Charities do work (Homelessness and street begging)

Member Name: MichaelR

Product:	Homelessness and street begging
Date:	28/01/01 (9 review reads)
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I have been technically homeless myself... although during the period that I was, I did feel that I had a home.

I was very lucky that I lived in a place where myself and my father were given what I felt to be a home.

Following the divorce of my parents when I was about 14 years old, my mother got ownership of the house, and my father, who I chose to live with, (my sister continued to live with my mother) not being a rich man and being unemployed at the time could hardly approach a bank and ask for a mortgage, and as the local council could not offer us a home immediately, we were classified as homeless.

Luckily, a local housing charity did offer us a pleasant place to live in while we were on the council waiting list, and we were not forced into B&B's or anything like that. It gave me the stability I needed to continue to do well at school, and get to where I am today. (Which is approaching graduation from University)

We had very little furniture. The flat was not furnished. I had a bed, and a wardrobe, but that was all the furniture that we had at first. My father slept on the floor, and we had no chairs or tables or anything for about three weeks.

We were also lucky that after this time, another local charity by the name of "Turntable", who collect unwanted items of furniture, as well as domestic appliances etc, provided us with the basic things that we needed.

We spent about 9 months there before the council gave us a flat, in which we still live today. (well, I do when I am home from Uni)

Now, I am aware that this is very different from living in B&B's, or hostels, or even worse living on the streets, but what I am trying to say is that I was lucky, we were both lucky, that thanks to the generosity of other people, we had somewhere to live, something to sit and sleep on, and something to cook food with.

Not everyone is so lucky.

I'm trying to point out that th
ese charities do some good. I know there are people out there that doubt their effectiveness, and people out there that truly do believe homeless people to be second class citizens, who truly are of no worth to society.

This is not the case. Homeless people do not choose to be homeless, and they can prove to be just as much use to society as anyone else. Even more so in some cases.

So please, do give to charities like Shelter. They do a hell of a lot of good work to keep people of the streets, and to help those that are there to get off of the streets, and to help people build a life for themselves.

You never know when you might need their help yourself.

As for giving money to those who are begging on the streets... well, luckily I haven't been there. I do think it is better to give money to the charities rather than directly to beggars... I think the best thing you can do is to talk to them though. They are people. If you try to talk to them, I think then you will know immediately whether you should give money to them or not.

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