[Grovenet] News Times Article

[Eric Canon]

I want to call attention to the front page
article in the News Times, now on news stands,
about homeless kids in our school district.
Specifically, the story is about an 11 year old
girl who does not have a home, or a bedroom, or
even her own bed to sleep in. She washes her
clothes at a gas station.

To many people, when you say the word homeless, a
mental image comes to mind of a fellow who is a
druggie or an alcoholic, dirty, wanting a hand
out, someone who trespasses and leaves a mess.
Perhaps they hold a sign at a freeway on-ramp.
Sometimes they are loud. 

Who would want to provide funds or shelter for
someone who is an addict? Enabling such behavior
is hardly a good course for our community. Nor is
it in the best interests of the individual.

But there are so many homeless people who are
virtually invisible. Statistics tell us over 20%
of the homeless are children. Families wind up
out on the street, perhaps due to a catastrophic
health bill, or the loss of a job. Please explain
to me how such a family, without an address or
phone, without a shower, could pull out of such a
rut?

The family shelters in Washington County have 110
beds between them. The need on a given night is
over 1000 beds. They are vastly underfunded with
long waiting lists. They could provide no help
for the girl in the article because her mother is
a meth addict. Shelters test for drug use. If you
use and abuse drugs, you don't get in.

Please read this article. The schools say there
are at least 70 kids in the district who are like
her. We need to do a better job with this issue.
And when someone says "homeless", we need to
think beyond the stereotypical image of a bum who
chooses the life style.