Please spare a thought today for the Homeless who have died. .

[annabanana]

Each year since 1990, on or near the first day of winter and the longest night of the year, National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) has sponsored National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day to bring attention to the tragedy of homelessness and to remember our homeless friends who have paid the ultimate price for our nation's failure to end homelessness.

This year, the National Health Care for the Homeless Council (NHCHC) has joined in co-sponsoring this event.

On the first day of Winter, and facing the longest night of the Year, please remember those who died from lack of shelter.

[glowing]

1. Thank you. AND because we haven't fixed this problem, many more of us

will face the dire situation of homelessness and wonder why there isn't any help for them... when they paid into the system for so many years. Perhaps, with this depression, we'll fix this once and for all.

[JNelson6563]

2. I think of them daily

I, likw many others, are this close [] to joining them and daily I look at the weather here in northern MI and I worry about them. Brutal, deadly winter is upon us.

Thanks for posting this. :hug:

Julie

[annabanana]

10. Perhaps the nearness of economic catastrophe will sensitize

more people to the problem. Maybe a heart or two will be turned to help those who we see in trouble.

[NaturalHigh]

13. I hope you're right.

[KharmaTrain]

3. Very Well Worth Not Just Remembering...

...but to do something about. My wife and I have donated time to help at a nearby shelter in our little Pleasant Valley Sunday suburb. We've been helping for a couple years and have seen a big rise in the needs for the shelter and others in the area as well as other social services. This year donations have been down and demand is up...families who have lost homes, jobs and luck...and it's a problem that will get worse as this economy remains in the tank.

Last night it went to -8 here...and I'm certain the shelter is full...my hopes are no one was turned away (sadly that has to happen) and that this is the worst we have this winter, for their sake.

It's well worth remembering those who are suffering silently this year...the poor, the handicapped, the elderly...all who are getting clobbered by this depression and a government that has not just neglected them, but taken funding away to fight their wars for profit and stuff their pockets. Rights don't mean a lot when you don't have a roof over your head or are constantly hungry. The fact we have anyone in this situation is a shame on us all.

[NaturalHigh]

5. Like you, I hope nobody was turned away.

It's sad that there aren't enough beds to go around, but it's even sadder that there is such need for those beds at all.

[NaturalHigh]

4. I pray for them daily and do what little I can to help.

When I lived in Denver, I witnessed more homeless than I could count freezing in the streets. When I read the newspapers, as often as not in the winter I would read about at least one who died from exposure. I will freely admit that I don't know the answer to the problem, but it seems to me that a country that can spend nearly a trillion dollars on a war can do more to help its own citizens feed, clothe, and shelter themselves.

[glowing]

6. I can kick.. already rec'd earlier.

[NaturalHigh]

7. Will everyone who reads this please rec?

We need this to be on the top of the greatest page. For all that we disagree about on DU, I'm sure that we all agree that nobody should ever die from lack of food and shelter.

[dynasaw]

8. It Breaks My Heart

every day seeing them at some intersection in the burning heat or freezing cold. Many are vets who are clearly ill, disabled, old beyond their years. Christ! How has America let this happen? I feel both helpless and enraged.

[NaturalHigh]

9. Kick for the morning crowd.

[knitter4democracy]

11. I'm very worried today.

We're in a blizzard warning for all day today into tomorrow with wind chills to the negative teens overnight. No one should be without warm shelter in weather like this.

[NaturalHigh]

12. It's 11 degrees here in Oklahoma.

Even without wind chill, that can be deadly.

[Mnemosyne]

16. 6 degrees F, NW PA, lake effect warning, possible 1 - 2 feet snow, winds up to 50mph.

It's bad.

I hear ya' on the worry, knitter. :hug:

[Wednesdays]

14. K and R nt

[Mnemosyne]

15. .

:cry::hug: