For the everything, and the nothing

Pie chart: (“Giving Statistics”)

Millions of people already aim to help those less fortunate, but the big question is, who does the most? Often times we see and here of large companies who donate lots of money, but how many of them actually put money twords helping charities and donating twords a good cause? The sad truth is not many of them at all. In fact large corporations account for such a minimal amount of money given,$14.55 billion, that it is around 5%.  Whereas you look at individuals, (Regular people, families and average americans) who donate about $217.79 billion, which makes up 73% of all money donated. And since the recession individuals have raised the amout of money they’ve donated by 4% (“Giving Statistics”). After looking at all of these facts it gives many people hope. That even in the worst of times Americans still look to help those less fortunate. But at the same time its angering, we have little control over those larger companies and to think that we can implement many of them to start donating and giving to charities is just unreasonable. Instead of focusing on the anger, take this as a responsibility. If big companies and corporations aren’t going to be donating much, we as individuals hold alot of this weight on our backs. We have to work together to continue heloing the other individuals out there who really need our help. Donating money is only half of the battle. We as individuals need to start on the same level as a homeless person (Not hold ourselves in a way that makes them feel we are any better than them) and we need to talk to them. We need to smile and tell them to have a nice day. We need to use our money wisely and donate, but we need to donate with pure joy and happiness. We need to feel that donating is making an impact and really helping, because it is. Those who are willing to give things up for others, deserve recognition… But those who are willing to give things up with a positive attitude and who are happy to give are the people that inspire others and work in their own way to make this world a better place.

(Source: whats-wrongwiththeworld, via austinandaly)

How can we give homeless people hope when there life feels like a dumpster?

Living on the streets, sleeping on the ground, lacking the ability to shower and uphold basic sanitary needs is something that homeless people have to struggle with. Of course they all wish they had the ability to shower and sleep in a bed, who doesnt? Being in a physical dumpster so to speak is bad enough, But having the rest of society look at them as garbage takes it to a whole new level. Many of us forget they are humans just like us, they all have the same needs and they all struggle with self worth. Has humanity been so lost that we look into another human beings desperate face and feel none of their pain? Do we forget that that person has the struggle of a lifetime, and they deserve to be treated with the same respect as any other person? Many of us forget that they can see when we hold our noses, they can see when we shield our eyes, or look away with disgust. Would you treat any other person, the way you treat a homeless person? No, of course not! We all need to remember that respect is something that every human deserves, and should receive based on personality. Not something based upon their status, appearance or where it is they live. Everyone remembers the saying we all heard as children, “treat others the way you want to be treated” and i guarnetee you that a large majority of us would never want to be treated the way homeless people often are. We all need to put a really big focus onto the way we act around the homeless, even when you think they arent watching. A pastor at my church, Sam told alll of us that when you feed the homeless you have to truly want to be there, and you have to truly show love twords them. You cant be doing it for your own selfish reasons because if you do, they will know. They can tell who’s fake, and who really does want to help them. We often dont think they pay attention to the way we act around them, but they really do. Just like with many things in life we need to focus on the way we act when we think nobody is watching, but more importantly we have to remember that homeless people are people, and we cant include them in the category of nobody. The way we act towards, and around them is very influential on them, and we must be very aware of it.

(Source: whats-wrongwiththeworld, via austinandaly)

Do you ever wonder… ?

What do you see when you look in the eyes of a homeless man or women? Do you see their fear, struggles and sorrow? Do you see the people they once were? Do you wonder about how they got to live on the streets? Do you question if the streets are really their friend or not? Do you wonder where they slept the night before, or if they even slept at all?

Look at their ripped dirty clothing, and tell me what it is that you see. Do you wonder how long they have worn that very same shirt? Do you wonder how long it as been since they have washed it? Or do you instead look at the type of clothes it is that they wear? Do you wonder if they feel comfortable? Do you wonder if they had the choice to any clothes, what clothes would they wear? Do you ever think about how easy it must be, to wake up and not wonder who it is you see but instead just wake up and start your day. Do you ever think about how its not really that easy at all. Do you stop and think about every struggle a homeless person must have? And how you’re really so very lucky to never worry about a meal, or a warm bed to sleep?

But do you ever dig deeper and wonder how a homeless person must feel, when you breeze right past their begging eyes? Do you ever think about how scared they must be? Do you ever wonder if they think about getting mugged, or raped jumped? Do they even know the streets they sleep on are so dangerous? Or do you think its just one of those things, that after awhile you stop worrying? Do you ever even realize that they don’t even have a choice? Do you ever stop and question what happened to their mom? Do you wonder why it is their mom lets them sleep on the streets? Do you even think they have a mom? Do you think it must be lonely to be alone and without help. Do you think they feel like they are drowning? only when they look around they see every one else breathing just fine. 

Do you wonder what would happen if we asked ourselves all of these questions, if society just stopped and took only a moment longer to wonder about these people and where it is they are from and what they have done?

(Source: whats-wrongwiththeworld, via austinandaly)

“We have demonized homeless people so much over the last 30 years that passersby don’t think they can ever end up on the street because they’re not crazy, they’re not drug addicted, they’re not alcoholics and they’re not stupid.”- David Sleppy

Everyday homeless people are ignored, looked down upon and even criticized for their current condition. Why is that we fail to take notice of their simple pleas; “Change?” “Please help!” “Even a smile is appreciated!”. Can you really not spare a dollar to buy them some food, or coffee? Is it impossible to look them in the eyes and respond to their questions? Is it really too much to ask to give them a smile? The answer to all of these questions is a simple No. We can all spare some time, money or effort to help those in need. So why don’t we do it? Why cant we all donate a sandwich, or have a quick conversation with a homeless person? For many of us we’ve grown up around poverty, we’ve seen it our whole lives. We watched the rest of society shield their eyes, and close their wallets, turning away from the homeless. But its time we take a look at the facts of the matter at hand; It is estimated that over the course of 2009 about 102,000 people were homeless in Washington alone, those numbers climbing each year. About 21,826 of those people were school children between kindergarten and 12th grade, (“Homelessness Facts”). Due to the recession many families are now facing homelessness. None of these people wanted to be homeless, none of them asked to spend cold nights sleeping on a dirty street, and none of them made the choice to sit on the side of the road facing constant rejection and begging for food.

Many of us have parents, relatives or close friends who we can always rely on in the case that we are ever facing the potential of homelessness. However life is a crazy thing, and to think that we can predict never being homeless is a silly thing. Any one of us can be homeless, any one of us could find ourselves without anyone to support or help us. Many homeless people struggle with addiction, mental or physical illness, or disabilities. However, many homeless are regular people that are educated and who grew up in a home. No matter who the person is or why they are homeless, they need our help. We cannot keep ignoring them and treating them like less of a person then we are. We need to face and address this issue. The biggest goal we aim to accomplish is to change the way society views the homeless. Once we do that, we will have people who are not only willing to help, but we’ll have people who really want to help and who aim to make a difference, and positively change the lives of those in need.

A Simple Sandwich can make a huge difference!

Today’s society welcomes, and even encourages being self-centered. When we look at any magazine, commercial or billboard we see pictures of luxury things. There are constant reminders everywhere you go to buy more, nicer and expensive things. We don’t take a moment to realize that we have all we really need. Of course if you work hard, and make your own money you should go and buy things you want. But a lot of times our society pressures us into buying things we don’t really want or need. Causing many of us to adopt a mentality that the more things we own, the better or higher up in the social structure we are. This is a wrong and very twisted mentality to adopt. There is no reason to buy many things, or to buy things that are much too expensive for the actual worth of what you are buying. Brand name clothing, designer furniture, and having multiple cars belonging to one person are all unnecessary things. I’m not saying we should live on only the bare minimum, or never buy the luxury or unnecessary things we really want. I’m saying that we should be aware of many of the things we buy. We should decide if it’s something we really want, or if it’s just something that sounds good at the moment. Do we really need another pair of shoes, exactly like another pair we have? Do we really need to spend our money on a $50 bottle of shampoo? No, we really don’t. Imagine if we were all to give up one thing we really loved. For example we stopped buying our morning cup of coffee from Starbucks and instead made coffee at home. Think of how much money we would save. Hundreds of dollars; sure it might be hard at first, but just like any other habit once you have maintained it for a long enough period of time, you’ll form a new habit. Imagine what you could do with all of that money. When you’re not focused on buying a brand name product or the fanciest item you can really stretch your money. With just under $20 you can buy enough bread, peanut butter, and jelly to make over 170 sandwiches. You can feed 170 people for one meal with under $20. $20 is about the average price of one meal for two people at a moderately priced restaurant. It’s really simple, helping feed homeless people isn’t a difficult, hard or expensive task whatsoever. It takes such a minimal amount of money, it’s crazy more people don’t help to feed the homeless. We have some family friends who go feed the homeless once a month, while going along with them I realized just how little time and effort it took to make a difference. We made sandwiches for about an hour, using inexpensive bread, peanut butter, and jelly, the entire cost was (like mentioned before) under $20. It took about an hour to make all of the sandwiches (about 6 people helped) and with another $10 we made a huge pot of coffee, and brought along creamer. We drove downtown and handed out all of the sandwiches and coffee in under 20 minutes. As soon as we got out of the car homeless men and women flocked to us. Every single person whom we gave something to, gave us some sort of acknowledgement. With some of them it was a simple nod, many of them thanked us, and told us that what we were doing was good work, some even broke down in tears, or told us all about the horrible day they were having and how we had turned it around and given them hope. Many of them took two sandwiches, to some of them we gave three or four. We offered as many as they wanted. It was incredible how some of them only took one saying that they knew there were others out there who were hungrier than them, and they wanted to leave the sandwiches for those people. Even when they had nothing, they were still more selfless than many people I know who have never had to worry about where their next meal would come from. Just a small act like giving someone a sandwich could save a life, it could give a man hope, or just simply brighten someone’s day.

(Source: whats-wrongwiththeworld, via austinandaly)

Why this is such a big problem; Getting worse & opposing views

Alot of people feel that helping the homeless is only going to encourage them to stay homeless, and have them rely on our help. This may be true for a very small percentage of homeless people, but for the majority of the homeless this statement is very wrong. After talking to a man working at the Bread of Life Mission Home in downtown Seattle; which aims to give homeless people a place to sleep, i disagree completely with the earlier statement. The man had been homeless before he got a job helping homeless, and he said that was given lots of hope and was positively influenced by the people who helped him while he was homeless. Without them he would have been “very lost and probably would still be homeless to this day”. Helping the homeless gives many of them the encouragement to go out and change their life around.  

Statistics on the homeless people, not only in Washington state, but all over the US, are on a rapid incline.On average, cities reported a 12 percent increase of homelessness since 2007. More and more people are forced to live on the streets each day. The recession will be the cause of 1.5 million more people to become homeless over the next two years, according to estimates by The National Alliance to End Homelessness. While talking with a homeless man in downtown Seattle he had said that in his 8 years of going in and out of homelessness he has never seen so many homeless people in downtown. In the past year he guesses there are between about 2,000 - 3,000 more people who are homeless. Many of the relief shelters are running out of space and materials, and the struggle for food is worse then it has ever been. This is not only frightening, but also begs to ask the question; Who will help all of these people? We already have too many homeless people to help, how can we help one and half million more? This is a cause for crisis, a sign that what we are doing isn’t working now,  and definitely wont be working in the future. Is it enough to just feed them? No, a meal can only go so far. A meal can give some people the hope or strength to pick themselves up and get the help they need to get off of the streets, but for the majority of people a sandwich is just a meal. How do we help all of these people? How do we give them the tools they need to move on with there lives? These are all questions none of us really know the answer too, if we did homelessness wouldn’t be such a huge issue. Although we cant be sure what it takes to end homelessness, we do know of ways to make a positive impact and help at least some of the people struggling with this problem. Many of them being homeless is just temporary, and all they need is a place to stay until they get the next check form work. Having a warm place to sleep is just something they need at the moment, relief shelters and hospitality homes are really helpful to these people. Lots of homeless people are addicted to drugs or alcohol  and having the ability to go through treatment is vital for those struggling with this issue. Other homeless people just feel too overwhelmed and don’t know how to manage their finances or how to get a job, and just having mentors or classes to teach them these necessary skill sets can make a huge difference in these peoples lives.donating, helping coordinate or volunteering your time can make a huge difference in the quality of these helpers of the homeless. It doesnt take a lot and anyone can do it.

(Source: whats-wrongwiththeworld, via austinandaly)