Homeless Proposal

The problem I am proposing to address is food shortage in homeless shelters. It is a growing concern in the United States today due to the instability of our economy. More and more people are losing their jobs and homes, at an alarming rate, and are facing homelessness. According to the United States Census Bureau, “more than 45 million people, or 14.5 percent of all Americans, lived below the poverty line last year (Census Bureau, 2016).” That is a family of four, 2 adults and 2 children, making less than or equal to $24,600.00 annually. In Yuma, 21.1 percent of our population is homeless and/or living under the poverty line (Census Bureau, 2016). Homelessness is a subject that hits close to home for me as I had an uncle that disappeared

I have gained a better understanding of what circumstances force the majority of the shelter’s residents to seek them and what services they make available to these citizens. It is my firm belief that Charities change the lives of people in need every single day. Whether we donate money, items, food, time or prayers, even the smallest donations makes the biggest difference in our community. It is a sad reality for several of our neighbors that face homelessness everyday, and having these shelters is a constant reminder that homelessness or poverty can happen to anyone at any time. Most importantly, they also provide hope for the millions of Americans that desperately need

Our current social programs fail to provide enough foods or goods to our current homeless population, thus leaving a huge burden on the local shelters. By donating food items or goods for the shelters residents, on behalf of the community, it allows the shelter to focus that money on other expenses in order to better serve their population. Some of these expenses are funding for services, such as meals, emergency shelter, and religious sharing. Other expenses could then be focused on programs, such as the Crossroads Mission’s complete drug and alcohol recovery program, job training, career and academic center to help adults obtain their G.E.D, as well as helping people learn the skills needed to prevent