October 15th is Blog Action Day 2008 and the emphasis this year is on poverty. Bloggers from around the world are participating and, hopefully, increasing awareness about those who live in poverty in our own communities and around the globe.
I have found this event to be a particularly good opportunity to talk to my own kids about those who are less fortunate. Don’t get me wrong, we have been dangerously close ourselves to not being able to pay the bills on a few occasions. Fortunately, a new contract or a new client would come through right in time to avoid real trouble. And, even more fortunately, we always had family to lean on if we really needed them.
According to Alan Graham, of Mobile Loaves and Fishes in Austin, Texas, having a family support system is most often the key to avoiding actual homelessness. Talking with Alan, I learned that many of the stereotypes associated with being homeless are exaggerated or just plain wrong.
For example, veterans make up a very large part of the nationwide group who have no place to call home. Only about 25% of the homeless population in the United States actually suffer from alcohol and drug addiction. Hardly anyone actually wants to be homeless. Most would change their circumstances if they could.
After discussing it with my kids and getting their full encouragement, I’m going to join Alan Graham, Bob Carlton, and a small group of volunteers, for a 24-Hour Street Retreat Immersion with the homeless. It’s a no-frills, sleep-on-the-street, experience.
We’ll be twittering (I’m @MikeChapman) and sharing our observations throughout the day. A bigger group of supporters will be blogging, podcasting and doing video segments during the same time period.
The goal is to put a face on the homeless by actually by getting to know them in person. We want to develop actual relationships with real people that will last beyond Blog Action Day.
I know I’ll only be on the street for 24 hours and then I’ll be back in my comfortable home, with my kids, in time to spend the evening with them. I am very fortunate.
Hopefully, though, it’ll help me to remember what the truly poor and homeless go through every day in Austin and around our country and the rest of the world. Alan tells me it’ll change me. I believe him.
I’m especially hopeful that my children and I will always remember that the homeless are real people, with hopes and dreams of their own, and who need our love and support.
The montage of ‘hunger is unacceptable’ photos above is courtesy of the Capital Area Food Bank in Austin, Texas. The Food Bank is also leading the way in Texas to address these critically important issues.
