Students battle St. Louis' rate of homelessness
Margy Levinson
Issue date: 11/14/05 Section: News
|
The new Homelessness Awareness Week, beginning today and running through Friday, will bring together many campus organizations to increase students' knowledge about the homelessness epidemic in the city they call home.
As the city of St. Louis' Web site notes, "National statistics on homelessness indicate that families comprise the fastest growing group of homeless persons across America today."
Junior Luz Silverio, a member of Helping Hands, an organization that tries to foster relationships between Washington University and the homeless, said that the St. Louis homelessness rate stands at approximately six percent. The rest of the country has a one percent homeless population, said Silverio.
"We aren't too much better or worse than the rest of the country; that doesn't mean the problem isn't bad and it's continually getting worse" said junior Lorin Kline, a member of the Alliance of Students Against Poverty (ASAP), an organization that unites the efforts of groups around campus.
Helping Hands and ASAP are two of many organizations helping out around campus and the surrounding community for Homeless Awareness Week.
Other organizations, including Stone Soup, First Watch and Feed St. Louis, have been involved with the organization and execution of this week.
Homelessness Awareness Week will begin today and Tuesday with Lay Out, where volunteers stationed at two sites on campus will be soliciting donations and handing out information. The week will continue with other events, including as a showing of "The Fisher King," a film about a radio DJ who helps a homeless man he unknowingly victimized.
Be the first to comment on this story