From serving a meal at a shelter to sorting clothes, your time is one of the most valuable resources you can offer. Volunteering connects you to your neighbors and the community, and helps you build lasting relationships that help break the cycles of poverty and homelessness. The CalWORKs Housing Support Program (HSP) promotes housing stability for homeless families. HSP helps homeless CalWORKs families obtain permanent housing and can provide them with temporary shelter, help with moving costs, short and medium term rental subsidies, and comprehensive case management.
Fill a bag with non-perishable food and donate it to a food drive in your area. If your community doesn't have a food drive, organize one. Contact local soup kitchens, shelters and homeless societies and ask what kind of food donations they would like to receive. Families staying in shelters with their children need additional support.
They need people to help them balance their parenting responsibilities with their need to find housing and possibly a job. You can help by giving private lessons at a local shelter or doing activities such as games or stories with the children. Recruit friends, family, and local businesses to help you. Talk to the community center and local schools to see how they could donate tutoring, food, money and find volunteers—the more people who help, the better.
I can't think of anything better than bringing God's love to the homeless people around me. I believe that homeless shelters also provide a place of comfort and safety for those who can't find it anywhere else. It's very likely that if you have a child in a public school in Massachusetts, a family in your school community will become homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. By no means do you have to be a big non-profit or church organization to help the homeless in your community.
If these items are in good condition, collect them and donate them to organizations that provide housing for the homeless. Give the homeless the same courtesy and respect that you would give to your friends, family, or employer. The Bringing Families Home (BFH) program helps reduce the number of families in the child welfare system who are homeless, increase family reunification and prevent placement in foster care. I think it would be very beneficial for the homeless to find a shelter where they fit in and are appreciated and cared for.
While this is an area of debate for some who fear that the money donated will be spent on an addiction and not on basic items, money is still needed to help the homeless. Georgia, it can be overwhelming to approach someone who is homeless, but I can see that you have a humble and compassionate heart. The CalWORKs Homeless Assistance (HA) program aims to help CalWORKs families cover the reasonable costs of getting housing.
