Hi folks,

Wants - An important thread!

I recently attended a talk by a guy from the Salvation Army, which is a social services provider here in the UK. It's second only to the government. He gave us some chilling statistics.

He said that 50% of the homeless people they dealt with were not there because of drink or drugs. He said that relationship breakdowns and money problems were the main reasons. He also said that often professional people would be among the homeless coming to their shelters including even qualified doctors. I guess lightning can strike anywhere.

Here in the UK we have a newspaper called the 'Big Issue'. Homeless people can sell the paper and keep some of the money for themselves. They do this on street corners and are licensed. It keeps the issue in the public eye and gives the homeless vendors a kind of a job. It's hard work for them.

Tonight I'm going to read a couple of poems at an inner city venue, and I guess this issue will come up at some point in the evening. My feeling is that it's good to get involved if we have the energy, and do something hands on. It's a complicated thing, which I certainly don't understand. Some of the homeless guys I have known have wanted to be out there. I have a poem about an old friend who used to sleep out in the woods and maybe I'll paste it into the creative thread if I can hack the technology.

Again - an important thread.

Cheers, Myzen.

PS - Of course illness puts some people out there, including (God forbid) some of our members. This is dreadful, but it's all linked in, illness, relationship breakdown, money problems. It's all in the story.