help the homeless

This afternoon as I was walking in the street, some few children approached me and hysterically asked me if I could give them the bread which I was eating. Good thing, I still had one left in my bag which I then gave them. They didn’t appear to be homeless to me, but I knew they are poor. They didn’t thank me, but that was okay with me. Perhaps they were just too shy to say thank you.I observed them from afar and saw them share that small bread with the rest of the children. I smiled.

Last night, I received a mail from a certain Julene Ellefson saying she’s dying of cancer and that she wants to leave me her 10,500,000 British pounds
“for the good work of the lord, and also to help the motherless and less privilege and also for the assistance of the widows”.

With that great money , I would probably stop working and I would focus on helping the less privildged people in my country. I would donate some in hospitals, churches, scholarship, etc. It would be a full time job for me. And I would supervise everything and see to it that the money won’t be wasted. I will make sure that every single cent won’t be wasted.

But I found out this morning that her letter is a scam..

Ahh, I’m back to reality not that I am broke. But that wouldn’t stop me from helping. I can still help in my own small ways. So I am back to reality now.

But it would have been wonderful if I really will get that big sum of money to help.

This is one thing I would like to do for the rest of my life.

Working with the homeless was the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.

we don’t have many homeless people where i live. but i went to calgary and i saw lots. the first time it was -20 degrees and i saw a man sleeping in an alley way, i began to cry. so many homeless people do not survive the night when it gets that cold. i can’t even begin to comprehend why we live in a society where we let this happen, normal people like you and me, just dying in our streets. i feel so spoilt. living in a home with clean sheets and warmth. i wish i could help them all.. i just don’t know where to start.

I was the manager for this property, but fell out of favor by the owners as I realized what slumlords they actually are. Yet, I’d been working two or more jobs here, day and night. They didn’t pay me even the required minimum wage for the second job, nor credit me with the no-cost housing that others have been given for doing that.

Instead, they’re evicting me. What they did pay me, they paid me “under the table” so I’ve had no unemployment insurance and no income. There’s very little help for a person in this situation, since managers/employees at apartments don’t even have as many rights as tenants do – believe it or not.

And there’s almost no real help out there to fight this kind of thing or to arrange for even a realistic interim circumstance. I’m going to lose virtually everything I own that I can’t carry out personally. I don’t have family or friends that can take me in and people have been turning away because it makes them feel awkward and uneasy.

I’ve been trying to fight this thing, legally, and did manage to garner a little extra time so I’ve begun to somehow try to prepare for what’s about to happen. Selling stuff. Getting some gear. I bought a good bicycle also, since they had my car towed off the lot and I lost it because I couldn’t afford to get it back.

In the remaining time, I’m continuing to do some legal fighting because they are breaking the law and at some point I’m sure that a suit will succeed against them. But these things take time and I’m out of time, when it comes to having a place to live. I’ll have to somehow continue the fight homeless.

I’ve also been running across others that are facing similar demise and destitutions. They describe pretty much the same, in terms of financial/employment hardships and then the inevitable evictions, and simply absence of other people to turn to. And there just are less programs or agencies or budgets out there to help anyone, really.

Please be careful with your lives and scenes. I’m glad that I DID over time take some steps to have some good camping gear and clothing and various items that will come in handy, especially if I’m able to somehow manage to arrange for even some modest storage or stashes.

And I guess I’m glad that years ago, in my youth I did some backpacking/hitchhiking around. We didn’t call it “homeless” then, we called it “being on the road” and it was a much, much, much more fortunate and accomodating – even friendly and opportune – time in the this country.

But it also gave me practical experience in living out of a backpack in a mobile, transient lifestyle. And that might come in handy real soon, to some extent.

Many more people would probably do well to be sure to get some gear and experience while they’re housed and funded. Just in case. In that case, it will be invaluable.

Good luck everyone.

one of my ultimate fears in life is to become homeless. This is something that could happen to anyone, even high profile business men. One wrong investment or one wrong decision in your life can lead to a life of poverty and maybe being homeless. If feel horrible for the homeless and want to help. I hate how people think of them as drunks or losers. You don’t know that person you don’t know what their life has been like.
I want to volunteer my time and do whatever i can to help.

i have had an idea about a way i could both help the homeless and provide a usefull service to the commlunity around me. i thought i would put it out there and see what people think. my idea is to create a self sastaning medieveal town. as many people as the town could suport would be welcome to stay however this would not be a handout. those who stay in the town would be given a role in the suport of the town. blacksmith, knight, merchent. that kind of thing. all would leran a craft and place the objects they have made in the towns merchent area to be sold as a sorce of income i am not talking about a true historical reinactment more of a torest atracton. the idea is kind of a mix between a renesonce fair and the historical reinactment towns like the ones you go to in grade school (james town local forts gost towns) that kind of thing. I have many ideas on how it would all work its not realy complicated but it is too involved to discribe on hear. but what i cant figure out is where to find the things i would need to get the project off the ground things like funding a location and people to help me build the housing and streets and things. im sure this could all be done cheap if we had the help. im willing to bet i could even get help from groups such as the SCA and other medieval reinactor groups. this would be simple living all would be free to come and go at there own will agan i have so many ideas my head could explode anyhow what do you guys think? good idea? ideas that could help improve? or places i could go to get started? i live in the chicago area so there realy isnt anything like this anyplace aroud i realy think it could be a great torest atraction for our area and provide those who are on the streets a good opertunity to get back on there feet.

About four years ago or so, I started a discussion forum on homelessness called “Homeless Civil Rights and Civil Liberties”.

It’s now grown to about 760 people:
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/Homelessness

And we focus both on current news and on-going issues which homeless people face.

We also explore different ways to help the homeless, and there are many!

My personal goal in helping the homeless is to get the message across to society that we need more affordable housing, just wages, better education, and universal health care coverage.

I would also like to see homeless people better protected. There have been many, many hate crimes against them.

It sickens me that its trendy to “experience homelessness” like backpacking through Europe meanwhile Las Vegas has 12,000 on the streets,
3,500+ of which are children, 75% between the ages of 15 & 17 and for a while there I was one of them not because I wanted something to do before college.

So.. Every year around this time I tear apart my closet for the kids in my neighborhood. Jeans, hoodies, sweatshirts, the pile is pretty big this winter. That makes me smile since hell, I’m only bringing in a little over $700 a month working freelance

As I get ready to sell, pawn furniture, electronics, all things miscellaneous that won’t fit in storage before I go hitchhiking I’d like to use that chunk of change to buy blankets to hand out as the cold really sets in.

I just wish I could do more, you know?