No room at the shelters?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Karin
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
K

Karin

Guest
**Down-and-out dads: No room at the shelters? **

Whenever we actually think about the homelessness in our cities, what often comes to mind are down-and-out men drinking out of paper bags, lying in doorways or panhandling on freeway on- and off-ramps.

More well-informed urbanites might even shake their heads at the startling statistics on homeless mothers with children. (Thirty five percent of the 3.5 million people who experienced homelessness last year were families with children. The vast majority of these were single moms with kids.)

Maybe we’ve heard on National Public Radio or read in Newsweek that families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.

But who really knows anything about an almost invisible part of our U.S. homeless scene, even though it first came to light more than a decade ago and has continued to steadily increase - single homeless fathers?

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE HERE:

http://www.the-tidings.com/2005/1007/homelessdad.htm
 
The fact that this post has been up for ten days without one comment speaks volumes about our society, How sad. :crying:

In Sacramento, when i lived there, neighborhood associations worked against the Loaves and Fishes organization which was feeding the homeless. :crying:

People are spending their lives squabbling over liturgy or supreme court appointments, raher than helping their fellow man. :crying:
  • Kathie :bowdown:
 
What strikes me as rather sad as it is an all to common fact, is
that people on city councils spend millions of dollars on roads,
ext, and let me tell you, that man down the street is depserately
hungry! That woman is not a drug addict nor is she an alcholic
but her stomach is empty! She has no place to call home. She
prays to God everyday humbly and asks for someones help
and compassion, and people pass her by like she is vermin.
Then one day, a good Samaritan walks by and sees the man
and the woman on the street pleading for at least a hot coffee,
and the Samaritan sees the man warming his wands in sub
zero temperatures, ( the city council is in their comfy offices
passing a new bill to fork over millions for the new roads, ext
they are having coffee and perhaps a doughnut ) the man has old
used fingerless gloves, and he is only wearing a padded jean
jacket, so the good Samaritan gives him 2 $ and he goes and
buys himself a hot coffee, and sees the Samaritan at the street
lights and crosses over and thanks the person. The woman
is hungry, so the good Samaritan has 2 sandwiches and gives
her one. She accepts it and thanks the Samaritan. Meanwhile.
there is a lonely family sleeping under the bridge, they lost their
home and have nothing left. They are cold and hungry, and people
pass them by and scoff at them, and at the same time, there
are people very comfortable in their own homes, with a nice job
nice car, and lots of money, they have everything, no worries.
The father of the little family manages to get a job and was on
a waiting list for the local housing which is a very long wait, 2,000
people on that list, and he manages to get a small apartment.
He has to feed his little family, they are happy to just be able
to sleep under a warm roof. City council passes the bill and they
get their roads. The millions of dollars will surely do alot of good !
Thousands of starving people in the streets, desperate for some
kind of human gesture of caring, and they pass the bill. Thousands
without homes to live in, to keep warm, or out of the sun, the bill looks really good now that it is on the way! A man walks on the street picking up pop bottles, he is not homeless by choice, he
lost everything. He finds an old pair of ratty shoes with bent heals, well used. He walks painfully in them picking up pop bottles so he can try to eat, a business man walks by and snickers at him. ( guess his stocks make him feel really good today ) The man unnoticing, continues to collect pop bottles. Another good Samaritan is neary by and doesn’t have any money left, but has half a bottle of juice, and sees the man coming, drains the juice quickly and leaves the bottle in a noticeable place for him to pick it up, and he does. The Samaritans heart wrenches at the site of the man in the bent shoes. And wishes that he had offered the man his shoes! Wonder how many roads you can build for hundreds of millions of dollars? Wonder how many people that would feed and how many
homes that would provide? Jesus Christ says to be charitable,
not to judge people. If someone is hungry, and you have alot of
extra food, give it to the poor. Be kind, show compassion. Christ showed it to us. The governments of the world can stop hunger and homelessness, but they are too greedy and wont do it.
If they want to better their communities, they can do that by
first taking care of the poor, and everything else comes later.
Where is the Good Samaritan? is it you? .
 
Yes, its very sad. I always give to beggers. What else can we do?
 
Reminder: Please refrain from judging others. The cited article deals with the problem of homeless fathers with children not being accepted by shelters. Please stay on topic. If you wish to discuss charity in general or the responsibilities of our leaders in regard to the poor, start new threads on the topics of your choice. Thanks.
 
40.png
Kobieta:
Yes, its very sad. I always give to beggers. What else can we do?
Click to expand...
Give to organizations that help people cope and help them get back on their feet. Or consider volunteering to help these organizations.

Your parish Social Concerns committee probably has a list of local organizations. If they don’t, check with your local Catholic Worker house.
 
40.png
Kobieta:
Yes, its very sad. I always give to beggers. What else can we do?
Click to expand...
I do not call them that. They are poor and need compassion, and
caring. God loves us all the same no matter who we are, or what
our personal circumstances are 🙂
 
Walt Oliver:
Reminder: Please refrain from judging others. The cited article deals with the problem of homeless fathers with children not being accepted by shelters. Please stay on topic. If you wish to discuss charity in general or the responsibilities of our leaders in regard to the poor, start new threads on the topics of your choice. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Point taken 🙂 Thank you for bringing that up 🙂
 
Our parish supports a shelter with money and time. Our parish also collects food for a pantry. I think most parishes do this type of work. Catholics have been very giving to the poor. It has long been a mission of our church. I am sure that will continue. There will always be poor so we will always need to help.
 
40.png
Fitz:
Our parish supports a shelter with money and time. Our parish also collects food for a pantry. I think most parishes do this type of work. Catholics have been very giving to the poor. It has long been a mission of our church. I am sure that will continue. There will always be poor so we will always need to help.
Click to expand...
Most shelters house woman and children**…our parish only opens it doors to homeless men during the summer school vacation when the gym will not be in use.**…otherwise yes they give $$ and food to pantrys and one Saturday a month they give time at the soup kitchen.
 
40.png
Kobieta:
Yes, its very sad. I always give to beggers. What else can we do?
Click to expand...
When I left the Catholic Church, I took mt tithe with me. I quickly found other uses for the money and the vast majority of it now goes to emergency shelter, rent/heating assistance and the food pantry. I also support a specialized shelter dedicated to women and women with children.

I live in a small but wealthy and well educated town. It wasn’t until I started donating to these groups that I realized how close to home such unfortunate people live. Just under the surface of this rich nation there is a ragged underworld filled with hungry and desparate people. They need our compassion, prayer and every dollar that we can spare.

Nohome
 
Dear Folks ,

One of my brothers, Keith, is in jail now for trespassing in my parents home. He spent the night at the Union Mission one night after being evicted from my parents’ house. But he preferred staying at my other brother, Kevin’s house where a menagerie of people live -a divorced homeless brother and his drug-and alcohol addicted son, my nephew, who was in jail for stealing during the summer, as well a prostitute and her boyfriend and a couple more homeless.
Keith could get his own apartment plus counseling by a caseworker and psychiatrist, all paid for by government money. He refuses. So he is in jail until tomorrow. He has been living with my elderly parents, 94 and 88. Now my parents need to sell the house and he needs to live on his own.

Kevin , the owner of the house with all these people living in it , is invalid and has been put into a nursing home because of his colon cancer.

Money is not the answer for my brothers and my nephew. the will is the problem. Don’t give my nephew any money or anything of value. He will sell it for drugs or alcohol. He even conned $200 from my cancer-stricken brother, Kevin, recently, in order to party with his friend who is also living in Kevin’s house! My nephew is a great actor and can be very nice.
Please pray for Kevin. I think he will not survive the chemo. He’s had 6 treaments so far. He was only given a 35% chance of success.
There is my perspective. These folks need true friends, not money.
By the way, I live 500 miles from them and I have my family to take of, otherwise I’d be mentoring my brothers myself. I call my invalid brother fairly often. The other two will not even speak to me.
 
By the way, Salvation Army and other organizations throw away lots of clothing because there is so much! My pack-rat husband noticed how much clothing was in the dumpster at our Ladises of Charity one day. I shop at a commercial thrift store and there is wverything to be had for little money.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top