Serving Others

As a true southern boy I am not used to prolonged cold weather.  This winter has been much colder than I’m used to.  I’ll be quite honest that I don’t like it and I’m ready for Spring.  As winter drags on my thoughts often drift to thinking of folks that do not have a home to get out of the cold.  I can simply stay inside and turn up the heat.

This evening I wondered how many people in Charlotte are in this situation so I did what I often do: I googled homelessness rates in Charlotte, NC.

The first link that popped up was from a site called the National Alliance to End Homelessness.  Here I clicked on their interactive map and learned that there are over 11,000 homeless individuals in North Carolina.

One of the next links was from a recent article in the Charlotte Observer.  In this article I learned that there are over 6,500 homeless people in Charlotte and almost 800 who are chronically homeless.  The article points out that the chronically homeless are particularly vulnerable.

Kathy Izard, from the Urban Ministry Center, said “I’m stunned. We as a community weren’t addressing the problem of chronic homelessness when we thought we had just 500. Now, we realize it’s even bigger than we thought. We should be alarmed.”

So now what?  I’m not exactly sure, but God has my attention.  How about you?

God Bless,
RJ