Direct Service: How You Can Help Someone In Need

Do you ever wonder who could possibly help a homeless person? The answer is each of us can help. It's called direct service - helping someone in need ourselves.

But how? There are many ways to help a person in need, including giving a homeless person a blanket. That's how we started Children Helping Poor and Homeless People (www.chphp.com).

There is a law that prohibits sleeping on a beach in Los Angeles County at night. However, prior to 1988, this law did not apply to the area known as Venice Beach. So people without homes came to Venice Beach to sleep legally on the beach. Further, police officers would escort homeless people to Venice Beach so they had a legal place to sleep.

By the winter of 1987, there were hundreds of homeless people sleeping legally each night on Venice Beach. Each morning, some of these homeless people would leave the beach and walk by our home in Venice on their way to spend the day at a local park. The park had benches where the homeless people could sit, swings for their children and bathrooms that were open for public use free of charge.

At night, these homeless people would often walk past our home on their way back to the beach to sleep.

I must admit that I had fears about the homeless strangers who passed by my home on what seemed like a daily basis. I also had genuine concerns about their welfare when I saw homeless children, women and men without clothing appropriate for the weather. I was particularly moved when I saw a pregnant woman without shoes walking on the cold sidewalk.

I told my best friend, Augustine, that I didn't know what I should do about the homeless people walking by my home.

Augustine responded, "Well, give them a blanket."

"Okay, I'll bring a blanket to The Salvation Army."

"No," said Augustine, a little louder this time, "Give them a blanket."

"Okay, I'll bring a blanket to Goodwill," I said, a little worried about where this conversation was going.
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