NYC Homeless....

"Us and them, and after all we're only ordinary men" - Pink Floyd

Be grateful for the things you have because you never know what tomorrow brings, and for some people tomorrow brings the same "nothing" and despair that came the day before. What would you do if you lost everything and you were on the street? These are the things I'm thinking about tonight as I wait for Noella to fall asleep here (yes, I finished my grant...hooray!). Noella asked a question about something recently that caused me to try and explain why someone poor didn't have food to eat or a place to live. This is another thing to keep on the "parent radar": explaining the hard-knocks life to a child who has all her basic needs met and being grateful for what she has.

The David Gilmour Blogsite had a post today about this issue and it got me thinking. I'll share here what I posted there, but all this raises the question, What exactly are we doing about the 40,000 people who are homeless in NYC? There is so so so much housing going up in the city today, but who can afford them? What are we doing about preventing homelessness or helping those who have lost everything to rebuild their lives because the root issues are much deeper than just giving someone a roof over their head?

Hmm....

--------------------------------

My post from the David Gilmour Blogsite:

"The issue of homelessness is one that is never gets the kind of attention it deserves. I applaud you guys (David Gilmour, Features Editor, et al) for using this corner of the internet to raise awareness.

I used to work at a transitional living community in the village here in NYC. The place was all about helping people get off the street and on their feet in every sense by providing mental health services, substance abuse services, life skill building, public benefits assistance, work readiness skills, and placement at single room occupancy units around NYC. What rings true is this: you can not cure homelessness without rebuilding lives. I’m glad to see Crisis raising awareness and influencing policy on this issue back in the UK.

Homeless youth are persistent problem in the village, and there’s a community coalition trying to tackle the issue. For those of us here from NYC, I read that almost 50% of homeless are children. Local governments are taking the brunt of the storm with mixed results with little support from state governments or Washington, D.C. Get involved or at least stay informed.

Check out what NYC Department of Homeless Services are up to. New York Cares and the New York City Rescue Mission are two places you can check out to see how you can help locally.

The food pantries and the soup kitchen in the neighborhood where I work today are forever running low on supplies as are many others in the NYC area. Try to find one close to home, give what you can, and put on a little “Dark Side of the Moon” in your mp3 player as you walk away feeling good about getting involved….."