Did you know that 1 in 10 Americans is receiving food stamps because they don’t make enough money to eat? I was shocked. People tell me this is the “richest country in the world” and yet one out of every ten people cannot eat without government assistance. That’s crazy. Something is very very wrong.
With the downturn in the economy, I was having a conversation with one of my coworkers about how the line between being housed and homeless is so very thin for most of us. I don't know about you, but I certainly don't have 3-6 months living expenses saved up if I were to be laid off or temporarily disabled. I don't even think I could pay the rent on my apartment currently without a roommate. Thankfully I do have medical insurance through my job, unlike many folks who will go overwhelmingly into debt to try to pay medical bills for health conditions that simply must be addressed. But if something did happen, I know blood family and family in Jesus who would take me in and make sure I was ok. As I hear more and more people's stories, I'm realizing that staying out of homelessness requires not only financial resources but also social resources to help get one through the inevitable bumps that come in life. Folks have a much harder fight without those social resources or if they've been struggling so long that their social connections push them away. I've seen so many folks come in here because a family member finally kicked them out...middle aged man evicted by his brother, very young woman with a tiny baby evicted by her mom, 20 something young man evicted by his dad...the list goes on. I think, if we all took care of our own family, friends, and neighbors, how would that change the numbers of homeless? But then, in a society where money is just about taboo to discuss, it's hard to help if we don't know our family and neighbors' real situations.
One of my coworkers here at the homeless access center used to be homeless himself for a stint sixteen years ago. He writes a very real, honest blog found at
www.hardlynormal.com and much of what he writes relates to homelessness. I’d definitely suggest checking it out if you are interested in homelessness, domestic poverty, and/or the role of the church in justice—or if you aren’t interested but want to become interested! He also posts short videos of homeless individuals telling their stories on
www.invisiblepeople.tv.
For other blogs on homelessness, check out…
LA’s Homeless BlogEnd Homelessness
and this compilation of various resources at
Homeless News
Due to all the snow and ice that hit Oregon, instead of my family driving down to California for Christmas, they flew me up to Oregon to join them. It was only by the extraordinary grace of God and people that I made it--grace that let me cut in front of folks to the front of each line at LAX when I was running through the airport about to miss my flight, grace that my flight's take off was delayed, grace that planes were able to land at PDX the day of my flight, grace that we made it safely to my grandparents' place despite snowy, icy roads.
