Agencies helping homeless people Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Agencies helping homeless people - Essay Example Homeless people can be encountered in any country of the world. The United States of America is not exclusion as well. However, unlike many other nations, Americans strive to support people living on the streets, those who are not able to satisfy their basic needs without outside help. Homeless people are individuals who have no place to live, have very low income, and cannot afford buying food and cloth. Most of the homeless people start living on the streets because they have failed to deal with the life problems. Very few homeless individuals enjoy the life they have, however, they do not see the opportunity to improve the position.According to the statistics, there is almost one million American people living on the streets or staying in the shelters. These include men, women, and children. The government unable to satisfy the needs of all of these people and, for this reason, the non-profit organizations aimed at supporting homeless individuals are the only hope for numerous peo ple without home. Every person has a different reaction when he sees the person with the sign "work for food". Many of citizens do not even know what it is like not to be able to buy even the simple bread. These individuals with the sign experience this feeling everyday. Some of Americans give money to homeless, while most just do not pay attention to them or get angry because of their presence.Most of the organizations offering temporary assistance to homeless people cannot cover all of the expenses associated with accommodation of homeless. For this reason, agencies have developed the official websites describing their activities, informing people about homeless and their problems, and offering the opportunity to donate any amount of money. The Institute for Human Service (IHS) is one of the agencies helping homeless people to cope with the life problems, offering temporary accommodation, and a wide range of different services. The Institute for Human Service is located in Hawaii and provides sleeping places to more than 250 individuals in one location and for 150 women (with approximately 60 children) in the second location; it serves up to 7,000 meals per week, and cooperates with many business units and non-profit institutions (http://www.ihshawaii.org). U.S. Vets Inc is another non-profit American agency offering help to the homeless veterans. Unlike Institute for Human Service, which is located only in Hawaii, Vets Inc has offices is California, Texas, Nevada, Hawaii, Arizona, and Washington D.C. According to the news posted on the official website (http://www.usvetsinc.org), U.S. Vets is the largest national organization dedicated to helping homeless veterans. If the Institute for Human Service provides accommodation services and helps homeless to meet the basic needs, U.S. Vets is focused on "successful reintegration of homeless veterans" rather than merely providing them with food, clothing, and shelter for one night. The agency cooperates with public and private sectors in providing the safe, sober, and clinically supported housing as well as employment assistance. The official websites of U.S. Vets Inc and the Institute for Human Service do not provide information about the intake procedures a participant of the programs has to go through. In addition, the sites do not contain any information about the composition of the staff or any guidance on what one must do to become a participant at the agencies. The lack of this information can be understood: the sites follow informative mission, the aim is to attract public attention to the problem, and generate funds through donations. The intake procedur