Reality Check - Confronting Homelessness

Anderson, Indiana (November 12, 2010) -- This past Friday The Christian Center (TCC) and Alternatives, Inc. teamed together to host Reality Check, an overnight homelessness awareness and fundraising event in Anderson. Approximately 150 people spent the night, some sleeping in houses made from cardboard and using cardboard as their bed and blankets.

As of the last official count it was estimated that there were over 670,000 people who experience homelessness on any given day. In the Anderson, Indiana, Madison County area the best estimate of as to the number of homeless people is around 650 at any time according to Shayne Tacket, Operations Manager, at The Christian Center.

Homelessness has no boundaries when it comes to age, sex, or nationally. According to National Alliance to End Homelessness, measuring youth homelessness has been a major challenge; unfortunately, significant, seminal data on youth does not yet exist. While hard data isn't available, the alliance estimates that young adults ages 18 to 25 make up 40 percent of street youth and about 33 percent of the total homeless youth population.

In today's economy homelessness is becoming an even larger crisis for people of all ages and nationalities. Families that were once stable are finding themselves today with no place to go but to the streets. To make matters even worse is the fact that those trying to help, the shelters and soup kitchens, are being overwhelmed by the increased numbers of homeless and the decline in those who can help support their efforts everywhere.

To learn more about the homeless in our area and how to help visit The Christian Center at http://www.thechristiancenter.org/ or learn more about this crisis in the U.S. visit the National Alliance to End Homelessness, http://www.endhomelessness.org/.

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