These past few days America and Canada have received some of the coldest temperatures in decades. Closing schools, roads, and businesses across the country. Personally, I was enthusiastic about the cold snap because it extended my winter break from school. I was looking through my Facebook feed at all the posts about the day off of school when I saw a link to a Forbes article called 'How To Help The Homeless When It Gets This Cold'
In this frigid weather many people (especially the homeless) are susceptible to health risks like hypothermia. When the homeless people have no shelter they are forced to live in the extreme weather. With wind chill well below 0 degrees I find it hard to imagine homeless men and women tucking themselves into corners with very little clothing or food.
From reading this article I was slightly reassured by the fact that many cities, including Chicago, have a hotline that brings in homeless people and gives them warm drinks, shelter and food for a little while. While this is a great project and probably saves lives, I feel that it is more for survival and I wonder if there are projects that are more long term or maybe help homeless people get a job or help them get a home.
I researched a little and found that many organizations strive to help homeless people. I found the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. A reliable and strong organization that has many projects and goals for the city of Chicago. They had many videos and pages on how to help communities with long or short term projects. They also have a blog page talking about very current issues or pointers for homeless people. They talked about the cold and what to do if you were stuck without shelter.
My family and I have volunteered at homeless shelters and donated money but I wonder if what I can do to help more with long term projects for the homeless. Or what others have done to help homeless people.
Charlie, I think you bring up a very important cause. It is hard for me to even imagine how difficult and awful it would be to be homeless, let alone in this extremely cold weather. After going outside for just a few minutes today, I was freezing and I can only imagine how bad it is for people who live outside in these conditions. I think the issue of homelessness is very sad and I know there are many people in the Chicago area who are in need. Clearly, no one would choose to be homeless so, a simple act like donating a few cans to a shelter or some winter coats is a huge step in getting homeless people back on their feet. It is times like this that are the hardest for homeless people and therefore especially important that we donate and help our fellow citizens.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog Charlie. Homelessness is an issue that us North Shore residents don't see very often even though it is occurring, less than a mile from our school, in Evanston. I myself wondered how the homeless could possibly sleep in this weather. I know there are shelters but on days as cold this I wonder if they have enough space to accommodate everyone. In addition, to long term projects, I wonder if there are organizations to help accommodate the homeless in emergency situations like this where it is literally life or death. It seems to me that having organizations like that in place would be as crucial to the homeless as health insurance is to the average citizen.
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