Sunday September 6, 2009, 6:21 am
From article:
“It’s hard enough going to school and growing up, but these kids also have to worry where they’ll be staying that night and whether they’ll eat,” said Bill Murdock, chief executive of Eblen-Kimmel Charities, a private group in Asheville that helps needy families with anything from food baskets and money for utility bills to toiletries and a prom dress.
“We see 8-year-olds telling Mom not to worry, don’t cry,” Mr. Murdock said.

My thoughts: I can't imagine a child having to worry about where they are going to sleep, or what there will be to eat next. I know they worry just as much as the adults do in their family what will happen to them next. I know that schools & school districts are working on skeleton crews & supplies.

If there's ANYTHING you can personally do it help, it's calling your local school and asking what kind of supplies would be helpful to donate to their schools. That includes the most simple of items - pencils, pens, notebooks, folders. And yes, it's at crisis level to even get the kids TO school, and after they are there....to get them to STAY in school.

(Sigh) Another article worth noting and discussing!

Sunday September 6, 2009, 7:06 am
This is a huge problem... it must start with some of the parents... they need to become more responsible for thier actions.. There should be programmes put out to help educate those with children on the responsibilities... Also there will have to be radical changes made and more funding allocated for this

Monday September 7, 2009, 7:21 am
Or maybe they just need a better economy so that can get a decent job.

Monday September 7, 2009, 7:48 am
Can't work if there are no jobs. I live in neighboring S.C.. There were textile mills here, and things were good. Jobs were outsourced and now, people are not making it. This, being one of the poorest states in the nation, is paying dearly. Crime is up, abuse is up, and it is not going to get better. How can people help themselves if there are no means to do so? We have one free clinic in this area. Wow. And the lines to go to it are long. I only hope I can keep my job, because I too, could be facing this. I do feel for the children. When they suffer we all do.

Monday September 7, 2009, 8:35 am
Thanks so much for submitting this story. People need to be aware of how serious this problem is for many families.

Monday September 7, 2009, 8:49 am
These parents are having a hard time from every direction with the downturn in this economy. It was hard enough before but now, for many, near impossible. People that never thought they would have to go to food bank or use to donate to them are now finding they must ask for this help. Many people are only one or two paychecks away from disaster.
From food banks the lights get shut off, the car insurance lapses, the rent or mortgage isn't paid and the street is next. Then there are many you never see on the streets, housed up with friends or relatives putting other famililes in strain as well due to lack of space, in fear their landlord will ask them to leave, and having extra mouths to feed. I've known personally those helpful families also loosing their jobs and they end up going the way of the family that had to move in with them....all now without a place to stay....and children being doled out to other relatives or friends, husband and wives separated to live with others due to lack of space in friends homes that can only take one.

We have bailed out the banks....the banks continue to charge us for everything they do, even for keeping your money in there if you can't afford the minimum amount of $500 in a savings account. From every direction the poor and middle class are being hit and these homeless children are only the tip of the iceburg. They show what is going on across this land and it isn't pretty.

We must band together as a people and raise our voices that it is time for some major bailing out for the people not the banks and financial institutions only. So go to www.bailoutpeople.org and join in with the march. Let your voices be heard!
Tell the Government....we need to keep our jobs in this Country, we need the employers to hire us and do away with all these visa's that let others come in and take what jobs there are away from those who live here, stop the wars that suck our Country dry to the bone and destroy families who loose their husbands, Fathers and sons to the protection of corporate greed, yes their interests not necessarily yours.

We need what happened in the past during the depression, the WPA and CCC programs, that gave jobs. We need jobs, we need affordable housing across this land, we need attention put onto the masses of this Country not only the rich, the Corporations, and the Financial Institutions that don't give a blip about any of us....just Their bottom line. It is time we take our Country back and we do that by standing up and taking it back, and part of that is having jobs so we can feed our children, keep a roof over their head, and have medical care.
The children are the future of this Country and we loose every time a child is hungry and homeless. It is hard to make up the education lost, is hard to make up in the growing years the damage done due to poor nutrition, it is hard to make up an unattended medical problems that progresses to far more serious conditions.

The future of this Country will only be as good as the children who live today will be able to function tomorrow.
So adults, wake up, join in the marches, write to your Fearless Leaders, call them daily if need be....you can't just say, I don't have time....maybe tomorrow I will. If you do not stand up for the children of this Nation then who will?????

Monday September 7, 2009, 8:51 am
As it may have gotten lost in all the words above....check out www.bailoutpeople.org

Join in, let your voices, your numbers in bodies be heard!

Monday September 7, 2009, 9:22 am
Yes, this is one of possibly 10 or more major issues that must be addressed to stabilize families. In the long term, children like this who fall through the cracks will have a devastating effect on the future of this country. They must stay in school. In another thread, there are Americans not wanting Obama to talk to their children about staying in school for fear he will indoctrinate them into...what? My feeling is that those children who get the message to stay in school by their president, will be a powerful way for them to carry on in spite of the poverty and circumstances they find themselves in. I know firsthand what it is to stay in school when you are homeless, without proper clothing and without encouragement. It's like moving through quicksand.

We also need to educate the parents of these students to do all they can for their children when they can barely do for themselves. There is a mentality with many uneducated parents that education is not vital when food, clothing and shelter is the priority.

Thank you, Peace.

Monday September 7, 2009, 2:06 pm
There are SO many reasons families are homeless. To blame the parents is inappropriate....if they would just go out and find jobs...MOST people have REASONS why they are homeless...Rising costs lead to higher bills...as people struggle to keep up with their bills and mortgage or their rent. This leads to bankruptcy...which leads to foreclosure, or evictions from their apartments...Bad credit then enters the picture. Just try even renting a home or apartment with a credit rating that includes bankruptcy, foreclosure, or evictions. Huge medical bills for the uninsured can lead to all of the above. Whatever happened to "give me your tired, your poor?" We have an ethical and moral responsible to care for our own. There is also a large portion of people who are homeless due to mental illness. WHAT IS WRONG WITH US?! Thanks, Kat.

Monday September 7, 2009, 2:21 pm
This is but one view of our pathetic 'accepting everything thrown at us' society...It's time to take our country back for us?...

Money appears to run everything these days and there is plenty to go around to correct all forms of homelesness...It just is not thrown in that direction...Why not?...Keep the kiddies ignorant of the truth?...Keep the bastards down, otherwise they may pose a threat to our screwed up thinking that we own their mind body and soul and can use all as we like for our own benefit?...Let's direct our money at war...To hell with healthcare for all and to hell with the millions we have murdered?...

"Scientific societies are as yet in their infancy. . . . It is to be expected that advances in physiology and psychology will give governments much more control over individual mentality than they now have even in totalitarian countries. Fitche laid it down that education should aim at destroying free will, so that, after pupils have left school, they shall be incapable, throughout the rest of their lives, of thinking or acting otherwise than as their schoolmasters would have wished. . . ":... Bertrand Russell, "The Impact of Science on Society", 1953, pg 49-50

"A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude.":... Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (A great read!)

Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe....Frederick Douglass

Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq "1,339,771"
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Don't you just love that word sacrificed?...Try "murdered", it's more to the point?) (Officially acknowledged) In America's War On Iraq: 4,336
icasualties.org/oif/

Number Of International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan : 1355
http://icasualties.org/oef/

Cost of War in Iraq
$680,231,692,218

Cost of War in Afghanistan
$226,161,388,002

The cost in your community
www.nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182

Monday September 7, 2009, 2:59 pm
the hope school in orange, california is run out of a church (although entirely separate) and busses in chronically homeless kids from all over the county. the kids never have to worry if their parents can get them there on time, or if anyone notices their dirty clothing, or if they're going to have to study on an empty stomach. it provides routine, security, stability, food and clothing. projecthopeschool.com

Monday September 7, 2009, 5:39 pm
Noted.
with job being lead out of the country to foreign run industries thanks to corporate greed, jobs headed with them ,...the U,.S.and the people not protesting sooner, cost of living skyrocketing but wages not keeping up, and greedy loan industry screwing over the hard working americans...and people still standing silently, and not protesting sooner..and the gap between the rich & poor grows even wider....and the Bu$h regime spent billions on senseless war...and nobody stood up and said enough already......yeppers........there are a whole barrel of reasons why our nation is now being left abandoned by its very own...
getting rid of politicians that DO NOT work for its own people and stop the corporate control over government....
We need new industry that is more productive for its own country....like the U.S., and jobs that get created STAY HERE, and no more playing with healthcare industry, get rid of the drug companies that do not produce its drugs on homeland soil, stop the blame game and do something that makes us self suffiecent once again....then our country can get back on its feet....

Monday September 7, 2009, 5:59 pm
Have you seen how much it costs to send your child to public school? I can't imagine how some people afford it. When I went to high school my year costs $12. OK quit laughing at how old I am. But now they are anywhere from $75 to $100. Alot of kids I know can't even buy their yearbooks much less school supplies and expenses. Good idea Peace Love Earth, about calling the schools to see what can be donated. I lost my job on the first, but am always looking for ways to contribute to something good.

Monday September 7, 2009, 7:09 pm
This is a heart-wrenching story. Maybe there are a few studio-type rooms on Wall Street that could be renovated to make permanent residences for some of these people. Some of those directors responsible for the "asset-backed securities" scam could forfeit their bonuses for a year to help some of these folks out who were indirectly affected by these greedy banks and fund companies.

Monday September 7, 2009, 7:43 pm
it is heartbreaking that so many people are homeless. it is heartbreaking for the children. it hard on parents who lose thier jobs and homes for themselves and thier family. there needs to be something done for these families but what each city is able to do is so different and most cities cannot carry the cost of caring for the out rageous number of families becoming homeless each year.

because of the ecomony in MI we lost our home and everything we had. we are fortunate my husband has a retirement income and we were able to move to TN and start over. most poeple are not this fortunate.

Monday September 7, 2009, 9:13 pm
In the state Washington the Lottery was started and told to the tax payers that it was to invest in education. A lie. Where is all this money wasted on war, and weapons when it should have been used for education and housing and healthcare? This suffering iwas a long time coming when politics was inspored by greed and power. Our nations childrens future wasted and stolen from them all for the love of money and power for MORE.
Cut government waste and put the money back into the education for our future generations.
Where is the justice as more lose each day what should not have been robbed from us in the first place. This has nothing to do with Obama, but BU$H & his MINIONS still working against the taxpayers.
This is so frustrating when the blame gets no where and the problem rolls down hill to the innocent.

Monday September 7, 2009, 11:26 pm
President Obama talks to schoolchildren to encourage them to stay in school and gets attacked for "indoctrination". Makes me weep.

Tuesday September 8, 2009, 2:03 am
Noted. This is a very sad situation that is all over the world today. My daughters school won't even FEED a CHILD if they forgot their lunch money. It makes me really sick to know a SCHOOL won't FEED a CHILD who has NO LUNCH MONEY. I don't know what this world is coming to. Something needs to change & be done NOW.
Thanks Peace.

Tuesday September 8, 2009, 9:53 am
WAT A SAD STATE THE WORLD IS IN. THX FOR POSTING.

Wednesday September 9, 2009, 11:38 pm
THANK YOU for bringing this to the attention of more people!!! And, "Thank you!" to all who care & for all who Noted this!!!!!

Saturday September 12, 2009, 1:31 pm
i have a lot of issues with all of this. i don't understand why people with very little to begin with in this world worsen their situation by having children they cannot care for properly. are we all so retarded? and then there's the issue of jobs in this nation. we don't have a health care crisis in this nation - IT'S not the crisis. THE CRISIS IN THIS NATION ARE JOBS! we need to create jobs! so now we have that many more people out of work and out of a home. and i know what it's like to be homeless with four animals but i managed to keep our heads above water for several months and bust my ass and secure a place to live. it takes working together just as people did in the depression, EXCEPT i didn't have any one working to make it happen for me. i had to have sheer determination to get myself into a better situation, thank you.

Saturday September 12, 2009, 10:17 pm
Val. Consider this scenario> A man is employed as an accountant . His wife works for the same company. The economy goes Sout, and both the man and woman are laid off. They already had 3 children. They were insured through Cobra, after they were laid off. Of course we all know this is temporary. The husband and wife spend their regular working hours job-hunting. Increasingly desperate, they are forced to dip into their savings to pay the mortgage on their modest home. Finally, the wife finds a job as a waitress. The husband works odd jobs and temps. They are unable to make ends meet with their current salaries, yet they continue to look for better jobs. They fall farther behind in their bills, and run through their entire savings. Then one of the kids becomes seriously ill. Since Cobra has run out, the family is without health insurance. They are then saddld with massive medical bills. They try to pay, but cannot keep up with the meical bills and the cost of living. They are forced to declare Bankruptcy. Soon after, they fall behind in their Mortgage payments. They attempt to negotiate with their Mortgage Company, who refuses all reasonable offers. Soon their house is fore-closed upon. The Sheriff puts all their belongings in the front yard. They find a neighbor who offers to store their belongings. The family moves into the minivan. Five people, supplies and clothing in the minivan. They are now homeless. They continue to look for better jobs after their work. But they live in a part of Michigan where jobs are scarce. They cannot afford to re-locate, as they need their current low-paying jobs to keep the family fed. They have no credit due to the bankruptcy and the foreclosure. What would you say to this family, Val? Your circumstances were far different. You had only yourself and your dogs to feed. You say it takes working together just as people did in the Depression. My mother lived through the Great Depression. Her family nearly starved. No one COULD help them...except FDR. The healing began. I care about my homeless brothers and sisters. Oh. One more thing...using the word retarded is a slur against those who are developmentally disabled. What kind of person are you. You are SO quick to judge. The above story can happen to ANY of us at any time. NO ONE is exempt. You brag about your sheer determination. You should be ashamed of your attitude toward homless people.

Tuesday September 15, 2009, 8:29 pm
Kudos Julie.

Again, it's people that sit in judgement of those they do not know in arrogance and assumption that no one is deserving bu themselves.
Be wary of who you condemn with such vereve and attitude.
You may one day be sitting where these people are.
To those who believe they have the almighty right to judge others.....you reap what you sow, and what you do unto others comes back to you tenfold....

~ Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. ~ Jim Horning

~ If you judge people, you have no time to love them. ~ Mother Teresa

~ We are all inclined to judge ourselves by our ideals; others by their acts. ~ Harold Nicolson

~ We will never have all the facts to make a perfect judgement, but with the aid of basic experience we must leap bravely into the future. ~ Russell R McIntyre

~ Only a kind person is able to judge another justly and to make allowances for his weaknesses. A kind eye, while recognizing defects, sees beyond them. ~ Lawrence G. Lovasik

~ Men of ill judgment often ignore the good that lies within their hands, till they have lost it. ~ Sophocles

~ Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful when your own self-love might impair your judgement. ~ Seneca

~ You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends. ~ Joseph Conrad

~ Many complain of their memory, few of their judgment. ~ Benjamin Franklin

~ I can usually judge a fellow by what he laughs at. ~ Wilson Mizner

~ I can usually judge a fellow by what he laughs at. ~ Wilson Mizner

~ Men judge us by the success of our efforts. God looks at the efforts themselves. ~ Charlotte Bronte

~ An expert is someone who has succeeded in making decisions and judgements simpler through knowing what to pay attention to and what to ignore. ~ Edward de Bono

~ One should judge a man mainly from his depravities. Virtues can be faked. Depravities are real. ~ Klaus Kinski

~ A major advantage of age is learning to accept people without passing judgment. ~ Liz Carpenter

~ Enthusiasm for a cause sometimes warps judgment ~ William Howard Taft

~ Imagination gallops; judgment merely walks ~ Proverb

~ Judgment is forced upon us by experience ~ Samuel Johnson

~ People like to feel they are buying of their own good judgment as a result of the information the salesman has given them ~ Paul Parker

~ Our judgments judge us, and nothing reveals us, exposes our weaknesses, more ingeniously than the attitude of pronouncing upon our fellows ~ Paul Valery

~ Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. ~ Bible

~ Depend upon yourself. Make your judgement trustworthy by trusting it. You can develop good judgement as you do the muscles of your body - by judicious, daily exercise. To be known as a man of sound judgement will be much in your favor. ~ Grantland Rice

~ Judge a man by the reputation of his enemies ~ Arabian Proverb

~ He who is judge between two friends loses one of them ~ French Proverb

~ I have noted that persons with bad judgment are most insistent that we do what they think best. ~ Lionel Abel