Homeless

"If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience." -George Bernard Shaw

Yes, all of us know our American economy is struggling up a steep hill. The recovery we are pushing through is like many other countries that are strugglings to recover. Long periods of what many would term wild spending and untamed greed placed us at this moment in history.

What I am not here to talk about is the political or ideological reasons for the economic woes. Nor am I here to discuss aspects of the recovery. What I am here to talk about is that history has repeated itself and we are left with many in desperate need. One particular topic is homelessness and how it affects people.

Consider these figures according to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness;

- 2009 Homeless Assessment reports on a single night, 643,067 people were homeless.
- Of those, 63 percent were sheltered, 37 percent were unsheltered.
- Individuals (63%) and Family groups (37%) used shelters in 2009.
- In 2009, 1,558,917 people used emergency shelters or transitional housing programs.
- On a single night in 2009, 238,110 people in families were counted as homeless.

It is found that families experiencing homelessness are usually headed by a single woman who on average is in her late 20s with approximately two children, one or both under six years of age 11. It is also found that the three most important differences between families experiencing homelessness and other poor families concern the resources they need to secure housing.

Families experiencing homelessness;

- have extremely low incomes,
- have less access to housing subsidies than low income families who remain housed,
- and have weaker social networks that are not able to provide sufficient help.

One can always argue various reasons for homelessness. Regardless of those reasons, we should care for those who need housing or shelter. The shanties of the 1930s or the nylon tents of today, each represents someone in need. And that is what we should at least agree upon, that those in need should be helped.

That help can come from public sources, but I tend to believe the bigger assistance is going to come from you and me. From individuals caring for those in need and wanting to care for their fellow human being. We may never completely rid the world of poverty and homelessness, but we can try.

Stay inspired my friends.

Winter Coats

"This more than successful idea from New York agency JWT was made to promote their search for coats for the homeless during the freezing winter in New York. The idea was to paint a giant homeless person on a wall and place coat hooks on the upper half of his body. As people hang their donated coats on the hooks.” ~Osocio.org

The above picture and subsequent story surrounding it is pretty interesting. When you read the story, you will see a short statement that says, "The building managers were not happy. Memos were sent. Phone calls made. Much grumpiness ensued."

At this point you could stop and start to wonder why anyone would be upset about a project to collect winter coats for the homeless. "How dare they," one might say. You could even slide down to the comments section of the article and read people questioning it as well.

But the article does note right after the statement that one should "Read the whole story at Adverting/Design Goodness." Maybe in our hectic world of information overload, we just feel its too difficult to read the whole story. Maybe we are just too tired to dig a little deeper into what lay beneath the surface.

My point here isn't to debate the plight of homeless people. What I am here to say is that each of those homeless people are just that, people. Human beings, each with a story just like you have or I have.

There might be reasons for their condition beyond the thirty-second news story or television commercial view. Some may have placed themselves there by addiction, choice or self-decision. Others may have arrived by unfortunate job loss, loss of a spouse or other circumstance. But each has a story just beneath the surface of what you see.

Am I asking you to go out and question each homeless person about their life? Of course not. What I am asking you to do is not judge the surface of people. Do not think lowly of them only to try and lift yourself higher.

By digging a little deeper, you might find a story that could inspire you to do things better. You might find a story that opens your eyes in such a way to keep you from making the same mistakes. You might find a story that once told gives that person a new confidence in life.

You just might have placed a warm coat on that person which gives them another chance for a better life.

Find a winter coat drive near you. Its pretty darn easy to do, just use your favorite internet search engine such as Google or Bing and (in example) search for the words "winter coat donations atlanta". Or better yet, start your own winter coat or blanket drive. Find an organization to partner with and then go listen to the stories.

Maybe by digging a little deeper into the lives of others, you may find your own.