Have A Little Love In Your Heart : HOPE 2018

Many people aren't aware of how DHS (Department of Homeless Services) acquires its information about the homeless people living on the streets. Let alone the type of outreach methods used in attempting to provide people sleeping and living in the streets with shelter services. Current statistics say that there is a little more than 60,000 homeless individuals living in the shelters. There is a current estimate of about 3,000 people sleeping in the subways and on the street.

They acquire the number of the people in their shelter system easier than those in the streets as everyone is documented when they enter the city shelter. It is harder for them to trace people sleeping in the streets who are undocumented immigrants, or U.S citizens who traveled here and got stranded and now live on the streets. A few of these people are mentally ill and have no documentation or have been rejected from receiving shelter services due to a lack of documentation.

DHS attempts to bridge this gap through HOPE which is an acronym standing for Homeless Outreach Population Estimate. This is a volunteer based mission as everyday people like you and I volunteer with DHS to help seek out the individuals living on the street in an attempt to count them and connect them to services. Everyday people like you and me know where these individuals are and can possibly assist the homeless guy on the corner in acquiring the services necessary to increase the quality of his living situation impacting his overall life. 

We all have experienced homelessness in some way. We knew someone homeless, we, ourselves was in a shelter or simply walk passed and share train cars with the homeless every day.

It's not the greatest thing that we can do to help them but it’s a start. It might be you who breaks through to one of these people that too many of us refer to as "bums". They aren't bums they are people like you and me and everyone in your heart. If you have a heart then you would care enough to have a little love and compassion for the people living in the street. They are not bums; they are mothers, daughter, fathers and somebody’s niece, nephew or son. They lost their way somehow and they too deserve to be found.

It's not too late you can still sign up as they do this every year.