Volunteering has for a long time been considered as an honorable way for a citizen to participate in civic engagement programs and there is a wide range of volunteering programs that one can get into covering a wide range of issues. It is with this background that I was able to volunteer at the Hearthside Senior Living facility in Collierville, Tennessee. The facility is licensed as an Assisted Living community and has a number of facilities spread across the country. The organization prides itself in being able to offer senior living to the senior citizens in the areas where it has a presence.
Volunteering at Hearthside Senior Living was quite an experience for me as it was quite fulfilling to serve the old people in the Collierville community where I had spent a considerable part of my childhood. The population at the facility was composed of a nearly even mix of men and women with nearly all of them past the age of 60 years with majority falling between 70 and 80 years of age. The volunteering involved helping organize events for the facility considering they had a very active event calendar with activities every day for the whole month I was there. I was engaged in organizing day and evening games for the seniors, coordinating visits from other corporations that wanted their employees to spend time with the seniors and organizing a Christmas concert which was the highlight of their holiday season at the home. I also took part in regular day-to-day activities involving the seniors such as reading poetry to them in the evenings.
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The experience was really humbling as I got to interact with senior citizens many of whom are relatives to people I know and it was interesting to hear their life stories and also get advice on how they tackled life issues when they were younger. Most of this advice was very applicable even in today’s society and I would readily recommend the experience to anyone.
Homelessness is an issue that we should not be seeing occurring in the United States in 2018 but unfortunately, it is happening and the rate of homelessness is rising. In 2017, the rate of homelessness in the U.S recorded an increase for the first time in decades with federal agencies attributing the rise to the housing crisis being experienced in the West Coast. It is important for the country to keep the homelessness statistics on the low due to the effect that it has on the economy. Huge numbers of homeless people affect the resources that the federal and state government has to allocate which may result in reallocation of resources from other crucial sectors to cater for the homeless population.
A survey by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2015 showed that there were nearly 564,708 homeless people in the US. The statistics showed that homeless people were divided into two main locations and also spread between families and individuals:
% of homeless population in shelters – 69% (n= 564,708)
% of homeless people in unsheltered locations – 31% (n= 564,708)
The distribution was also spread between individuals and families:
Individuals – 64%
Families with children – 36% (USCB, 2017).
Among the homeless population:
23% were below the age of 18
9% were veterans; of these 90% were male and 10% female (USICH, 2018).
Although different political parties have talked about reducing the numbers of homeless people, successive administrations from both sides of the political divide have come up with policies that have ensured people have remained stuck on government assistance and an unending cycle of poverty. It therefore remains to be seen what the current government will do in order to stem the rising numbers of homeless people in the country.
References
United States Census Bureau, USCB (2017). National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/2017/december/homeless-persons.html
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH). (2018). Homelessness in America: Focus on Veterans. Retrieved from https://www.usich.gov/resources/uploads/asset_library/Homelessness_in_America._Focus_on_Veterans.pdf
