Will Many Americans Spend the Holidays Homeless?

            Many of you have just gotten through Thanksgiving and are beginning to get in Christmas mode.  While many of you are wondering what to buy and how much money to spend on gifts, hundreds or more Americans have lost their jobs due to budget cuts and their homes due to foreclosure.  How are they going to spend the holidays?  If you don’t have family or friends to take you in, you are going to be among the millions of homeless people this holiday season.

            I feel that many will likely spend the holidays in a homeless shelter or transitional housing.  With the way the economy is today and record unemployment, the amount of sheltered homeless people is expected to rise.

            More than 250 men, most of them strangers, sat together as they ate their Thanksgiving dinner.  Among them were artists, drug addicts, college students, former businessmen, veterans, former athletes and others whose lives had hit rock bottom.  The unadorned interior, cinderblock walls, concrete floors and fluorescent lights lacked the homey feel of grandma’s dining room.  Those who entered the facility weren’t greeted by family members’ hugs.  Instead, they passed through a metal detector.  No, they weren’t in prison, but at City Union Mission, one of several area homeless shelters.

            City Union Mission operated three shelters.  One is the Men’s shelter; the second is a family shelter that houses single women and families.  The third is a farm in Warsaw, Mo for men recovering from addiction.

            A study done by the U.S. Department of housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 2009 estimated the homeless population to be more than 640,000 on any given night.

            I hope once the holidays are over and we begin a new year there will be new job opportunities.  People will be able to get back on their feet and the homeless rate will drop.

            For many, the holidays are more about survival than celebration.

Homeless during the holidays (2010).  The University News Retrieved December 14, 2010 from http://unews.com/2010/11/29/homeless-during-the-holidays

Reflections

            When I started the class and the first assignment was to pick a topic, write an introduction and set up your blog.  I was floored.  I had no idea what a blog was.  5 posting later, I have enjoyed all of the research and being able to incorporate my feelings with different articles and then put them on paper.  I really enjoyed looking for images to go along with each posting.  I didn’t know I had it in me.  Thank you so much for helping me to bring out the best in me.

Are Homeless People Dishonest?

            I feel that many people view homeless people in a different light.  People view homeless people as dishonest because of their own personal experience with homeless people. 

            In my own personal observation of a homeless person, I have observed this person not trying to help himself.  In my opinion I feel that he really doesn’t have to be homeless.  He has family that is trying to help him.  They may not have a lot of money to give him but they set up appointments and make arrangements for him to talk to people that could help him.  If you ask him if he spoke to anyone or went to any of the appointments he’ll say “yes”.  Later you find out that he didn’t.  This is being dishonest.

            Some other people hear stories from friends and relatives or read articles about dishonest homeless people. 

            A friend of mine shared a story with me that have affected her point of view about homeless people.  My friend stated that she does believe that there are people who make a living off of pretending to be homeless.  Her feelings came from a story that she heard from a friend of hers.  In the story a person who had been observed holding a sign saying “I’m homeless please help”.  This same person had been seen standing in the same spot everyday for a span of weeks.  One day the “homeless” person was missing from his usual spot.  After turning into the parking lot, the “homeless” person was seen getting into the drivers side of a Lexus and driving away. 

            I feel most people stereotype.  It only takes one bad experience or hearing one bad story to change a person’s view about a group of people as a whole.

            For example, Dave Tally, an Arizona homeless man, found a backpack earlier this month at a rail station in Tempe.  He opened it up, looking for some sort of identification or baggage tag.  Inside he found an envelope with $3.300 in cash and a laptop computer.

            In the past Dave had made some bad chooses.  Drugs and alcohol caused him to loose his home.  Dave has been homeless and living on the streets for 11 years.   A local charity helped him get clean and sober.  He is now a recovering drug addict.   Dave was able to move into a shelter which was located in the basement of a local church.  Dave’s only means of transportation was his bicycle.  He would use it to go to different places looking for work.  The bike needed some repairs.  When Dave found the money his first thought was that he could use the money to get his bike fixed so he could start looking for work again. He struggled on weather to keep it or find the owner and return it.

He didn’t know what to do.  After much thought Dave decided to find the owner and return the money.  It wasn’t easy, but he knew it was the right thing to do.  He enlisted help from the director of the shelter.  They found the owner of the backpack which turned out to be a college student.  The money was to be used for him to get a car.  Bryan Belanger was very grateful that he was able to get his money back.  He came and thanked Dave in person.  He was so moved with what Dave had done he has decided to pay it forward.  Bryan now volunteers at the shelter where Dave stays.

            People from different states heard of Dave’s integrity and honesty.  Dave started receiving donations from Seattle, Dallas, and Tennessee.  Dave received enough money to get his bike fixed.  Now he is able to start looking for a full time job.  Dave did a great thing that day when he decided to return the money.  He was homeless and could have used the money, but he followed his heart.  I believe that doors will start to open for Dave and he won’t be among the homeless population anymore.  An honorable act that is now paying off.

            There are some homeless people that are dishonest.  There are homeless people that may have fallen on hard times for a period in their lives, but still continues to hold themselves to a higher standard and always try to do the right thing.  Dave is one of those people.

Blackburn, B. (2010, November 19).  Person of week: Arizona homeless man Dave Tally turns in lost backpack with $3,300.  Homeless Tempe, Arizona.   ABC News. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from:  http://abcnews.go.com/US/PersonOfWeek/arizona-homeless-man-turns-lost-backpack-3300/story?id=12191814.