Homeless Children

In August, there was just one working phone line at the public defender's office in New Orleans. The broken fax machine sat silent. Even the photocopier stopped copying. It was exactly the kind of post-Hurricane Katrina chaos that attracted the likes of Brigid Ryan. "I jumped at the opportunity even though it was a pretty disturbing experience," said Ryan, a second-year law student at University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore. Inspired by the overwhelming need for legal services for the indigent, Ryan is helping lead a return trip with three dozen students starting Sunday.

WASHINGTON -- The Children's Defense Fund called on White House and congressional leaders yesterday to put the same effort into rescuing the 12.6 million U.S. children living in poverty that they put into liberating Kuwait."

Veronica Henderson can cause quite a stir when she's teaching children to read. Several times a year, she paints her face and dons a Cat in the Hat costume on visits to homeless shelters and schools. The spectacle prompts the curious children to assemble quickly and pay close attention, Henderson said. Even the older ones want to get in on the gathering. "The costume is the hook," said Henderson, the custodian of records for the Baltimore County public school system. "The Cat in the Hat is a recognizable character for children of all ages."

Derald A. Queen--a cut aboveAs a young boy growing up in the Claremont Homes housing projects, Derald A. Queen vowed that if he ever found success, he would help boys like himself. Judging by the citations on the wall of his Miracles Hair Salon, he's kept his word."Your dedication and enthusiasm was apparent," wrote the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, thanking him for showing young cancer patients -- who have lost their hair -- techniques for using makeup and wigs to make them look and feel better.

A Methodist bishop and a Baptist preacher led a line of about 200 who marched from a church in Towson to the Baltimore County Council meeting Monday. They walked past a van that had been a woman's home for two weeks and a tent that still is a man's only shelter as they made their way to the Old Courthouse. The eighth annual Rally for the Homeless began with a light supper and a few speeches at Trinity Episcopal Church on Allegheny Avenue. It continued with the march and pleas urging officials to continue funding programs that assist those without housing.

Sharon A. Gilwee, a Baltimore County school administrator, was helping the homeless by selling raffle tickets and buying $100 worth for herself and her husband, Robert.Yesterday, the couple won the grand prize and found themselves owners of a new $200,000 house in Odenton -- which they really didn't need, and had never seen. They didn't even attend the drawing."There is not much I can tell you," Mr. Gilwee, a tax accountant, said later. "I'm just shocked. If I had any idea [what to do], I wouldn't mind sharing it with you. I just have no idea at all. I don't know how to react."

STAMFORD, Conn. -- A national toy-store chain has pulled Disney's "Steve the Tramp" doll from its shelves after a dozen homeless people and their advocates picketed outside a mall here last week.The group gathered at the Stamford Town Center to protest the sale of the toy because they said that it degraded the homeless."Steve the Tramp" is a "Dick Tracy action figure" whose package describes him as an "ignorant bum . . . dirty and scarred from a life on the streets. You'll smell him before you see him."

Not everything in childhood is bowls of mush and little old ladies whispering "Hush," and Maurice Sendak understood that. Our children understand that, too. Instinctively. That's what makes his books, like "Where the Wild Things Are" and "In the Night Kitchen" such a delicious experience for them. They could feel that frisson of fear and adventure without ever leaving the crook of Mommy's arm. This was especially true for our sons, who found kindred spirts in the unruly little boys of Sendak's stories.

No vacation from the needs of homeless childrenThe office phone rings. It's Linda Greenberg. Again.You sigh, less than thrilled at the prospect of writing precisely the same story you've written several times a year for the last several years.But it's an undeniable fact: Greenberg, an activist for the homeless, may be as annoyingly persistent as a summer mosquito, but she does good things. (Wonderful things. Unselfish things. The sort of things we all should be doing, the conscience suggests.

Eric wants trucks and Heather wants dolls, but their mother can't afford to buy many presents this year.Those lines summing up the Christmas lists of two Carroll children were submitted by their mother to the Neighbors in Need program, run by Human Services Programs Inc. The 4-year-old program is supported by area charities, churches, businesses and individuals playing Santa for 670 county families who asked for help this year.More donations are needed, especially of basic needs such as new underwear and bedding, and presents suitable for teens.