Freedom From Want:
From Homelessness and Hunger to Shelter and Jobs

Although we would rather spend most of our time working towards creative solutions to some of our most troubling and persistent problems, we also recognize that many people are in need of immediate assistance and cannot wait. Father Michael of the Saint Francis Inn captured it perfectly: while he's glad people are trying to fix things, "if someone comes to me hungry and I say 'okay, wait until I go fix it in Washington,' it will be too late for them; they will die."

Homelessness is not what many people think it is. It's not just the de-institutionalized mentally ill and drug-addicts who got their because of their own bad choices. Families comprise 40 percent of the homeless, the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population. It's a national disgrace, and we can do better. Consider that over the course of one year, as many as 1.4 million children experience homelessness; nearly half of them are under the age of five. Consider that children with no home go without food to eat at twice the rate of other children, that homeless children are far less likely to succeed in—or even attend—school (in fact, 20 percent of homeless children drop out). Children with no fixed address are twice as likely as other children to experience ill health, and they are generally among the uninsured with little access to care. And nearly half of homeless school-aged children suffer from anxiety, depression and other mental health problems.

Twenty-five percent of homeless children have witnessed first-hand, violence and abuse within their own families. Often, it is directed at them. Homelessness fosters fear. And fear is disabling—for children and adults. We believe we do the constituents a disservice lumping all the homeless under one politically correct name, rather than calling people out by group - the newly homeless families, battered women alone, the long-term mentally ill, alcoholics and addicts who need treatment, lifestyle choices, and predators. For a start, nuances in our language could: more easily enable the police to protect certain subgroups from others, enable donors who would not otherwise help to assist subgroups they care about, enable more accurate population estimation for social services funding requests.

Our friends at Glide in SF have this powerful slogan 'when people are hungry, you feed them.' Simple, powerful words. It would sometimes seem, though, that more people are falling in the river of poverty and drowning than we could fish out and feed. We need someone to tame the river, and we need scouts sent upstream to stop people from falling in.

What You Can Do

Support smart policies that build a strong America and reinforce businesses with the model of 'doing well by doing good' (making a fair profit while bringing people out of poverty)

At Elfenworks, we believe that together we can change the direction of our country, mitigate the historic levels of poverty and inequality that we are seeing, and get this country back on track. Do not underestimate the power of your efforts and your voice - they are just exactly what is needed. There are many ways in which your involvement can make a difference, and helping one person can start a ripple that sends waves of change throughout a community (and makes a difference to you personally, too). See our RIPPLE page for ideas.