54 Ways You Can Help The Homeless - Overview

II.What To Do When Confronted By The Homeless

9. Bring Food

Karen Olsen's Job brought her to New York once or twice a week. As she passed through the Port Authority Bus Terminal she could not ignore the growing numbers of homeless people there.

Unlike other commuters, Karen stopped to talk with them. She learned that they were hungry more often than not. She decided she could do something. Enlisting the help of her children, they made sandwiches at home, and on weekends went to the bus terminal to distribute them.

Among the homeless was a former English teacher whom Karen's twelve-year-old son befriended.

"How did this happen to you?" he asked.

"I had enough money for food or shelter, but not for both," she responded. Since shelter was available in public areas, she chose to spend what little she had on food. When the boy made his weekend visits, she helped tutor him in his English assignments.

Karen's son discovered that his unemployed part-time tutor was a professional educator very much in touch with the reality of being homeless and hungry. She was also ready and willing to use her skills to help the child who helped her.

Karen was inspired by this first experience with the homeless to establish an interfaith shelter program in her community, and has now become the director of the National Interfaith Hospitality Networks .

List of all 54 Ways

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