Homeless

This is the time of year when people who run shelters for the homeless start getting nervous, start thinking about money, and beds, and the faces showing up at their doors. It's part of the cycle of city life: Homeless men, women and children fill the shelters during the winter, then some of the shelters close in the spring. Summer passes. Comes the fall, come the homeless. Again and again and again.The most recent estimates put the number of Baltimore's homeless at 2,400 nightly. Some years, the number has dropped to about 2,100.

Former county executive M. Elizabeth Bobo was given the "6th Congressional District County Official of the Year" award last week by the governor's advisory board on homelessness.Bobo was recognized for having "addressed homelessness in two significant ways: establishing one-stop shopping for homeless services and more than doubling the number of available shelter beds."Judges were told that as a result of Bobo's initiatives, the county can provide "emergency housing or assistance" to every resident who needs it.Bobo, who was defeated in her bid for a second term in the November general election, was nominated for the award Oct. 8 by Manus J. O'Donnell, the county's citizen services director.

Some are simply down on their luck and others for a myriad of reasons either cannot work or will not work and wind up on the streets.Today, we call them the homeless but not that long ago, before the birth of political correctness, they were simply "bums," "tramps," "hoboes," and "derelicts."In 1923, The Sun sent four reporters, masquerading as "bums," to attend Sunday services at four of the most prosperous churches in Baltimore. Their mission, as explained in an editorial, was to "ascertain how far Christian principles are applied in wealthy congregations when forbidding specimens of humanity come to worship with them."

It was the kind of news that would depress one's spirits at any time, but particularly so during a holiday season associated with family and peace.The Howard County Department of Citizen Services recently reported that 42 percent of the county's homeless are victims of domestic violence; nearly always that means homeless women and small children. Those are but the bald statistics. The misery resulting from these circumstances is incalculable.The report marks the first time that Howard County -- one of the state's and the country's more prosperous places -- has closely analyzed its growing population of homeless.

Triangle Contracting Co. has issued paychecks worth more than $19,000 for 31 homeless men and women who were left unpaid after being recruited to clean up construction debris at the University of Baltimore, the state said yesterday.Richard Avallone, chief of the Prevailing Wage Office in the state's Division of Labor and Industry, which ensures that workers on state construction jobs receive a union-level wage, said he has handed out paychecks to nearly two dozen people."Most of them were very happy.

Carroll County's Human Services Programs Inc. is again struggling to keep one of its homeless shelters operating. Because of a tight budget, HSP may have to operate its only overnight shelter in Westminster on weeknights only.On the nights it is open, the people it shelters will have to leave by 6:30 a.m. On weekends, the facility will be closed altogether.This is intolerable. Homelessness is a seven-day-a-week phenomenon.Women can't check to ensure that it is a weekday when they leave their abusive spouses.

Current volunteers' news and needs:My Sister's Place, 123 W. Mulberry St., wants volunteers who can commit to a half day or a full day each week to assist with hospitality, as receptionists and in the clothing, laundry and shower rooms for homeless women and children. Call Lyn Cameron or Donna Blackwell at 727-3523.Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) is beginning a new volunteer program at its headquarters at 200 W. Baltimore St., in which volunteers will be matched with departments within the MSDE.

Homelessness may not be at the top of most people's lists of pressing problems in Carroll County, but the Human Services Program, which operates the county's homeless shelters, finds itself in a serious bind.Virtually every bed in its three shelters is filled, and the organization's overworked staff is stretched to the limit.With the recession showing no signs of abating and with colder weather approaching, demand for space in the shelters has increased. Carroll is fortunate in that it can offer enough beds for those who need them.

FOR three years I have been a volunteer on Saturday mornings at Booth House, the Salvation Army's shelter for homeless women and children in Baltimore.I usually read stories to the children and bring juice and cookies with my art supplies -- glue, scissors, crayons, etc. -- so that we can make pictures together. A fellow volunteer, Paul, who is wonderful with the children, helps pass out the supplies and encourages everyone, from 4 to 16 years old, with their creations.Some of the children have only been in the shelter for a few days or a few hours, and they are extremely shy or perhaps just frightened in their new surroundings.

NEW YORK -- As the news tickers and video screens flashed up-to-the-minute happenings, tourists in Times Square mulled which 9/11 souvenirs to buy: an NYPD hat, a Ground Zero photo or perhaps a firefighters' calendar of heroes. In their midst, a bedraggled man with either a stinging sense of humor or an over-the-edge desperation wore a cardboard sign around his neck, saying, "Taunt Me $2." Nearby, a can collector guarded his half-full shopping cart as if it were Fort Knox. Behind a sidewalk table, a formerly homeless person implored passers-by to drop some change into a collection bin to help the currently homeless.