Helping Homeless Children For Christmas

There was a time the face of the homeless was a time beaten old man, addicted to a variety of drugs or facing a wrath of psychological problems. The harmless man begged for handouts at street corners. Today the face of the homeless has become a single mom and her two children sleeping inside their car in a nearby park, fleeing the beating that awaits them at home.

The United States in unique among industrialized nations in that women and children comprise such a large percentage of our country's homeless.Experts admint that although counting the exact number of homeless children is difficult, the consensus is.

According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, 1.over 2 million children will be homeless this winter. Supporting this figure are estimates from the U.S. Department of Education that report almost 400,000 homeless children were served by the nation's public schools last year. Since more than half of all homeless children are under the age of 6 and not yet in school, a minimum of 800,000 children can be presumed to be homeless. Best estimates are at this very moment we have over one million children living on the streets - in America not Africa. In the USA: over one million homeless children.

With the current housing issues the homelessness problem will only get worse this winter. Homelessness is a state wide problem with every state having a growing segment of homeless. These factors were identified from epidemiological research conducted over the past ten years. Every state has a huge number of homeless.

Unfortunately the homeless children are far sicker then the average child with so many factors causing these illness. Homeless children: - Single mom families on average make less than $35,000 annually which does not leave them far from the poverty level or from the streets. - Have higher rates of low birth weight and need special care right after birth four times as often as other children. - Most unfortuntely experience sickness every week and habitually miss school. - Have twice as many ear infections, five times more diarrhea and stomach problems, and six times as many speech and stammering problems. - Are five times as likely to suffer from allergies and air breathing issues. - Go hungry at more than twice the rate of other children

Homelessness Devastates Families Families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population, now accounting for almost 40% of the nation's homeless. More than 85% of homeless families are headed by single mothers, with the average homeless family comprised of a young mother and her two young children, most of whom are below the age of 6 years.

Homeless mothers have an average annual income of under $8000, living at 63% of the federal poverty level for a family of three. - Sadly less than 25 % receive any kind of help from family or friends. - 39% have been hospitalized for medical treatment. - one fourth of the women have asthma compared to 4% percent for moms with homes. - 20% have anemia, compared to 2% of other women under 45 years. - 40 percent report addiction issues. One big issue is that seventy percent of the homeless families do not have a father at home to support them in so many different ways.

These children have no hope or future if they are on the street for over a year. - 50% of fathers are unemployed. - almost half have drug issues. - 31% have physical or mental health problems. - 32% are in jail or on probation. Homeless children are at particularly high risk for being placed in foster care; 12% of homeless children are placed in foster care compared to just over 1% of other children.

The National Center on Family Homelessness has identified placement in foster care as one of only two childhood risk factors that predicts family homelessness during adulthood. - 44% of homeless mothers lived outside of their homes at some point during their childhood; Almost one fourth of them were placed in foster care. - 70% of homeless mothers placed in foster care as children have had at least one of their own children in foster care.

The frequency of violence in the lives of homeless mothers is staggering. - 63% have been violently abused by an intimate male partner. - 27 percent have expereince severe domestic violence resulting in injuries requiring medical attention. - One fourth have been sexually assaulted while on the street and almost 40% were assaulted before being on the street. - 66% were violently abused by a childhood caretaker or other adult in the household before reaching 18. - 43% were sexually molested as children. When the violence from their childhood is combined with their experiences as adults, 92% of homeless mothers have been severely physically or sexually assaulted; Almost 90 percent have been sexually abused in their lifetime.

These repeated acts of brutality result in unusually high rates of serious emotional problems among homeless mothers. - 40 percent face severe stress every day; three times the rate of other women. - almost half have chroni deprression issues. - Almost one third of the single moms on the streets have attempted suicide. - 12% have been hospitalized for treatment of mental illness. Among homeless children: - almost ten percent have been physically abused - three times the national rate. - 8% have been sexually abused; triple the average rate. - 35% have been the subject of a child protection investigation. - One fourth of the children witnes violence acts their first month on the streets. - 30 percent of homeless children have seen their dad hit their mom. - 15% have wateched their moms have sex.

Each November, Mission Grounds Gourmet Coffee collects nearly 1000 gently used winter coats and distributes them to hundreds of men, women, and children who would otherwise go without. This year we ar setting up a second delivery for Thanksgiving and a third delivery on December 15th. We are planning two more drives this month.

How you can help:

Buy a homeless child a new coat or pair of shoes at www.missiongrounds.com. For ten dollars you can buy a pair of shoes or a coat for a homeless child and we will deliver it directly for you.

Host a Coat Collection - Organize your own coat drive and inspire your coworkers, neighbors, or civic group members to give the gift of warmth this winter.

Donate a coat - Please check to see where you can drop off coats.

Make a financial donation - Providing nearly 10,000 coats each winter, as well as our year-round projects, requires an enormous amount of resources. Your donation will help us give out thousands of coats this winter.

Buy Some Coffee: buy someone a nice Holiday gift of coffee: Mission Grounds offers nice gift baskets, monthly coffee delivery, a nice assortment of coffee and a coffee club. Buy someone a nice gift and all the proceeds go to homeless children