THE TOP 12
Your Best Reasons to Help the Homeless
By Loren Franck
Why help homeless people?
Some 80,000 unsheltered men, women and children live throughout Los Angeles County, so the question is crucial. Evidence suggests that, as a segment of society, homeless people aren’t going anywhere soon.
Most of us who live among L.A’s unhoused residents have two choices: 1) View homelessness as an unsolvable problem, or 2) see it as a challenging opportunity to help the neediest people within our communities. To understand the solution to homelessness, however, you must first identify the 12 most compelling reasons to help its victims.
1. Imperative Need
Many unsheltered people throughout west L.A. County eat, sleep and otherwise strive to survive on cold, hard asphalt. They endure wind, rain, fog and filth. Existing on scraps, many eat like peasants of the pavement and out of trashcans. They lack bathroom facilities and are despised as lepers. Privacy is but a pleasant memory. Nobody has greater need for your help.
2. Reap What You Sow
Call it karma, the Golden Rule, whatever. You get what you give. Treat homeless people with compassion and respect, and you’ll receive compassion and respect. But treat them with contempt and you’ll get disrespect—from homeless people and others. You do reap what you sow . . . in countless ways.
3. From KITA to Carrots
Providing essentials to the unsheltered will shift your motivation in life. Unfortunately, many people operate on the KITA (“kick in the ass”) principle. They usually don’t complete crucial tasks until they receive a size 12 across the backside. The carrot-on-a-stick approach to motivation is much more effective. Instead of being pushed to achieve, you’re drawn to success. Using KITA, you achieve because you want to, not because you must.
4. Unparalleled Depth
As with other worthwhile ventures, it costs time and money to help the homeless. Gathering blankets, shoes and clothes; collecting food plus healthy beverages; and volunteering for outreach activities are all honorable. Surely, extending a hand up to the unsheltered will give you greater depth of character.
5. Peace of Mind
Demanding careers, mounting caffeine consumption (hey, I love coffee as much as anyone does), increased vehicular traffic, and an ever-tightening pressure to fit in can rob your peace of mind. And sometimes it’s hard to get it back. When you help homeless people, though, you’ll have peace of mind to spare.
6. Sweet Satisfaction
Some people have the wrong idea about helping the homeless. Serving the unsheltered involves more than a two-hour soup-kitchen visit during Thanksgiving or Christmas. When done year-round, however, providing food, clothing, blankets and other services can furnish sweet satisfaction—for you and those you serve.
7. Sobering Thoughts
If arrogant when beginning to help the homeless, you won’t stay that way. Sustaining the unsheltered is an excellent path to a noble-minded, self-effacing life. When helping homeless people, you’ll repeatedly assure yourself, “There but for the grace of God go I.”
8. Community Unity
Clearly, helping the homeless is good for the unsheltered. But extending a hand up to society’s neediest people also benefits their local communities. After all, those without homes are part of their communities. And when housed community members address the needs of the locally unhoused, entire communities benefit.
9. Unseen Power
Professional educators or not, most of us teach in one way or another. If we don’t instruct by precept, we do so by example, which is often the more powerful method. What do we teach when helping homeless people? Kindness, compassion, service, selflessness, mutual benefit and many other virtues. And who’s learning? Nearly everyone nearby.
10. Stellar Examples
Much of contemporary life involves getting. Jewelry, houses, cars, clothes—you name it. What’s important is what you have, not what you give. But happy, fulfilled individuals give more than they get. So, when extending a hand up to the unsheltered, you’ll become a stellar example of someone who knows how to give—and therefore truly knows how to get.
11. Personal Growth
Helping the homeless will bring you multiple benefits. We’ve touched on several including “From KITA to Carrots,” “Unparalleled Depth” and “Peace of Mind.” Specific perks result from assisting the unsheltered. You’ll grow mentally and emotionally. You’ll learn to “think outside the box,” even throughout life’s most demanding circumstances. Whether you call the process existentialism, finding your center, or becoming one with the universe, remarkable personal growth will be yours because you help the homeless.
12. When the Lights Go Out
I sometimes ask myself, “When ready to die, what will I regret?” During my final moments, I’ll probably wish I had shown more love to my family, helped greater numbers of people, and accomplished more for the greater good. However, I won’t wish I had earned more money, achieved more in the workplace or owned more property. For me, when the lights dim for the last time, positive relationships will matter more than possessions and social status. And my treatment of homeless people will top the list.
The Bottom Line
So there you have it—the 12 best reasons to help the homeless.
But there’s a 13th reason, perhaps most important of all. Those who help the unsheltered do so because it’s right. It’s always right to ease pain and suffering. And few men, women and children hurt more than homeless people do.
What’s right about not helping? You can do the math on that one.
Loren Franck is president and executive director of West Side Homeless Outreach. He is also one of its cofounders.
Comments or questions? Write loren@wshola.org.
West L.A. County homeless people need your assistance more than ever. You can help us help them. West Side Homeless Outreach is an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) charity, so your donations are completely tax deductible. And why not approach your employer about a matching grant? Click on donate; or mail checks and money orders to West Side Homeless Outreach, Inc., PO Box 5761, Playa del Rey, CA 90296-5761. Thank you for your support.
©2012 West Side Homeless Outreach, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Helpful Hints
“All help is good help.” That’s becoming a mantra at West Side Homeless Outreach.
And yet, varying degrees of “good help” emerge when extending a hand up to unsheltered individuals. Assistance to the homeless exists on a balance of what you want to provide compared with what the unsheltered need. It makes little sense to help the homeless in something they don’t need.
For example, several months ago, a charity wanted to donate hundreds of children’s shoes to our outreach. When I gently explained we could use only a fraction of that amount, the shoe charity’s representative became indignant that we didn’t want them all. She was donating to West Side Homeless Outreach based on her organization’s need to place hundreds of shoes, not according to the needs of the homeless people we serve.
So, when donating effort or items to the homeless, establish what they need most, and then do your best to provide it. To illustrate further, most people living on L.A. streets need food that’s practical for their situations. This includes pop-top canned food, soft fresh fruit, individually wrapped baked goods and 0.5-liter bottles of drinking water.
Unsheltered people also need a steady supply of warm blankets, adult-size warm clothes, comfortable shoes, and personal-hygiene items, including toothbrushes, bar soap, skin lotion, shampoo and shaving gear.
So place unsheltered people’s needs first, yours second. Supply only what would be practical for living on the street. You’ll be much more effective at helping the homeless.
—Loren Franck
Blog Update
Our frequently updated blog shares little-known facts about homelessness that everyone should know. Click here to visit.
Taking Action
The West Side Homeless Outreach volunteers above know that actions speak louder than words when helping homeless people, and this group is reaping all the benefits.
