know all too well before your ordeal is over. why place an additional burden on your family and friends by asking them for help and forcing them to say no or make excuses for not helping? you may or may not have seen it coming. it was there out of the corner of your eye like a speck of dust. you couldn't quite get it focused but you saw it, blurry as it was. 

benjamin franklin wrote, "in this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes. they are both inevitable". homelessness is not inevitable. it is not a fixed dilemma in our society to be accepted and taken as the norm. 
it is not something that can't be prevented or solved more easily than people seem to think. but in order for homelessness, which has been called multi layered, problematic and difficult situation to solve, to be brought under control you have to take matters in your own hands. you cannot be a neutral spectator whether you are experiencing homelessness or someone in your family is experiencing homelessness. it is not a spectator sport. it is an active participation situation that takes active involvement. it's not just about a last chance, a last stand or the final straw. alot of times it's about the smallest, the most minute detail that we all seem to forget. it's about love and caring for your family enough to never turn your back on them. it's about feeling so strongly about your mother, your brother, your sister, your brother, your niece, your nephew that you would never forsake them. you would never give up on them and you would never allow them to experience homelessness or live on the streets of this country. it's about you....and them.

solving homelessness is not difficult. it's very easy, it's very simple. it takes love and responsibility and caring for those in your own family. do not turn your back on them. it's not easy. it's not simple to do. it can be stressful, it can be emotionally draining. but if you do turn your back on them, if you do forsake them, if you do give up on them, not only do you risk losing them out of your life and allow them to fall prey to homelessness. you risk something far more dire, for more devastating and far more painful. one day, one night....poof...they're gone. just like that...they're gone from the face of the earth. homelessness has claimed another victim. they are dead. no notice. no nothing. homeless one minute....dead the next.

​see you around town