Can you help a homeless child?

[sergio]

Mini, Could you send me a PM with an email address?

 

[sergio]

Lee, I understand your point but here is a homeless family that can be helped. There is someone trying to coordinate efforts. It doesn't require much effort on the part of expats. Taking care of a homeless kid for a night is a major undertaking that not many will do, so those who want to do it -- great. Meanwhile, anyone willing to help out in a small way with food, some money etc, please send me a PM. If you want, I can arrange for you to meet the family so that you can see that this is for real.

 

[Celia]

Does anyone know what the procedure here is for homeless people? Does the government attempt to provide housing for them? In the UK, they would be allocated a room in a bed and breakfast until council housing became available....what happens here???

 

[sergio]

Git your PM, Mini! Thanks! We think that aside from some clothes for the boy, food is best for the family. They can't carry a lot of things around so one or two toys for the boy is enough. They're homeless so they can't carry a lot.

 

[HowardinBA]

Since they are homeless and going to get all this STUFF after your telethon, I think the perfect gift is luggage!

Lee,chill out,you are a great guy,re all your posts I have read in the past,but I detect a lot of sarcasm in your reply,and it,s not necessary.This is a time of year to come together,as one,and show our children that we care and ,maybe,just maybe,there is a Santa out there.who can bring some light into this child,s life....and I know where you are coming from re baggage etc...we have to try-that,s all

 

[Roxana]

Celia, when you see a homeless person, calling the municipalidad at 147, they get at the address given with a car, take the homeless person/family to a shelter. The municipalidad provides, also, food, workshops to get a job and identification documents for free. I have to tell you, to tell the truth, that there is a myth about this kind of support. The people who were members of a popular kitchen or lived on the streets and went with the municipalidad, never ever were saw again. Who knows why? This is a delicate situation.

 

[Celia]

Why wouldn't they be seen again, you mean they disappeared??!

 

[Roxana]

There is a myth about it. And I believe it is a very very delicate subject. Perhaps those who receive help move to other provincia, or something like that. But I have to tell you that many people in the street say they dissapear. I am very carefull to explain that somepeople say that, and it is not my idea.

 

[sergio]

Thanks for your comments, Howard. Lee: The response so far has not been overwhelming. Three people have expressed interest in helping and I very much appreciate that but it isn't as though the family are going to be showered with gifts. I know this is not a huge effort but it is something and will cheer up a kid who has so little as well as his parents. About shelters, I spoke to a homeless person a few months ago. He astonished me at how articulate he was. He told me that the shelters are so unpleasant that he preferred to live on the streets. How did he get to such a desperate situation? Bad luck and a series of economic mishaps. He lost his job and couldn't get another one. He's aging. People fall through the cracks, even educated people.