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Home for the Holidays

by   
12/28/2006 / Politics

Ill be home for Christmas, the song begins. But for an estimated 842,000 adults and children, there is no home at all for the holidays. Homelessness in the United States, a leader of the industrial world, still sees as many as 3.5 million individuals per year without a permanent place to lay their heads. Increasingly, these wanderers are not isolated individuals, but uprooted families.

This Christmas, while we snug safely in our beds awaiting Santas bounty, almost one-quarter of the homeless will accompany a parent, most likely a mother, through a night of uncertainty. On Christmas day, some of these children will be treated to a hot meal in their emergency shelter, possibly a school gymnasium. Some will emerge from sleep to the cacophony of a group living facility or the unwelcoming accoutrements of a motel room. And still others, even less fortunate, will wake to the sounds of traffic as they huddle in their automobile.

Few of the homeless children will have pored over the Toys R Us catalog, the much-anticipated gift of the mail carrier. On Christmas Eve, there will be no hearth for Santas milk and cookies. And since poverty is the common bond of most homeless, Baby Alive, Doras playground, and the dinosaur puzzleif they appear on Christmas morningmost likely will be the gifts of strangers. These tokens will show that Toys for Tots, the Salvation Army, or the local church has successfully captured the holiday spirit in the hearts of donors.

In the northeast region of the country, homelessness is especially bleak. The life-threatening cold of winter poses an additional threat and contributes to the markedly decreased life expectancy of the homeless. Although the causes of death vary by age group, studies show that for all categories, years of life could be added by preventive measures: substance-abuse programs, immunizations for influenza and pneumonia, and early medical diagnosis and treatment. Most effectivethe greatest gift of all for these, the poorest of the poorwould be suitable and permanent housing.

As 2006 comes to a close, statisticians will look to see if, once again, 1 out of 100 Americans suffered from homelessness at some point during the year. Our prayer for the Christmas season should be that not even one person hears, Sorry, theres no room at the inn.
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2006 All Rights Reserved

Sally A. Connolly, a retired school counselor and teacher, is editor of A BOY FROM LAWRENCE: The Collected Writings of Eugene F. Connolly (2006), a verbal scrapbook of a teacher's spiritual journey. For information, go to http://www.freewebs.com/aboyfromlawrence
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