As one walks the streets of downtown Lawrence, the scenery is generally nice; the atmosphere can change from a calm, serene area to an energetic, life-filled organism.
Each month it almost seems as though there’s an underlying theme to the area, but regardless of the day, month or even year, homeless people are still left and uncared for. The city of Lawrence recently has considered homeless people as a “problem,” but do they have any right to do so?
Despite the fact that I’m a spoiled American child, like almost everyone else, you don’t have to be a social worker or a modern-day Mother Teresa to see that there’s a deficit of programs and support to help the homeless out. Reflecting on my own experience in my past years of volunteering at the homeless shelter, which happens to be something I still do monthly, it’s conspicuous that copious amounts of gratitude are what people hold in their eyes when you do an act of kindness as such.
No matter where we are in life, or what our social status is, there will always be someone out there doing worse than us. Being destitute and having a hard time is an understandable hardship, but when people are beyond destitute, living on the streets, one surely must think about their daily hardships and trials they go through.
As everyone is aware, November is the month of the widely celebrated holiday Thanksgiving, where everyone gives their thanks and is thankful for what they have.
More often than not, people generally worry about what they don’t have as well. Rather than worrying about what we don’t have and how it seems it takes forever to save up for something you want, maybe we should consider how a “measly” $5 to $10 to us could mean some new socks for someone walking in the cold so they don’t catch pneumonia, or it could to go to supplies to make a meal for the homeless to eat.
Either way, we all need to remember that people are out there, trying to survive, and that people should do what they can to help.
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AnnaUndercover (Anna Undercover) says…
Great story! I agree that "we should consider how a “measly” $5 to $10 to us could mean some new socks for someone..." However, you should never feel bad about the size of your donation.
As someone who works in the nonprofit world, I frequently hear donors apologize for the size of a $1 or $5 gift. I tell them that it is just nuts to think their gift makes no impact!
Imagine you're at a KU football game. Just you cheering for the team alone isn't all that loud. But when the whole stadium claps and cheers with you, the sound is huge. You might even need ear plugs because it's so loud.
Just like KU needs every single fan to achieve that big sound, a worthy cause needs every single donor to make a dent in the important workload at hand. Every gift is one more cheer for social justice.
Tandava (anonymous) says…
Why is it, I would like to know, that "people should do what they can to help", as Noah says at the very end of his article. Why SHOULD we?
sowhatnow (anonymous) says…
Tandava - good point. Too many "shoulds". Perhaps a better wording might be something like "this is a good time of year to reflect on your own efforts and positive impact on the lives of those less fortunate than you, and to ask yourself if you'd like to do more"...
smitty (anonymous) says…
At least this letter in the LTE campaign is not as proselytising as yesterdays.
I choose to give assistance to a young couple with one child and another on the way. Both parents are working at close to minimum wage. These young adults are deserving of a helping hand. They work hard, seldom complain, and do not have enough to go around. They were homeless this summer due to a lost job. Found a job immediately but needed a couple of months of temporary housing until they got enough together to get back into a home of their own after the set back. They found the environment at the wet shelter totally unsatisfactory during this time though. Too risky an environment for their toddler and them.
As far as the homeless shelter volunteering and socks.....when the free socks run out at the Penn House and when Jean Ann stops giving socks away at the Social Service League, I'll give some socks to these agencies that are in our community to assist. It's about time to go to the league and volunteer again, too.
Keep those LTE coming in on behalf of your PR efforts for the shelter. In the end, the shelter will still need an improved management plan to address the off site problems inherent in a wet shelter.