armyowalgreens (1000+ posts) Thu Jul-16-09 07:29 AM
Response to Reply #6
10. The homeless should be given real support. Not an insulting "few bucks"...
Job training, counseling, temporary housing.
How you justify the exploitation of homeless people is beyond me.
Here in San Jose there are private charities that do just that. One that I have some experience with (I volunteered there in High School, and recently my church has started organizing groups to go on Saturdays) is Sacred Heart Community Center. They have food assistance, including special no cook bags for the homeless, a clothes closet, they collect blankets and sleeping bags for the homeless, they have a job center where they will help people search and apply for jobs, they provide short term housing assistance for people who are facing a situation where they are short money for rent or mortgage, they have after school tutoring programs, and other programs.
I know that there are shelters in San Francisco that also try to help homeless people get on their feet. I know of an Orthodox Christian family homeless shelter that provides, apartments on site for families to stay at after school care for kids, provides meals, and helps parents find, and keep, jobs. They also welcome the children back for a variety of after school and summer programs to keep them succeeding in school, and they help families find more permanent housing. They are however pretty strict. Everybody is expected to eat dinner together, there is a curfew, there is a bedtime for the children, and adults are expected to do basic chores to keep the place running. They do have other rules that they expect residents to abide by.
I'm certain that most major metropolitan areas have similar programs for the poor and homeless, and this is definitely an area where private charities can do a much better job than a governmental organization.
