What does it take to be a homeless person in America today? Not much.
In a single second, anybody's life can take a turn for the worse. It might be an illness (mental or health), a house fire, an accident, a bad decision, addiction, job loss or a foreclosure. Most people cannot imagine being homeless. Because of this, those who are homeless are sometimes looked upon as being at fault for that situation.
Homelessness is a breaking point. Without a mailing address or shelter, obtaining an ID, job or assistance becomes almost impossible. The longer one is without housing, the deeper the slide.
A shelter represents peoples of all facets of society. One resident, a former corporate worker with 25 years tenure, went to work only to find she did not fit anymore and was let go. She was in her 50s, and nobody wanted to hire her for a long time. She went through all her money, lost everything and found herself in the lobby of the shelter.
There was a foster child still in high school dropped off our door on his 18th birthday.
Some residents suffer from progressive health disorders where medical bills have financially drained them. Others suffer from mental illness and they can't or don't know how to get help.
Yes, we have housed former service men and women who have seen combat, only to come home to find unemployment or that they had been wounded much more deeply than they wanted to admit.
There is no exemption from homelessness for social status, race or age.
These people are our most readily available work force.
I got a call the other week from an excited voice, which said: "Do you remember me? I lived there after being taken in from the streets. Well, I now work in a medical office and I am soon to become a nurse. I wanted to let you know how much I appreciated everything that was done on my behalf!"
She was not ashamed to recognize her roots, but gives us a fine example showing how we all can rise above our present circumstances to become a valid member of society. She concluded with "And I wanted to do something with my life to help others; that is why I will be a nurse."
That phone call was worth it all! Please help!!!