Homeless, But Not Hopeless.

For a country we call the land of prosperity, the United States has staggering numbers of homeless people. So why do we still have a growing number of people living under bridges, cars, shelters and on the streets? Homelessness has as many different causes as it has victims. Every person's situation is unique. But whether a family has been displaced by financial loses, domestic abuse, or fire, it is never the children's fault. Although it is the children who will suffer most!

I decided a few years ago that I must do my part as a conce
ed citizen of my community to help out. Once a week I went to The Coalition for The Homeless in Orlando and taught art to around twenty children. One would be truly shocked at the bright, polite and talented group of children that are living in such shelters.

My first day at the shelter was the most difficult. I held back tears by biting down on my bottom lip. As a father of one of my students proudly showed me his portfoilio of gallery quality art, I thought to myself, how does a man of great talent and eloquent conversation end up with four children in a homeless shelter? In his case, it was the violent Hurricanes in Florida of 2004 that led him to lose everything. Although material things were lost for this family and the others in this shelter, there is one thing that they could not afford to lose, and that would be their dignity.

Next time you walk down the street and you see a homeless person, or if you are at a red light and you see someone holding a "will work for food" sign, look them in the eyes and smile. They are not invisible, nor will you catch an incurable disease from them. We have turned too many blind eyes to the growing epidemic of homelessness.