When I am downtown, especially in the commons, I often see homeless people, not many, just a few. Before I started doing volunteer work I was not aware of how many homeless people there really are in our area. And I also had no idea that the face I often saw asking for money or sleeping on a bench, was not the common face of homelessness. As a matter of fact, in Boston the homeless are usually made up of families with children. To get an idea of what it is like your area, you can use this interactive map.
I often wondered what I could even do to help the homeless. There are plenty of ways however, as I have learned over the years. The first is through obvious things like donations to support shelters, or donations of specific items to shelters. There are many places in which a person can work the local soup kitchens or food banks. Some states have building projects which need volunteers, and you can also do a drive through your company to help.
In the past I have worked with an organization called Project Night Night. I was working with a lot of creative people and we were able to fill over 20 bags for the local Salvation Army shelter. The bags consist of books a blanket and a toothbrush/toothpaste for multiple age groups. They send you the bags and materials to organize the drive and when they are filled, you go to the shelter in your area and drop them off.
The MA based organization I have spent the last year with, is called Horizons for Homeless Children. The position I hold is known as a PAL. My duty as a PAL is to go to a shelter once a week and play with the children in our organization's designated play area. During this time, the children are having an active and positive experience free of the worries of life, while the parents undergo either parenting or job training, or look for employment, depending on the facility. There are multiple shifts, I have an AM one as I am a chicken about taking the train by myself in the evening, although I know our center has evening shifts as well. I was placed at a shelter for female domestic abuse victims who had become homeless by fleeing the abuse. The time I am there, the women are attending parenting classes, which is often very warranted after how they, themselves, have been treated . I go in and prepare the room, make sure it was cleaned up after the last pals were there, and there is nothing unsafe. The parents bring the children down and pick them up after the class.
These are just a few places to start, if you are interested. I love to help others and lend a hand, and I feel that if everyone does a little something to help others, this world isn't so bad.
