According to recent surveys, an estimated 730,000 people across the country are homeless on any given night. Each year, an estimated 3 million people experience homelessness at some point.They either live in emergency shelters or on the streets of our nation’s towns and cities. Washington, DC alone is home to nearly 9,000 homeless people and nearly 1,200 live in the Richmond, Virginia area.
The stereotypical picture of homeless people is one of uneducated drug addicts, alcoholics and mentally ill people. Certainly, a fair number of homeless folks fit those descriptions, but we also have seen doctors, attorneys, university professors, engineers, former business owners and other highly educated people. At any given time ¼ to nearly half of the people we work with have jobs. They just don’t get paid enough to get a place to live. In Washington, DC a room in a dangerous part of town will still cost $500 or more per month. For someone working part time or making little more than minimum wage, that doesn’t leave much for food, transportation to work, and other basic living expenses.
In addition to homeless people, almost every community in America has more than its share of poor citizens. Many are elderly and live on a fixed income. Others are working poor families who are just barely scraping by. Every month many of these people must choose between food, rent, medicine, utilities and other basic needs. Is it any wonder that over 30 million Americans are at risk of going hungry every month? Many people miss one or more meals every day, and it’s not by choice.
You will rarely hear us use the terms “the homeless” or “the poor” or “the hungry.” They are homeless people, poor people and hungry people who have hopes, dreams, struggles, tragedies and fears just like us.
These are the people TOP Teens serve. These young people not only help to meet the physical needs of poor people, they provide friendship, encouragement, hope and dignity.
