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Cold and homeless
As I walked down Pennton Avenue in Lenoir near the News-Topic office last week on a brisk and chilly day in early January, I harkened back to my days as a college student at Appalachian State University. I thought about those mornings with sub-zero wind chill factors and high temperatures that may have reached 20, if we were lucky, that we faced as we trudged from dorms rooms and apartments to our classes. With a stiff wind biting at my bare face, I was reminded of those bone-chilling winds that whipped across campus, kicking up ice particles from the crusty snow that felt like tiny needles digging in your skin. As I continued walking along Pennton Avenue, I passed a wooded area, grown up some near the street, but with a discernable path leading from the curb into a small stand of trees. And then my mind's thoughts went back to a day, much like that one, about a year ago when I ventured into that wooded area and met a pair of homeless men. Then I started thinking about them and others like them who have no place to go on a cold day and night like the ones we had last week and will have more of as the winter wears on. I recall stopping by Wal-Mart a year or so ago on a Friday evening with temperatures plummeting into the teens to get gloves, scarves and toboggans for those men as well as some non-perishable food items and drinks. I remember thinking that I had a warm home to go to that night. All they had was a tattered and torn tent, a few blankets and sleeping bags, all worn and ripped. Some people say homeless people bring their situation on themselves. For some that may be true. For others, however, they simply were dealt a bad hand in the game of life and struggle to survive by their meager means. And life on the streets has to be survival more than anything else. As I walked farther along Pennton Avenue, I thought more and more about the need to offer some sort of shelter for the homeless here in Caldwell County. Granted, we don't have thousands of homeless people on our streets like you'd find in larger cities such as Charlotte, Atlanta and New York, but there still are some people out there, fighting the elements every day and night. To me, the simple solution is providing that kind of shelter for these people to come in off the streets. We have wonderful nonprofit agencies in this county that reach out to all in need, providing what assistance they can. But their aid doesn't last long for people on the streets. First United Methodist Church offers a program for the homeless called Room at the Inn. Church members volunteer to cook meals and spend a couple of nights at the church on weekends, giving the homeless a warm meal and warm place to stay for at least a night or two. They even offer showers, shaves, haircuts and a clean change of clothes. I was part of that one night last winter, and even though the turnout was not great in terms of people coming in off the streets, the concept and implementation was impressive, and something very much-needed. I don't have the answers for getting people in out of the cold and off the streets. Some choose that way of life; others simply can't catch a break to avoid it. Whatever the reason, there has got to be a way to help. As Christians, that is what we are called to do, to lend a helping hand to a fellow man in need. There definitely are folks out there in need. We need to help if we can, even if it's simply providing some of our hand-me-down clothess and a few cans of Vienna Sausages to give to those in need of them more than ourselves. Seeing people out in the cold leaves an empty feeling with many people, myself included. What can we do to help? Is it possible to offer a homeless shelter in Caldwell County? Is there really the need there appears to be for such a shelter? Please let me know. If there's something we can do to help, then let's do it. These are our fellow human beings, after all. Nathan Key Managing Editor nathankey@newstopic.net
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