Imagine not having a home. Surely it must be incredibly difficult to find a job, maintain your sanity or live a normal life. Please! Help us care for these helpless men and women of South Florida who do not have a home.
Efforts to Help the Homeless in Broward
“Point Publishing”, an online newspaper, stated that in 2019 there are 2,803 homeless individuals in Broward County, 485 more than the year before. 305 are children; 233 are veterans and in the homeless youth category, 108 unaccompanied youth were homeless.
According to Homeless Connections, Homelessness can happen to anyone. Homelessness does not define a person but is instead a temporary situation. Some contributing factors to homelessness include chronic poverty, job loss and underemployment, a lack of affordable housing, mental illness, addiction, and domestic violence.
You may not see them every day but they are there, right in your neighborhood. They need to feed themselves, keep clean and stay safe. Under your own day to day pressure to make a living; to take care of your own family, they are easy to overlook but let’s take a look.
What You Can See
It’s about 5:00 pm on a Broward County Street. In fact, it’s the corner of 441 and Sunrise Boulevard where it feels like over 100 degrees. There is a homeless man and he has a sign; two solitary words shouting at drivers and passengers in vehicles passing by: HOMELESS, HUNGRY.
Who cares? Few, you think but you do. You mull over it. Maybe you could give him a few dollars… but he may use it to buy drugs. No way! You are not going to contribute to drugs. How about some food? But you’ll have to give him money -drugs again. No! No! You tell yourself. So, you end up driving by.
You can help by donating!
The Problem
The problem is, you could not dream that food was but one of his troubles. If he was lucky enough to eat for the night, his calloused feet, hidden by the tattered sneakers, hurt badly. He would do anything for a pair of socks that would relieve the pain after he took off the sneakers. He would feel better, much better, as he lay to rest on the cold concrete bed under the bridge where he camped.
Our homeless. Yes! Our! Our homeless men and women, living on the street, desperately need items such as socks, sleeping bags and clothes. Think about it, they have the same needs as you. So, if they cannot earn a living they need shelter; they need toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo, umbrellas and soap. This homeless man lives on the street, not in a shelter. He is just one of over 850 individuals who live on the streets, not in shelters.
We believe we can impact those on the streets.
How We Help the Homeless
Educating the Public: We have partnered with Daybreak Assembly Church to help the homeless. Our plan involves educating the public about homelessness by letting them know that a homeless person does not have a primary residence, typically, not by choice but by circumstance. This person may be living on the streets, a motel room or a shelter, or may be sleeping in a vehicle, “doubled up” with friends or family, or living under some non-permanent situation.
We want people to know that homelessness is not laziness or worthlessness although there are those who suffer from these characteristics. It is not necessarily permanent and that our efforts are to make them safe and comfortable under their current difficulty or remove them from homelessness to becoming productive citizens.
Providing Information to the Homeless: Our efforts are to contact the homeless and distribute flyers or brochures keeping them informed of all local services such as shelters, food and jobs. Their hours of operation and phone numbers.
Aiding the homeless: We purchase and distribute items such as:
- Sneakers and socks
- Clothes such as caps, underwear, shirts and jeans
- Mats
- Wipes and deodorant
- Water
- Books
- Flashlights
- First aid kit
How we market to the public and homeless: We keep in direct contact with the public as well as the homeless through our website, social media, the church, local newspaper, cable television, flyers and brochures. We also meet homeless people on the streets, in parks, under bridges and other places where we hold conversation, distribute flyers, brochures and other publications with information that they need.