We watch the colors of the leaves change and fall.
We prepare for our Thanksgiving Feasts.
We gather as a family in front of a warm fireplace.
We sit under our blankets on a Sunday around the TV watching the NFL games.
We put on our long John pajamas, and crawl under our heavy winter blankets.
We enjoy the snow as we watch it fall from the crisp sky, we play in it, and go inside to a nice cup of hot cocoa to warm up from the cold blustery weather.
But what most of us do not pay attention to this time of year are the people that don't have these luxuries. With the downfall of the economy the homeless rates are rising. The number of people that lost their jobs, their homes, and all their belongings have become higher than any level we have seen before. Even in the nicest of towns are the homeless. The ones that get over looked. The subject of the homeless can raise controversy in every group of individuals. Where I feel strongly to help them, others show no sympathy at all. In my recent venture to gather clothing, blankets and food for the homeless in my area I have encountered both sides. In a mass text message that I sent to 35 people, only one replied. People who I thought were sensitive and understanding turned a cold shoulder to the effort of helping and I must say my level of disappointment in the people I felt strongly for has risen to a very high level. When I think of the homeless it hits a spot in my heart that really touches home and opens a door of emotions and secrets that I have held bottled up inside for many years. I grew up with my mother, a single disabled parent. My father ran out and never turned to look back. My mother did all she could to make sure that we were taken care of, we had ups and downs. Times of success and times of failure. We, like many American families, have lived out of second time around stores, food pantries and off of food stamps. Something that years ago I was embarrassed to say. Now that I have grown, and my wisdom has grown I know that there was never reason to be ashamed of where I came from. Just because we had low times in life, doesn't mean that we are any less as people. At one point my mother and I were homeless. With thanks to the Great state of New Jersey we were placed into a hotel so that we did not live on the streets. This is something that I have never admitted before to anyone other than my close friends and family. You may look at a man on the street and say, "he's a bum, there's no reason he can't get a job" or "I don't feel bad for them, they put themselves there" but there is a good possibility that you are wrong. That man that you just said was a bum and you don't feel bad for, he is a Vietnam Vet. That served his country and suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It has been my decision that I wanted to give a hand to the homeless in my area.
In Lakewood, NJ there is a place known as "Tent City" it is ran by a local minister who like myself decided to take a stand for the homeless. Tent City is occupied by an estimated 70 people who live in tents, usually made of plywood, tarps and rolls of plastic. There are people who lost their jobs and exhausted their unemployment, savings, and pensions which it turn made them lose their homes, and have ended up in "Tent City" These people have came together with their struggles as a community.
They have become closely knitted together as a family. They have wash stations, bathroom facilities, a single kitchen, a single washer and dryer, a church "platform" and church bell, that they ring to bring the community into service and they have truly become their own city, inside a city.
Image: Robert Johnson
Last winter locals came together to build a Warming Station for the people but the township came in and knocked down the building, leaving these people to suffer the harsh winter conditions by building fires inside of their tents. This had lead to numerous fires because their was no other way for these people to say warm, and once again, they lost everything. The Township of Lakewood has filed a lawsuit to remove these people from tent city. November 18th, just several days before Thanksgiving there will be a hearing to determine whether or not the people who call this place their home will be "evicted".
I will be taking all Donations I have gathered to the Homeless Camp this upcoming Week, I pray that this may open your eyes to help the homeless in your neighborhood.
If you would like to help out, please drop me an email at [email protected].
Thank you!
