Consider Yourself Lucky: By Gab Fama

I am a born and raised Catholic. Not everyone in this world has the opportunity to be raised Catholic. I must say I am proud of my religion. It has taught me that I should love my neighbor, that I should treat people the way I want to be treated, and that everyone around me is my brother or my sister. I did not choose to be Catholic, but I am glad it was chosen for me and because of it I have a heart for homeless people. Not everyone is as fortunate as me. I take that for granted a lot. I have a roof over my head and a place to sleep, food on my table and water to drink. I am blessed by God.

I have never actually been fortunate enough to have an encounter with a homeless person. The only thing that has come close to it would be when I went on a Midnight Run with my school to bring food, clothing, and toiletries. Even then I was still too scared to talk to the person. I tried to but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I remember I was with my friend and we were both scared. We had not pictured the even to go the way it did. I just felt that the homeless people were being greedy. There had been people who had gotten no clothes, food, or toiletries, but then some people got double. I just thought it was wrong. How could you be so selfish when you know the person next to you has the same living conditions as you? It just took be by surprise. This video that I have posted below really shows what life is like of a homeless person. In the beginning you will see that not everyone feels bad for homeless people. They feel that they put it upon themselves because they were lazy, I guess they might have a point, in a way.

Follow this link to see what a homeless person goes through on a daily basis. You will consider yourself lucky after seeing this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shiXCC9CaP4

Personal Experience: By Perla Medina

When I was younger I remember various encounters with homeless people. But there was one homeless person in particular that always comes to mind. I used to live on the fourth floor of my apartment building. Every morning I would have to walk all the way downstairs alone because my older cousin would be outside waiting to walk me to school. The problem was that every once in a while this homeless man would be asleep on the last set of stairs and the only way to get around him was climbing over him.

At the time I was only in first grade so there was no way I would be able to climb over a grown man without falling on top of him. I would make my cousin chase him out of the building just so I could go down the stairs. Thinking back at it I realized that it was the wrong thing to do because he was not there to annoy me or hurt me all he wanted to do was sleep and apparently my apartment building was the safest place for him at the time. I realized I have to stop thinking about my self and view things from other’s points of view too sometimes.

Personal Experience: By Roy Flores

In my eighteen years of living, I have encountered many homeless people. Every time I see a homeless person I get a weird feeling inside. When I was younger I used to be afraid of homeless people. I used to think that if I came around them they would try to hurt me. I would always try to avoid homeless people because I knew they were going to ask me for money. I hated the idea of giving my money to a complete stranger. Of course, all of this was when I was much younger. To me, homeless people were not real people. They were beneath everyone and had no importance to society. As I got older I started to understand that homeless people were the way that they were, for various reasons. I began to understand that they were regular people just like me, who had come face to face with some difficult encounters.

I'll never forget the time when one of my friends from the Dominican Republic came to visit. We were walking around New York City and a homeless person had kindly asked if we had any money. I didn't have any money so i told my friend if she could give him a dollar. My friend looked at me and said why would I give him a dollar when there are people like this in the Dominican Republic that she sees every single day. She then said that America is a rich enough country to support its people. What she did not understand is that these people did not choose to be homeless. She did not place herself in that person's shoes. There are homeless people in every single country. We cannot blame them for this. Yes, the US is a very rich country and I believe that it could do a lot more to help its homeless people.

Homelessness: By Stephanie Diaz

One of the most important tragedies that occurs in our country that is often looked over is homelessness. Homelessness is something that constantly occurs to people just like us even though it feels as if we are so detached from that world. People are sometimes led to homelessness because of addictions,people by offering financial programs or by creating shelters but the rate of homelessness is so high that there are still people in this situation. Whether it be drugs or gambling, or sometimes even financial mishaps that aren't even the person's fault. Many people have created different ways for helping the homeless whether it be shelters, and soup kitchens. I'm sure the homeless are very happy when these organizations do these things. It is perfect for them because they feel as if someone finally loves and cares for them. Homelessness is something going on all around the world and many are trying to help them. You can go anywhere around the world and you will see all types of people dealing with these kinds of issues everyday of their lives. The most we can do is pray for them and hope that this situation gets fixed before it gets worse and worse and spreads throughout the world.

The Dangers of Being Homeless: By Stephanie Diaz

Being a homeless person makes you face many dangers. Homeless people have a lot to go through such as worrying about where you are going to sleep for the night, what you are going to eat for the day, if you are going to be dressed, and most important will you make it to the next day. Homeless people are not the ones to be judged because they go through a lot, and no one ever knows exactly what happened to them in order for them to be in this position. We should all pray for the homeless people everyday for them to get by and start a new and better life. I pray that no one I know and myself will ever be in this position because it is not one to be happy of. Many people are homeless because they lost jobs, families, natural desasters etc. It is our job to make sure they are alright, maybe donate food and clothing. Anything that will help a homeless person have a better day, and encouraging them to look for a job or something that will help them succeed in life.

Personal Experience: By Brittany Colon

I’ve stumbled upon seeing homeless people on the street many times but there is one incident where I will never forget. I dance in the town Englewood and every time I go there is always this lady that sits and sleeps at the same bench. I’ll admit, I was scared to pass by her because I didn’t know if she was going to approach me or not. I would try not to make eye contact with her and even ignore her if she tried to say something. But then as I got comfortable with seeing her every day I realized that I shouldn’t be afraid because she is a regular person like you and I. It was sad to see that she was all alone. I would go home and think about how she felt and how she survived every day. It got me thinking to put myself in her shoes and to think how she might be feeling and to think what she may be going through. It got me thinking how it would feel to not have a family or home. I don’t think I would ever survive being homeless. It made me realize how strong she was to survive through the day all by herself. So I decided to do something special for her to show her that there is hope out there. When I was on my way to m dance class I sat next to her and had a little conversation and told her that everything will be ok. I gave her a bag of food, a winter coat, and some money. She had the biggest smile on her face. I knew I had made a difference in her life and gave her the hope she needed.

What can be Done to Decrease the Amount of Homeless People by Gabriella Fama

As we are all aware, homelessness is a big issue in the United States. There are way too many Americans living on our streets. There are a lot of people who want to put an end to this, including myself. One thing we can do would be to encourage the homeless people to live in shelters. If we put more shelters in the cities and surrounding towns, maybe homeless people will draw towards them. A lot of homeless people are stubborn and they don’t feel that they need the help from shelters. While a homeless person is living in a shelter they could hopefully pull themselves back together and get back on the right track and look for a job and start a new life. Shelters may not help all homeless people but it would definitely make a dent in the homeless population in the United States.

Homeless people are afraid of society. They have no courage and they rather be left alone. One way we can help would be to actually have conversations with them. At my school we have this program called Midnight Run where we organize a trip to visit homeless people and deliver toiletries, food, and clothing to them. It is a nice experience because some homeless people actually talk to you about various things. If everyone helped the homeless and actually cared about them a little more than we do we might be able to reduce the amount of homeless people on the streets.im not saying that you have to become friends with them but small simple acts could make a homeless person happier. A simple smile or kind gesture is all I ask for. We are all brothers and sisters in this world. We need to carry out God’s message and stand together as a family.