Do you have any ideas on how to help the homeless?

Well, they obviously need food, clothing, and shelter to survive. Maybe have a clothing drive and include camping equipment in that.

If you are looking for solutions to help them become employed and self-sufficient. Really, a huge hurdle for the homeless is finding a job without a telephone number or physical address. I’m not really sure how you can help with that but you could brainstorm and see if you can think of anything. Maybe your church could get a separate phone line and start a voice-mail service so people can stop by and check to see if any prospective employers have called them.

And when you are struggling to find food and a place to sleep looking for a job is a difficult thing to do. You need to be clean with decent clothes. Once you find yourself homeless it is a really tough trench to crawl out of.

@johnpowell —Great input—we are currently providing clothing and food occasionally but your ideas warrant some serious consideration.

Reach out to local agencies and individual employers who are looking for day-laborers. Day labor typically doesn’t require one to have an address, phone number etc. because you’re paid out that same day with a cashier’s check or even in cash. It can be a good way for folks to get some momentum going. If the employers are wary of employing the homeless, having your church serve as sort of a sponsor that could vouch for them would also help.

Stop giving them money. It’s always just enough to keep them on the streets feeding habits.

I live in SF. I have to deal with the homeless everyday. I’ve heard every story and seen every face.

Just talk to them- they are people too. Some of them may have some interesting life stories.

Start programs with which they can make money, like cleaning streets, provide the means and find sponsors for the money. This is just one aspect… the larger question is hard to answer, since there are different groups on the streets and they all need a different approach. But I believe you got to be very commited and never stop trying to find out if a person is ready for change.

I would say start small in terms of scope. Sponsor x number of families and or individuals and concentrate the church’s resoures to get this small group on their feet and self sufficient.

Pre-paid cell phones may work, too.

I would probably start by approaching them and asking them what they need, how they feel they can be assisted. It’s far less condescending and more humanitarian to get in there with them. They will all have their unique needs, some are dealing with serious mental illness, psychiatric disorders and the like.

They, themselves, will be your best resource in finding out how best to assist them.

Without trying to sound cynical, most of these ‘homeless’ want to be just that. . . Homeless.
It’s a life style.
If their homeless and it’s not by their own choice, there are ample government agencies to assist them to get back on their feet, ‘if’ they choose that path.
It’s a feel good thing to want to help what is perceived as a rectifiable solution to ‘homelessness’.
We don’t need more agencies, we don’t need more money thrown at them.
If they want help, they can get it.

I use to live up in Los Angeles and I would always be confronted by them asking for money. When I offered one homeless guy to buy him food he turn me down. My obley guess as to why he wanted the money was for alcohol. This produced a negative image of homeless until I volunteered to help out for thanksgiving in a homeless shelter. These whole families where there and had the problems discussed above (no job because of no address). This maybe where you might want to focus your efforts.

Thanks folks lots of good ideas. In our city city we have the salvation army, catholic shelters, and several missions. They provide shelter and program to get them jobs etc. We see a couple of problems:
• The shelters don’t have room for everyone

• There are few facilities for families.

A lot of them end up living on the streets – really tough in the cold weather.

I’m an advocate for the homeless who was formerly homeless myself. Most homeless people do NOT “want to be homeless”. Please be aware that myths and stereotypes can be quite harmful, and one of the first ways to be helpful to homeless people is to become educated on issues which cause homelessness.
Here’s a useful web site which lists (and goes into detail on) 54 ways to help the homeless:
link: http://home.golden.net/~msavage/ootc/54ways/list.html

Provide food, clothing, and shelter, but don’t hand out money directly.

Offer job training and microloans; therapy and medication for the homeless who are homeless because of mental illness.

Here’s an interesting perspective on the subject.

Outsider’s take on S.F. homelessness – yikes

My experience says most homeless do want it that way. I would encourage you to get in touch with any one of the groups now doing that kind of work and see just where you could fit in. I would take my clue from the great groups you mentioned.

Start a community service project but include them into it, like a job finding scavenger hunt or something of that sort. Take them to jobs and help them apply, get them cleaned up for an interview, buy a nice suit ect.