OPIS Foundation

• 17% of the US population lives below the poverty line as established by the US Government.  That is over 52 million Americans.  Many believe that the figure is actually much higher.
• The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty estimates some 3 million men, women and children will be homeless for at least some part of 2009.
• 1 in 50 children go homeless in the United States every year.  The average age of homeless children in the United States is 7 years old. 
• 1 in 8 Americans went hungry in 2008.  How many will go hungry this year?
• 1 in 4 homeless American is a Veteran.  For a number of reasons, Veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars are becoming homeless at a faster rate than any other Veterans group in the past.
• Cures for these problems are difficult, but are critical for the health of our nation.  We at The Opis Foundation ask you to join us in the effort to relieve the suffering of millions of Americans.

 "Give, and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." St. Luke 6:38   

A man's security is not in his savings, but in his giving. The Lord loves a cheerful giver.

I'm sure that my friends are tired of me climbing on my social justice soapbox, so I thought this might be another way to get things off my chest and perhaps even get something done. I cannot simply go about my comfortable life ignoring the fact that there are so many people out there that do not have the opportunities and lifestyle that I (we) do. I will not accept the view nor should you that this is just the way life is and that nothing can change it.

I've just been thinking about the way in which disaster and tragedy draw communities together, it seems that more people start talking and sharing and connecting with each other. And while I think that a community coming together is definitely a good thing, it is sad to think that it takes something as drastic as a nine eleven incident, a hurricane, or a flood to make us as individuals and as a community evaluate what is truly important.

The other thing that has blown me away in the wake of disasters like the recent fires in California, Oklahoma and Texas or the floods in the mid-west, is the generosity and the amount of giving in time, money and resources that takes place after such a disaster.  Despite there being a global economic crisis people have donated huge amounts of money.  Millions of dollars have been raised so far and fundraising is continuing. This extraordinary outpouring of generosity demonstrates the power of communities as they work together. Again it is sad that it takes something so dramatic to engage the community. Imagine the way local and global issues could be addressed if we could harness that kind of community engagement.

Every year, more than 3 million people go homeless in the United States, including 1.3  million children. They've got no safe place to sleep, no place to keep what few possessions they have safe, and no sense of security. Even the simplest of their needs are not being met, such as; a bath every day, three nutritious meals a day, clean clothing, much less life's day to day simple pleasures like watching television, or  having toys. To keep a family together requires more than love. It requires our help. (" Read the rest of the story")

The man, wearing a shirt and a tie, turned up just as the pantry operated by a local food bank was closing for the night. He knew it was after-hours. That's why he was there. He kept his gaze downward as he told the woman from the food bank that he had lost his job, had a wife and kids and was too embarrassed and ashamed to stand in line to receive a bag of groceries that hopefully would feed his family for a week.

The story above are just one of the many situation that happen across the United States everyday.  Because they live in the wealthiest and most bountiful nation in the world, it is no surprise that many Americans think of hunger and poverty occurring only in develping countries.  While most Americans may have encountered someone suffering from hunger and poverty in the United States, few of us have actually had to face it.  The face of hunger and poverty in the United States is quite different from the images we often see in developing nations.  Rather than outright starvation or outright homelessness although that is a problem here, (Read the story above), the face of hunger is a child who is malnourished because her parents do not earn enough to buy healthy food and sometimes has to skip meals.  The face of a poor person in the United States is a single parent who works full time, but still can't afford to pay for food, rent, child care, medical expenses, and cover the cost of transportation to and from work.  Nearly 36 million Americans, a third of them children, face the uncertainty of when their next meal will be. 

Read The Complete Story

For as long as the United States has sent its young men - and later its young women - off to war, it has watched as a segment of them come home and lose the battle with their own memories, their own scars, and wind up without homes.

The Civil War produced thousands of wandering veterans. Frequently addicted to morphine, they were known as "tramps," searching for jobs and, in many cases, literally still tending their wounds.

More than a decade after the end of World War I, the "Bonus Army" descended on Washington - demanding immediate payment on benefits that had been promised to them, but payable years later - and were routed by the U.S. military.

And, most publicly and perhaps most painfully, there was Vietnam: Tens of thousands of war-weary veterans, infamously rejected or forgotten by many of their own fellow citizens.  However, for many of these veterans, the life stresses which resulted in their homelessness took a decade or more to surface.

The concern among many veterans organizations is that the number of servicemen and women returning from Afghanistan and Iraq and becoming homeless in a very short time is growing faster and at a much higher rate than has been seen in previous wars.  Providers are worried that with reduced budgets at social service agencies and sluggish charitable giving due to the economic downturn, many of these returning heroes will not receive the help that they need.  (Read the Complete Story)