Dreams Do Come True at Shelters

Have you ever thought of having your wedding anywhere besides a beautiful church or in the great outdoors? How about a homeless shelter?

In Springfield, Illinois two homeless shelter volunteers tied the knot at the Washington Street Mission where they first met. Interestingly, Joyce (bride) said that when she first laid eyes on Joe Reynolds, she thought he was a homeless resident...but he was actually a fellow volunteer who leads the Bible studies of the shelter. See the whole story here.

Although Pennies for the Homeless is not a shelter, maybe one day we, too, will see a happy ending like this one at one of our functions.

Dreams come true for everyone and can happen anywhere!

Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless

Albuquerque is doing something to help our homeless citizens get healthy and back on track. For over 20 years, Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless (AHCH) is the ONLY organization in the area to provide health services to the homeless. Each year they provide health services to over 7,500 men, women and kids...that's over 150,000 people so far! Their mission is "to provide caring and comprehensive health & supportive services, linking people experiencing homelessness to individual and collective solutions, and to be a leader in creating service delivery models and solutions to homelessness."

They are doing their part to end homelessness and we can too.

To volunteer with AHCH, click here.

(Picture courtesy of Google)

Heath Care for the Homeless

Health care is a nationwide problem in this country, and even more so for the homeless. Many people become homeless due to poor health, lack on income to obtain health care plans, or life-long illnesses that force them into extreme situations-like homelessness. Each community faces similar health issues such as tuberculosis, AIDS and domestic violence, but these are amplified within the homeless community and contribute to the growing homelessness crisis. According to a Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in America's Cities given by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the homeless population consists of:

• 23% are considered mentally ill
• 46% are substance abusers
• 8% have AIDS or HIV-related illness
• 21% are employed
• 22% are veterans

Like 45 million other Americans, homeless people typically do not have health insurance; 73% of Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) clients nationally have no health care resources. The federal Medicaid program has provided coverage for many homeless women and children and some disabled men, but Medicaid policy changes are causing loss of health coverage for many people without homes. Homeless people also have all the same health problems as people with homes, but at rates three to six times greater than housed people. Without a home, there is no place to recuperate from an illness or to treat an injury, and health problems tend to get far worse before they get better.

My question to all of you-should we give health care to the homeless? Why or why not? (I don't mean huge plans that allow them to be treated for everything, we can't even do that for middle class citizens, but something to help them out and possibly help them get back on the right track.)

(There is so much more information that I could not put here due to its length so please visit http://www.amsa.org/programs/gpit/homeless.cfm to get more information)