I hope you’re having a beautiful day. ♡
Here’s another light-filled ¤ Gem ¤

One of our most generous contributing artists, John Olander — aka Johnny O. —  created this beautiful poem to read during Homeless Memorial Day service last year in Denver.  John has had to say goodbye to many friends every year due to the hardships of life on the street.

Compared to the general population, people who experience homelessness are at greater risk of infectious and chronic illness, poor mental health, and substance abuse. They are also more often victims of violence, prior to and once homelessness. Homeless persons also have a mortality rate four to nine times higher than those who are not homeless. With an estimated 40 million Americans living in poverty, 19 million experiencing housing insecurity, and 28 million without health insurance, the risk of homelessness and poor health is a concern for 1 out of 8 Americans.

In January 2017, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), coordinated by the local HUD-funded continuum of care (CoC) programs, conducted the Point-in-Time (PIT) survey to identify and estimate the United States’ sheltered and unsheltered homeless. According to the report…553,742 people in the United States experienced homelessness on a single night in 2017. This number translated to a U.S. homeless rate of 17/10,000, where 33 percent of those homeless were families with children, and within those families, 59% were children under 18 years of age.

https://www.cdc.gov/features/homelessness/index.html

(Emphasis added.)

Thanks for reading.

♥. Niki Flow