Homeless

This school year, schools identified around 420,000 fewer homeless students than last year. That would normally be a hopeful sign, but not during the pandemic. Advocates say there aren't fewer students experiencing homelessness. It's just that schools can't find them.

Last year, I had the amazing opportunity to work with Samaritan Well, a homeless shelter in Macomb, to help organize their first annual Sleep Out for the Homeless fundraiser. The premise of a sleep out is to spend a night away from home - ideally outside - to raise awareness and funds for those in our communities who have no home to return to.

Homeless families in Macomb will have a place to turn to without the worry of having to split up. Genesis Garden just completed renovations on the house at 307 East Carroll Street and plans to welcome the first families by the end of January. 

At the beginning of this semester, the Western Illinois University Marketing Club was contacted by Samaritan Well, the homeless shelter in Macomb, and they asked if we would be interested in helping them put together a fundraiser to raise money and, more importantly, awareness for their organization. I gladly agreed and took up leadership in the project. We decided to make the event a sleep-out, as there is a national sleep-out movement to raise awareness for homelessness during the month of November. The concept of a sleep-out is to spend a night away from home – ideally, sleeping outdoors – to raise awareness for the struggles of those who do not have a home to go to.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates there were roughly 40,000 homeless veterans across the country in 2016. A new tri states organization believes the construction of tiny homes could help reduce that number.

A quieter, harder-to-detect problem than its urban counterpart, rural homelessness nonetheless leaves its mark on people and communities.

Macomb's annual Heritage Days festival is right around the corner and will offer an opportunity to help those in need. The John Bliven Memorial Walk/Run is in its 15th year and is hosted by Samaritan Well, a local non-profit organization that provides shelter for men, women, and children in need.

The homeless shelter known as PADS has been operating out of Bushnell’s Christian Community Center on Friday nights for a little more than a month. The shelter is already looking for additional host sites.