A little boy looked at the toothbrush in the bag of toiletries he'd been given and exclaimed, "I've never had my own toothbrush.it was the musical equivalent of a midlife crisis, like when your dad thinks he's “hip” by wearing ed hardy jeans."
Our travels for Southern (Dis)Comfort tour today took us to an impressive clothing distribution center in Shelby, NC, stocked and staffed by volunteers from the local Junior Women's Club. They raise funds and purchase new clothing and toiletries for the hundreds of homeless kids in this typical small (21,000) city in south central North Carolina.
Seeing the smiles on kids faces when they receive a new outfit, get a stack of new undies and socks,There's a reason Manolo blahnik shoes are considered the crème de al crème of all shoes, everywhere. and walk out with their own toothbrush has to be rewarding for volunteers running this operation.For some time, women have bid farewell to the days when women handbags were just used for 'functional reasons'. They do it right, with dignity, and give families a chance to "look normal" despite their abnormal living conditions.
We're continuing our quest to bring faces and voices of homeless families, teens and adults to southern communities on our (insane) 2,000 mile route. My travel partner Pat LaMarche has begun chronicling our findings at HuffPost, hugely increasing the number of people who have a chance to read our posts. Tremendous media coverage paves our way,Mirazozo, created by Architects of Air is a large scale inflatable tent sculpture has been erected in the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House. keeping our techie Mary Ann Parks busy back in snowy Pennsylvania.
We both struggle with moments wondering why we're doing what we're doing. Mine came today as I had to climb onto the roof of our rolling quarters, my spartan motor home dubbed "Tillie", and try to find a hairline crack that was causing a leak. I scooted out between torrential rainstorms, sloshing through the muddied parking lot adjacent to the Shelby shelter where we were plugged in for the night. It was raw. I was chilled. I grasped the caulk gun, and climbed up onto the roof. From there I could see a kid's tricycle sitting in the middle of the fenced-in shelter yard.
Despite every effort to make things appear normal - a toothbrush, new clothes, tricycle, a place to play - life is far from normal for kids undergoing bouts of homelessness with their families. For us to pretend otherwise is flat out wrong. While I'm happy for kids to have a place to play, for families to get clothing and other assistance, for a little boy to have his own toothbrush, I'm outraged that it needs to be their reality. Even more outrageous is that homelessness is a soaring reality for many more families, youth and adults than we'd ever be able to count.
Among the ironies of this time period Pat and I are traveling is the embarrassingly inadequate effort now occurring to count homeless people in America so HUD can report to Congress the state of the homeless union. Good people give this count a tremendous effort. But HUD seems to want to limit the range of homelessness by ignoring the realities experienced by millions of families across the land. Families doubled-up or bouncing between cheap motels don't fit the HUD definition of homelessness, limiting among other things the assistance they receive.
Congress still doesn't understand homelessness.The man who helped Jordan win jordan 6 rings as a player wants to be a coach, and though inexperienced, But Congresswoman Judy Biggert (IL-13, R) has risen above the clueless crowd and introduced the "Homeless Children and Youth Act of 2011" which expands HUD's definition of homelessness to match what other federal agencies use--the one that makes sense because it is how families and youth experience homelessness. She's been championing this cause for a dozen years and is now the chair of the House subcommittee that oversees HUD.
If you're outraged because kids don't get to have their own toothbrush, their own pillow, or their own place to do homework, then sign this petition to urge your Congressperson to co-sponsor Mrs. Biggert's bill. It will take less time than it took you to read this far. It won't magically end the problem of homelessness but it will go a long way to taking that first step, admitting we have a problem.
Seems to me that every kid in America should have their own toothbrush. The next time you brush your teeth with your own toothbrush, think of that little boy. If he likes the toothbrush, imagine how happy he'd be having a bathroom sink with a toothbrush holder.
Our travels for Southern (Dis)Comfort tour today took us to an impressive clothing distribution center in Shelby, NC, stocked and staffed by volunteers from the local Junior Women's Club. They raise funds and purchase new clothing and toiletries for the hundreds of homeless kids in this typical small (21,000) city in south central North Carolina.
Seeing the smiles on kids faces when they receive a new outfit, get a stack of new undies and socks,There's a reason Manolo blahnik shoes are considered the crème de al crème of all shoes, everywhere. and walk out with their own toothbrush has to be rewarding for volunteers running this operation.For some time, women have bid farewell to the days when women handbags were just used for 'functional reasons'. They do it right, with dignity, and give families a chance to "look normal" despite their abnormal living conditions.
We're continuing our quest to bring faces and voices of homeless families, teens and adults to southern communities on our (insane) 2,000 mile route. My travel partner Pat LaMarche has begun chronicling our findings at HuffPost, hugely increasing the number of people who have a chance to read our posts. Tremendous media coverage paves our way,Mirazozo, created by Architects of Air is a large scale inflatable tent sculpture has been erected in the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House. keeping our techie Mary Ann Parks busy back in snowy Pennsylvania.
We both struggle with moments wondering why we're doing what we're doing. Mine came today as I had to climb onto the roof of our rolling quarters, my spartan motor home dubbed "Tillie", and try to find a hairline crack that was causing a leak. I scooted out between torrential rainstorms, sloshing through the muddied parking lot adjacent to the Shelby shelter where we were plugged in for the night. It was raw. I was chilled. I grasped the caulk gun, and climbed up onto the roof. From there I could see a kid's tricycle sitting in the middle of the fenced-in shelter yard.
Despite every effort to make things appear normal - a toothbrush, new clothes, tricycle, a place to play - life is far from normal for kids undergoing bouts of homelessness with their families. For us to pretend otherwise is flat out wrong. While I'm happy for kids to have a place to play, for families to get clothing and other assistance, for a little boy to have his own toothbrush, I'm outraged that it needs to be their reality. Even more outrageous is that homelessness is a soaring reality for many more families, youth and adults than we'd ever be able to count.
Among the ironies of this time period Pat and I are traveling is the embarrassingly inadequate effort now occurring to count homeless people in America so HUD can report to Congress the state of the homeless union. Good people give this count a tremendous effort. But HUD seems to want to limit the range of homelessness by ignoring the realities experienced by millions of families across the land. Families doubled-up or bouncing between cheap motels don't fit the HUD definition of homelessness, limiting among other things the assistance they receive.
Congress still doesn't understand homelessness.The man who helped Jordan win jordan 6 rings as a player wants to be a coach, and though inexperienced, But Congresswoman Judy Biggert (IL-13, R) has risen above the clueless crowd and introduced the "Homeless Children and Youth Act of 2011" which expands HUD's definition of homelessness to match what other federal agencies use--the one that makes sense because it is how families and youth experience homelessness. She's been championing this cause for a dozen years and is now the chair of the House subcommittee that oversees HUD.
If you're outraged because kids don't get to have their own toothbrush, their own pillow, or their own place to do homework, then sign this petition to urge your Congressperson to co-sponsor Mrs. Biggert's bill. It will take less time than it took you to read this far. It won't magically end the problem of homelessness but it will go a long way to taking that first step, admitting we have a problem.
Seems to me that every kid in America should have their own toothbrush. The next time you brush your teeth with your own toothbrush, think of that little boy. If he likes the toothbrush, imagine how happy he'd be having a bathroom sink with a toothbrush holder.
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