By: Devyn Slowik

• Why Homelessness is important to me/world

• Audience Relevance

• Thesis

• What is Homelessness?

• Overview of Homelessness

• Organizations in Philadelphia that help the Homeless

• Skid Row

• Ronald Davis' Video

• Homeless in Philadelphia

• My Application

• Class Activity

• Conclusion

• Quote

I believe every person should be entitled to having a place to rest their head comfortably at night.

Seeing homeless people sleeping on the streets or begging for money breaks my heart.

Many good people fall victim to homelessness because of bad circumstances.

Homeless people are human beings also that deserve respect.

I don’t like to see young children suffering because of homelessness

We all live in the same world and should

look out for each other

It could potentially happen to you or

someone you know

• If you have a heart or compassion the suffering

of others should matter to you.

• I hope it will affect your view on homeless

people. Realizing they are human beings too,

and just in a bad situation.

• The more people that care about homelessness

the more likely there will be a change.

• Homelessness and poverty are important

issues in America today because more and

more people are falling victim to it. Raising

awareness and finding ways to help are the

responsibility of every compassionate

person.

In most states the “Minimum” wage is extremely lower than a living wage. This is what causes many people to become homeless. Despite having a job, you can’t make enough money to pay the bills. Without savings, or having someone else's support you will end up homeless. Minimum wage, and living wage employees spend a very high portion of their money on housing leaving no money at all for other things.

Different types of Homelessness People

Literally Homeless

A person who has a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not meant for human habitation.

Is living in a publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements

An individual or family who will imminently lose their primary nighttime residence

Residence will be lost within 14 days of the date of application for homeless assistance

No subsequent residence has been identified

The individual or family lacks the resources or support networks needed to obtain other permanent housing

Unaccompanied youth under 25 years of age, or families with children and youth, who do not otherwise qualify as homeless under this definition

Are defined as homeless under the other listed federal statutes

Have not had a lease, ownership interest, or occupancy agreement in permanent housing during the 60 days prior to the homeless assistance application

Have experienced persistent instability as measured by two moves or more during the preceding 60 days

Any individual or family who is fleeing, or attempting to flee, domestic violence

Has no other residence

Lacks the resources or support networks to obtain permanent housing

• Its estimated that there are approximately

4,000 people who are homeless on any

given day.

• Homelessness affects over 80 percent

African Americans, and about 15 percent

White.

Poverty from a lack of good jobs

Minimal government assistance

Lack of affordable housing and inadequate housing assistance

Lack of affordable health care

Domestic violence

Mental Illness

Substance Abuse

Provide permanent solutions like jobs and housing. This will allow a person to become stable and a productive citizen.

Make sure people have affordable health care

Provide jobs at a living wage.

Help people in shelters make the transition so they don’t fall back into the homelessness cycle

Offer substance abuse, and mental health counseling to those in need

• Covenant House

• Sunday Breakfast

Rescue Mission

• Chosen 300

Ministries

• “Each year in the U.S. alone, as many as 2 million

youth experience a period of homelessness, and every

year more than 5,000 of these young people lose their

lives to the streets. Their hope and promise are lost

forever unless they find someone – like Covenant

House – to love and care for them.”

• Homeless kids go to Covenant House and without

question receive a meal, shower, clothes, medical

attention, and a safe place away from the dangers of

the streets.

• Covenant House has helped more then 1 million

homeless and runaway youth since it has opened more

than 35 years ago.

• The founders of Sunday Breakfast mission had one simple goal, and that was to provide breakfast every Sunday to the poor and influence them of Christian ways. They started serving breakfast in 1878 and continue serving to this day. Three meals are served a day, everyday of the year. The mission is located on 13th Street in Philadelphia.

• Chosen 300 is located in Philadelphia on Spring Garden Street and also has other locations in West Philadelphia, Pottstown and around the world. A married couple started this organization in 1996 and have been serving meals to the homeless since then!

• Skid Row is located in Los Angeles, California.

• This area contains the largest stable population of homeless people in the United States.

• In 2006, there were 80,000 homeless individuals in Los Angeles County on any given night.

Diseases spread quickly

amongst Skid Row residents

Tuberculosis, Staph Infection,

HIV, Hepatitis A, B, and C are

all common

Diseases spread quickly

because of the close living

quarters, people share needles

to inject drugs, and share the

same pipe to smoke crack out

of

Pictures of Skid Row

Above is a picture of volunteers going to hand out food to the homeless people living on Skid Row. They are wearing the mask to prevent themselves from diseases and infections they may be exposed to.

Skid Row

In my next slide is a video I found on

YouTube of a man telling his story of

homelessness.

Video

• Her husband was diagnosed with Lymphoma. He is still waiting to receive Medicaid insurance. She panhandles everyday to help pay his medical bills which is very expensive.

• Once was a Veteran from the First Gulf War, now living on the streets on Philadelphia trying to survive.

• She has been homeless on and off for 20 years. She stays on a friends couch each night for $10, but during the day she has to collect change.

• For the service portion of my project I decided to volunteer at a food pantry that is located at Jerusalem Lutheran Church in Schwenksville.

• Jerusalem's food pantry serves in excess of 150 families each month.

• This food pantry relies on donations from the community, grocery stores, and other events like food drives.

Food Pantry

Jerusalem Lutheran Church’s food pantry is run solely by volunteers. In a typical month more then 300 hours of volunteer work is organized through the pantry. There are many tasks you can do while volunteering here like receiving, shelving, dispensing stock, and paper work.

One of the goals of the food pantry is to

prevent low income families from becoming

homeless by providing food to them twice a

month. After families pay other bills they

often don’t have much money for food.

This picture

is of me

sorting

donations

to put all

the same

type of

foods

together.

These crates all have different labels on them like ‘canned fruit’, ‘corn’, ‘soup’, ect. When sorting the donations you find the crate that has the item you have and place it in there. This makes it easier when giving out the food.

These crates are to separate all the other

foods that aren’t in cans. This includes

condiments, stuffing, snacks, drinks,

cereal, and whatever else.

These are donations brought to the Church by

volunteers. These come from all different places,

and the postal boxes make it easier to transport

all the bags.

This picture is volunteers unloading a truck full

of donations that come from other Churches,

households, grocery stores, restaurants, or food

drives.

I put together a box of toiletries to donate to Jerusalem Lutheran Church since that it was

of the donation items they get very few of.

Class ActivityFor the class activity portion

I would like you to take a note card and write one thing you will commit to doing in the next week to help a homeless person.

One thing you learned from this presentation.

After your done writing, share what you wrote.

Key Source

• Select one of your best sources in your research, explain why it was a good source including author background, and summarize information it provided.

Conclusion

• A couple of slides to explain what you learned through the project. You could include what surprised you and/or inspired you, as well as how the project may have changed your view of the world or something you will do in the future.

Facts on Homelessness. Project HOME, 2013. Web. 16 May 2013.

Fast Facts about Homeless and Poverty. Family Promise, 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2013.

PBS, ed. Facts and Figures: The Homeless. JumpStart Productions, 2010. Web. 25 Apr. 2013.

Skid Row was L.A.'s solution for homelessness; now that's changing. American Public Media,

The State of Homelessness in America 2012. National Alliance to End Homelessness, 17 Jan.

25 Portraits of Homeless People in Philadelphia. Business Inside, 1 Aug. 2012. Web. 25 Apr.