Trying to end homelessness one person at a time
It's always interesting to see the reactions of people who aren't involved in the homeless community, when they do get involved.
A few months ago, my blogging colleague, You Know Neen took a family vacation to San Francisco. It's a beautiful city with lots of iconic things to see and do. For a tourist, it's one of the best cities to visit in the United States.
San Francisco also has one of the highest costs of living in the country. The average one bedroom apartment will cost you between $3100-3500/month. If you have a family and need a second bedroom, add a thousand dollars. More than $4000/month for a two bedroom apartment. It's not much better if you cross the bridge and live in Oakland. It's two to three grand a month there. As you can see, even with a great job, it's not easy to live in the Bay area.
Now imagine you're already living on the street or in a shelter. You need to save enough money to put down a deposit plus first and last months rent. Do the math and you can see why some people never get off the street. The lucky ones get some help and escape their plight. The majority don't and they continue their endless cycle of homelessness.
My friend Nina took note of all the people living on the street and decided to do something about it. She put money in cups. She bought people coffee and meals. She talked to people...and did all this while on a family trip. She came away from this so moved that she wondered how to do more.
Here's the thing....sometimes just helping that one person is enough.
According to HUD, more than 500,000 people in the United States were homeless for at least one night in 2015. The more than 7,500 homeless in San Francisco seems like a drop in the bucket...unless you're one of them. Those numbers are daunting and overwhelming.
There are things you can do to help. Volunteer to serve food at a shelter or a church soup kitchen. You can help put together care packages of toiletries and clothes. You wouldn't think so but socks and deodorant are badly needed items. But never downplay giving someone a buck or two or buying some food.
I know it doesn't sound like much but that single dollar might be what it takes to get someone off the street on a bitter cold night and onto a train. It might be enough to get them a room with a bed for one night. If you've slept on the street for any length of time, you can imagine how good having a bed for even a single night would feel.
I also know that buying someone a bagel and some coffee doesn't feel like you're solving anything but you are. You may be giving nourishment to someone who hasn't had anything to eat for days.
As you can see, there are a lot of little things that you can do to help. Never beat yourself for not doing more. Helping even one person helps all of us.
This is the blog post that Neen wrote. A letter to the homeless man on the corner. Beautiful!
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