I had the opportunity to engage and assist families at Good Shepherd on April 2nd, and April 9th, from 4:30pm to 7:30pm. When arriving to Good Shepherd a young woman approached Erin and I and asked if we worked there. She explained to us that her son’s game/fundraiser got rained out and they had a whole bunch of hotdogs left over and wanted to provide it to the shelter because if not then the food would go to waste. We explained to her that we would have to speak with the supervisor, but that we would be right back. When entering Good Shepherd the staff was very nice and got us signed in pretty quickly. We explained the situation about the hotdogs and the lady who wanted to give it to the shelter as we all proceeded outside. The supervisor …show more content…
There are many factors that compromise the ability of homeless children to succeed in school. Some of these barriers may include health problems, hunger, transportation obstacles, and difficulty obtaining school supplies. I know in my situation my family and I bounced from hotel to hotel but luckily I remained in the same school. Many families are not that fortunate. For instance, the family of twins in the first grade have already been in three different schools. Not only do these children lose their friends, but they have to get use to a new school, new teachers, and new school work that is often discontinuous with what they were doing previously. Through my own experiences and knowing the statistical information about the effects of homeless of course this will have a major impact on the teacher I will …show more content…
Not only do they assist homeless people and families, but they provide a warm meal to whoever is hungry. You can sense that this is a good place not only by the number of volunteers and the welcoming faces, but also by the attitudes of the people who are obtaining the assistance. If this location was closer to my home, I would most definitely continue volunteering. I think this is a good experience to continue with future students. I feel it provides you with an outlook to the obstacles of ones future students that might be encountering homeless. If you never experiences something or knows very little of a situation then how would someone be able to best handle the situation at hand. I think being involved in the community one way or another helps teacher understand their student environment and what obstacles they might encounter in their everyday
The lunch bell rung at full volume as the main doors flung open. I predicted that a herd of people will rush in like the water from a spill gate. But instead every person was a line; in fact it was a neat single filed line. Another thing I was astonished to see was to the fact that every single person I served to was superbly well mannered. It was the magical word of thank-you which left great remarks in my life and made my volunteering experience an enjoyable one. After the shift, I have come to realize that everything my family and friends have said about impoverished people was nothing but just a stereotype. In addition, I have self-discovered that volunteering is what I want to do on my spare time. The joy from making new friends, appreciated and making a difference in society was too meaningful to put in words. From then on, volunteering had become one of my most highly valued priorities. Whenever I have time to spare, I will go
Homelessness can result from children running away, being abandoned by parents, extreme poverty within the family and/or unsafe/unstable living conditions. Being in situations where a child has worry about where they are going to sleep or where there next meal may come from gives them little time, if any, to focus or even think about attending school. In addition, attending school means a need for the upkeep of personal hygiene, having clean clothes and most importantly transportation to and from school, which can add more stress to a child outside of the fact they are homeless. Not having these things causes high levels of depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. Th...
I would also speak to the social workers, coordinators, and/or liaisons within the school districts where Jori, his brother, and Pam’s children have attended. Congress established the McKinney Act’s Education of Homeless Children and Youth, which ensures that homeless children have the same opportunities as other children. Specifically, this gives children the right to remain in the same school district, get immediate enrollment in school, get transportation, and receive all of the school services that he or she would receive. It would be important to see how they implement this law into their
Youth become homeless for a number of reasons including: family violence and neglect, rejection due to sexual orientation or gender identity, the overwhelmed child welfare system and extreme poverty. These youth almost always have experienced unimaginable abuse and trauma, in their homes, their communities, and on the street. It is the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA)-funded services and programs that help to rectify the deep injustices that homeless youth experience on a daily basis.
That can make you change the way you look at people because anyone can be homeless and you will not know it. My perspective personally changed because I thought that everyone in my class was just a normal student as me but my eyes opened when I found out that some people could be or have been homeless. According to the article “Las Vegas Hard Numbers: 7000 Homeless Kids” it states that “At whitney elementary School in Las Vegas—where an estimated 85 percent of the students are either homeless or on the brink.” This statistic shows how ridiculous homelessness in kids is, these are children that are in elementary school. These are 5-11 year old kids, when I was 5-11 my biggest complication was what toy I wanted to play with next. Homelessness needs more attention and cannot be ignored because these kids are the next generation and no kid should ever have to go through the complications of being
traumatic events. They worry they will have no place to live, have no place to sleep or
The imagination of an adolescent being in the womb, not knowing what life will be prepared like for him/her, is a dark feeling. Either life will be well put together or he/she will have to struggle. No one knows what the future will uphold until it arrives, and they are now battling a planet we call Earth. Life has many consequences for us to face, things may get hard, but one has to overcome what was prepared for them. It is crazy that an adolescent, sometimes feel like they are the cause of the problems his/her parents are going through. In this sociology class, the video Hard times Generate Homeless Kids had the greatest impact on me.
With the number of homeless students on the rise, schools encounter new educational challenges that include: establishing and maintaining enrollment procedures that would not discourage school attendance; lack of teacher-training/awareness in the special needs of homeless children; the non-existence of a school transfer system for homeless children that would be least destructive to a child's education, while all the time not overlooking the basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, security and medical care that homeless families with children require immediately.
There are over 3.5 million homeless people in the United States alone (National Student Campaign against Hunger and Homelessness). Within this amount of people there are challenges beyond not having a home that the majority of citizens with a home do not face. These include: thinking about appearance, quality and source of food, living space, and source of money. Those mentioned are just a few things that non-homeless people may overlook when thinking about the challenges of homelessness. As a nation the way we perceive others around us comes into play here. Intentionally or not, homeless people are often judged based on their situation, rather than who they are. This may exist due to the communication barrier between the homeless and non-homeless. In order to move away from judgment and stereotypes, education on the subject of homelessness is vital.
In the United States nationwide public schools are faced with dilemmas. The choices schools make has to be effective, serve the students, and have the best outcome. Well known problems such as bullying, special educational needs, budget cuts, new standards, and job cuts. Some of the problems are well known to the public while other problems are left in the background. According to the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY) reported that the U.S. Department of Education collected data stating “during the 2008-2009 school year that 954,914 homeless children and youth were enrolled in public schools.” This problem affects the child socially, mentally, and most importantly academically.
Homelessness is all around the world, and many people have either dealt with the issue or had first-hand experience with it. Thus causes everyone to think about the possible solutions to such an important social and economic problem. Whether or not anyone wants to support or ignore the issue, it will always be there. However, the youth population is on the rise among the homeless. While the exact number of youth among the homeless is hard to determine, given various information about homelessness available and the age range that is considered youth, a 2012 survey from the Department of Education shows that 52,950 unaccompanied homeless youth were reported through school-based programs (Sparks 31). Homelessness among youth can be overcome or at least reduced, by reducing family conflict, severe economic hardship and abuse.
Imagine a young child growing up, learning, and trying to further his or her life to obtain success in the future. For an “everyday” child this can be challenging, however “everyday” obstacles can be overcome. For thousands of children in the United States, this dream is almost impossible to achieve. These children are a part of the homeless population that is spread throughout the United States. Many times these individuals try to hide this major secret from the rest of the world, but homelessness is very prevalent among these youths today. Various problems occur in these peoples’ lives that others could not even begin to understand. Homelessness affects children in every stage of life physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Homelessness is a widespread issue that in recent years has only worsened with the downturn in the economy and a never-ending war. Of this very vulnerable population however there is within an even more vulnerable population, the children affected by homelessness. We as a society need to understand why homelessness in childhood happens, and understand how drastically it effects children’s development overall. We must gain a better understanding of the specific issues arising from homelessness in childhood; Physical; Psychological; and Academic to understand how to minimize and reverse those effects of childhood homelessness.
As I said earlier, one of the problem among homeless population is lack of of access to healthcare. Many homeless people were not even aware of their health problems and some of them did not even care. As a public health nurse, being aware of your surrounding and understanding the need of the people is helpful in order to provide better care. Homeless population are very vulnerable and they need a lot support from the people. I had fun doing this volunteer and it made me happy hearing homeless people say thank you for our effort in feeding
I think this entire experience has been amazing and everyone should volunteer at least once in their life. It might even change their major! I had already planned on working with my community, specifically in the behavioral/mental health area, so this experience just opened my eyes to how much of a difference I can make by such simple gestures. This class was a way for me to get out of my comfort zone and now I will continue to volunteering even after this class ends. I will be moving to Lexington soon and will find even more volunteer opportunities there! I realize that each community has needs as should everyone else, volunteering can really open your eyes to