How has poverty and homelessness touched your life?

Question

I live in a small town and tight community, i don't see anyone sleeping on the streets or holding cardboard signs in my town. so it's not blantant, but i'm sure it exists. and i've seen examples in the larger towns near my hometown, but this am i was thinking about how i DON'T think about b/c i DON'T see it.
in your town do you see much of the wretchedness of poverty or homelessness? does it affect you on a day-to-day basis? what if anything do you do about it?
thanks ahead of time for those who take this Q? seriously.♥

Answer 1

You don't see much homelessness outside of cities because people who need food aren't likely to find it out on a dusty road. Cities provide havens; charity, churches, shelters, missions, warmth.

It doesn't take much for anyone to help - volunteering at a soup kitchen, donating to a mission shelter, offers of work to those in transition, living space to families in need, helping with fund raising activities. You can do that even if you live in a small town!

Answer 2

If you saw it, I honestly think it would "touch" you. I see a lot of it, although my city isn't considered especially filled with poverty. I give them money when I can, & let them know there are churches who will give them food. Earl D is indeed cynical, I wonder sometimes why "some" people are so negative about the homeless. Of course, anything can be abused! But it's not--well--very nice to generalize like this. Some of the homeless have "mental" problems as well. How incredible that such a "rich" country doesn't provide for them. Too busy spending trillions on invasions & false tactics to insite another WWIII. I honestly don't know what I can "do" about it, but let them know that communities (like mine) do help. I can only fantasize about those who believe the homeless are using the system; like--if they carried around all they owned in garbage bags hanging over a shopping cart & freezing to death under bridges! What a different perspective they would have!

Answer 3

Well, in a very serious way. I thought that it was comunist propaganda until I came here and I saw with my own eyes people sleeping in the parks and on the sidewalks.
Since then, everyday I am fighting to not to become one more of them. It is a shame and it is utterly ridiculous that the richest, most developed and most powerful country in the world does not eliminate that while wasting shipfuls of money in a war so, so, so far away, that in the end it makes no sense

Answer 4

Well, I knew a whole bunch of them in LA and once a month they'd go to the General Delivery window at the post office and get their $400 welfare check, which they get forever.

They generally get $50 a day holding up that sign of theres.

They live under the bridge in a nice enclosure, pay no rent, climb the pole and get free electricity, they pick up microwave ovens and TV sets in the alley that still work.

They spend their money on booze and cigarettes and microwave food.

Now, thus far that's $200-$250 a week in tax free money they make holding a sign, plus $400 a month in welfare, plus $100 a month in free food stamps, plus free health care at USC County.

That's as much as 17K a year and they have no expenses execpt for food and booze.

If you amortize in the free electricity they get, that's another 1K a year or 18K tax free.

And they are doing what they like to do. Which is do as they please an not punch a time clock at K-Mart for $7.50 an hour before taxes, social security, health care deductions and state disability which renders $6.25 an hour take home and you hae to work an 8 hour day, 5 days a week, all hours, you even have to work on Thankgiving day.

That's $13K take home and from that you have to pay for rent, electricity, food. Average apartment in LA is $650 a month, electricity is about $50 a month.

That leaves you about $3k in spendable income a year.

And they loved every miniute of it. We knew them all. Talked to them daily.

Some of them even hooked up to the cable and get free cable TV back before digital cable was the only offering! They knew how to turn the filters around and get HBO for free.