How can you help the homeless?

So How can you help the homeless?

As I was searching ways to help the homeless I came across to probably one hundred ways to help them. I am going to bullet a few important points and then list some ways in idaho to help.Here are some overall ways to help the homeless:*Volunteer* There are a lot of things that can be done in the shelters as well as the churches. You can help cook the food, maybe hand out the food. Also sort clothing out or even just talk to them. Here are some service providers where you can volunteer all over the U.S.,


This a picture of volenteers helping out the homeless hungry people. They are giving out food to the homeless.

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/resources/local/local.html. There are so many ways that you can help. You can work with the children there, or even share your hobbies with them. Put together events.*Contribute*Of course the homeless need help with money, or need things so you can always contribute. They need things like house goods, clothing, books, computers, phone calls, job opportunity. For things like you money you have to decide who to give your money too. You can decide yourself whether giving money to a panhandler is a good idea or not. But whether or not you decide to give money make sure you respect them. Maybe smile at them or just say hi. You cant imagine how that would make them feel.*Word of Mouth* Another way to help the homeless whether you know it or not is telling people how to help. You can continue to educate people in your community about how to help the homeless.In Idaho I found some ways to help them here are some ways:
Aid For Friends (208) 232-0178
Alternative To Violence Of The PalouseBannock Youth FoundationBoise City/Ada County Housing AuthorityBoise Rescue MissionChildren's VillageEastern Idaho Community Action Partnership (EICAP)Freedom L.Z. / S.E.I.C.A.A.Idaho Youth RanchNeighborhood Housing ServicesSafe Place MinistriesSalvation ArmySt. Vincent De Paul (208) 664-3095
Sojourners' Alliance (208) 883-3438
Women's and Children's AllianceYWCA of LewistonHere are some shelters also that need volunteer work:
Boise
City Light Home for Women and Children1404 W Jefferson St.Boise, ID 83702(208) 343-2389
Booth Family Care Center1617 N. 24th St. PO Box 1216 Boise, ID 83701 (208) 343-3571
River of Life575 S. 13th St. Boise, ID 83702 (208) 389-9840
Idaho Youth Ranch7025 Emerald Street Boise, ID 83704 (208) 377-2613
Salvation Army4308 W State Boise, ID 83703 (208) 336-0100
Women's and Children's Alliance720 W. Washington Boise, ID 83702 (208) 343-7025
Coeur d'Alene
Children's Village1350 West Hanley Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814 (208) 667-1189
St. Vincent De Paul108 E. Walnut Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814 (208) 664-3095
Women's Center 850 North 4th StreetCoeur d'Alene, ID 83814 (208) 664-9303
Idaho Falls
The Haven2480 S. Yellowstone Idaho Falls, ID 83405 (208) 523-6413
Lewiston
YWCA of Lewiston300 Main St. Lewiston, ID 83501 (208) 743-1535
McCall
The Shepherd's Home260 Mission StreetMcCall, ID 83638(208) 634-1152
Moscow
Alternative To Violence Of The PalousePO Box 8517 Moscow, ID 83843 (208) 883-3438
Nampa
Community Family Shelter1214 4th St South Nampa, ID 83651(208) 461-3733
Lighthouse Shelter for Men472 Caldwell Blvd Nampa, Idaho (208) 461-5030Valley Crisis CenterPO Box 558 Nampa, ID 83653 (208) 467-4130Pocatello
Aid For Friends(208) 232-0178
Bannock Youth FoundationBannock House 620 W. Fremont PO Box 246 Pocatello, ID 83206 (208) 234-1122
Freedom L.Z. / SEICAA641 N. 8th Ave. Pocatello, ID 83201 (208) 232-1114Sandpoint
Bonner County Homeless Task Force 212 North 4th Ave. #160 Sandpoint, ID 83864 (208) 265-2952Homeless Services - Transitional HousingBoise
City Light Home for Women and Children1404 W Jefferson St.Boise, ID 83702(208) 343-2389
River of Life575 S. 13th St. Boise, ID 83702 (208) 389-9840
Idaho Youth Ranch7025 Emerald Street Boise, ID 83704
Neighborhood Housing ServicesPO Box 8223 Boise, ID 83707-2223 (208) 343-4065
Safe Place Ministries2645 N. Cole Road P. O. Box 4892 Boise, ID 83711 (208) 323-2169
Salvation Army4308 W State Boise, ID 83703 (208) 336-0100
Women's and Children's Alliance720 W. Washington Boise, ID 83702 (208) 343-7025
Coeur d'Alene
Children's Village1350 West Hanley Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814 (208) 667-1189
St. Vincent De Paul 108 E Walnut Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814 (208) 664-3095
Idaho Falls
CLUB, Inc. 545 3rd Street Idaho Falls, ID 83401(208) 524-8143
F.A.I.T.H. PO Box 2553 Idaho Falls, ID 83403 (208) 522-1056
The Haven2480 S Yellowstone Idaho Falls, ID 83405 (208)523-6413Lewiston
YWCA of Lewiston300 Main St Lewiston, ID 83501 (208) 743-1535Moscow
Sojourners' Alliance627 N Van Buren St Moscow, ID 83843 (208) 883-3438NampaValley Crisis Center PO Box 558 Nampa, ID 83653 (208) 467-4130Pocatello
Aid For Friends(208) 232-0178
Bannock Youth FoundationBannock House 620 W. Fremont PO Box 246Pocatello, ID 83206 (208) 234-1122
Southeastern Idaho Community Action Agency (SEICAA)641 N. 8th Ave. Pocatello, ID 83204 (208) 232-1114
SandpointBonner County Homeless Task Force 212 North 4th Ave. #160 Sandpoint, ID 83864 (208) 265-2952
Twin Falls
Valley House 507 Addison Ave. West Twin Falls, ID 83301

Mental Illness and Allison Brito

Mental Illness and Allison Brito



This is a picture of Allison Brito. In this pictue she is trying to tell her story about her life and how rough the homeless life is. It was not even her fault that she became homeless. The rest of the story is below.

16% of the homeless population suffer from mental illness. Sometimes they are released from the mental institution and are not able to find housing or treatments with the amount of money that they have. Not all of the mentallyill people need to be institutionalized, they are able to live in the community like any other person because the illness is not that severe. But living in the commmunity is a tough thing even for peopel that are not mentally ill. They do not have enough money to keep theirseves lving in the community so they become homeless. Its a very sad thing.This is an artice of a woman that suffers from a mentally ill desease, and is homeless.Allison Brito is a 43 year old woman who suffers from being mentally ill. She lives in New York, and even works at a jewlry story in Macy's. She lives at a bed in a shelter(Rehrman).
Ten years ago, Ms. Brito worked as an office manager. She lived with her husband and their two boys in Brooklyn and was training to become a minister at her church.Fasting, as part of her religious training, sent her to the hospital for the first time.Ms. Brito stopped eating, stopped sleeping and lost her sense of reason. She does not blame her church, but says the initial fasting seemed to cause the onset of her illness. She explained how it seemed at the time: “I have no sense of what to do next. I just stay in a still mode and practically do nothing.” (Rehman)Emergency medical workers have had to pick her up at least six times since then, she said.In April 2007, Ms. Brito was hospitalized again, for what she hopes is the last time. She received a new diagnosis of major depression, and was given new medication that is working, she said.If her mental health stabilizes, Ms. Brito may be able to recover some of the life that she has lost.(Rehman)She was divorced in 2003. At first, she had custody of her children, but after she was briefly hospitalized at the end of 2004, her ex-husband took custody. She began paying $750 a month in child support, moving into ever-smaller apartments to afford the payments on her $19.50 hourly wage.(Rehman)She had kept her office manager position for about 15 years, until the hospitalization in April, when she was let go, she said.Ms. Brito was hired at Macy’s for part-time seasonal work over the holidays, although her manager is keeping her on in the new year. She works part time, at $7.50 an hour, and for now earns about $280 a month, including some unemployment benefits, and pays $25 a month in child support.“When I’m at work, I focus on work, and it’s easy that way,” she said. But she wishes she could take that feeling back to the shelter with her. “It’s hard when I walk through the door, because I need to do the coat check and the bag check and sign in like everybody else. Come in and take my meds, just like everybody else.”She sleeps in a dormitory with nine other women. Lights are out after 11, and she hangs her suit back in her locker quietly.The center is run by the Brooklyn Bereu of Community Service , one of seven agencies supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, and $150 from the fund was used to buy professional clothing for Ms. Brito: two pantsuits, two skirts and two jackets. Ms. Brito is eager to find full-time work.“Work is important to me,” she said.Mostly, she hopes that a full-time job, along with rental assistance, which Transitional Living Community is helping her apply for, might make a two-bedroom apartment possible. That would give her the chance to have her younger son back before he becomes an adult. Her older son turned 18 in December, and the younger is 14.He asks, “Mommy, when are we getting our own apartment?’ Ms. Brito said. “When he says ‘our,’ it makes me feel bad because he’s so hopeful, and he keeps my faith up a lot.” (Rehman)

How many people are homeless?

How many people are homeless?

The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty states that approximatly 3.5 million people, 1.35 milion of them children, are likely to experience homelessness in a given year. (National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, 2007) Approximatly 1% of the U.S. experience homelessness each year says the Urban Institute in 2000. That was in 2000, just think of the percentage now that the economy is bad. Just in a month of January in 2005, 744,313 people were experiencing homelessness. these studies are from the Urban Institute and they got there studies doing a national survey of service providers. Not all homeless people use service providers the number of homeless people are higher.



This is a picture of a homeless man in the cold. He is eating what he has and living as well as he can. This picture is desturbing because I can only imagine what he has gone through.