“Well, it’s that time of year again when many people choose to give to the homeless. Some of them are people who give year-round — whether it’s on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. Others give a few times a year. Some only give during the holiday season. But a large percentage of what gets donated to the homeless gets donated at this time of year. Some give from the heart. Others may do it to appease their conscience. Or it might be a tax write-off. Regardless of the reason, we’ll take ‘em all — and appreciate them all.

However, there are certain things that people should understand when giving…”

» keep reading “Tick Tock Eric Sheptock: Donating to the Homeless at Christmas“

Eric Sheptok writes about his experiences in Washington, DC, but if you change the name of the soup kitchen and the parks, he could be writing about Greensboro (or a lot of other cities), because what he describes is just like it is here.

“any word on a day center? such a place would be great at times like this when holidays close all the public buildings”

The City libraries are closed Thursday, Friday and Saturday for the Thanksgiving holiday. The downtown library is a de facto day center for our homeless friends. UNCG’s Jackson Library, another refuge for the homeless, is closed Thursday and Friday, and open limited hours on Saturday and Sunday.

The weather forecast for Thursday through Sunday:

The Guilford County Task Force to End Homelessness addresses the need for a day center in the Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, completed and presented to the public in June 2006.

Strategy #2 under: Identified need: Coordinated Portal of Entry System
Action Step: Establish day centers in High Point and Greensboro where homeless individuals can go during daytime hours for shelter and assistance and which provide linkages to the central Resource System.
Benchmarks: Day centers will be established in High Point and Greensboro by first quarter 2009.

But our Task Force will have to get busy if we’re going to meet all our benchmarks.

Related: On Friday night, NightWatch is serving Thanksgiving dinner, provided by the Community Foundation’s Thanksgiving Fund, in lieu of our normal roving street outreach. Want to help? Email me.

But I can’t help thinking about homeless veterans. I know so many of them. How do you say “thank you” to a homeless veteran? How could words ever be enough?

• 1 out of 4 homeless Americans is a veteran of the United States military
• 11% of Americans are veterans; 26% of homeless Americans are veterans
• more than 195,800 military veterans were homeless on any given night in 2006
• nearly half a million veterans were homeless at some time during 2006, and as many as 66,000 were considered chronically homeless
• there are already at least 1,500 homeless veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
• 45% of homeless veterans have some kind of mental illness, including many with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)
• many troops are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries, which puts them at a higher risk for homelessness

Somehow, “thank you” doesn’t seem like enough. I want to fix it…

Stats from here, here and here.

Related post: Veterans Day vs. Memorial Day