Waiting on the world to change

I am always cold.

And I am annoying about it. I complain to my poor co-workers as I come into work with a large coffee, bundled up in sweaters, fuzzy jackets, ear muffs, gloves and scarves.

When I walked out of the North Columbia Community Action Council (NCCAC) last week after an interview, it was with a guilty conscience. I’d gone in to write an article about the homeless population in Grant County and was dumbstruck while looking at the statistics I was given.

Last year, NCCAC employees found 300 homeless individuals in Grant County. There were people living outside in the cold, taking shelter in barns and in Dumpsters.

Here I was, complaining about the cold because I had to walk from my car to the office. There are people around me never able to escape the cold.

People are considered homeless if they live in a facility with no running water, electricity or windows, according to the Washington State Coalition for the Homeless. This means the homeless lucky enough to afford a shelter are still not safe from the cold.

In 2009, there were 22,827 homeless individuals in Washington state. There were 274 homeless people in Grant County and 84 in Adams County, according to the Washington State Coalition for the Homeless.

The most startling fact to me, was the amount of homeless children.

During the 2007-2008 school year, 18,670 kindergarten through 12th grade Washington state public school children were on the streets, according to the Washington State Coalition for the Homeless.

Whenever I thought about homeless individuals, I pictured the ones you see standing on the street corner with a sign. The signs are on cardboard, written in marker and usually read something like this: “Will work for food. Hungry, homeless and cold.”

Growing up I’d been warned by various adults and peers hearing from parents, that these individuals should be avoided. People branded sign holders as scam artists, lazy people standing there to take your money instead of finding work.

I remember when I was in sixth grade, my friend decided she wanted to help a sign holder, despite the warnings. She ran over and handed her $10 allowance to a man sitting on the street corner of a mall with a sign saying he needed money to help his children.

She told me she saw the man get into a nice car parked at the back of the parking lot and drive away, after throwing his sign haphazardly into the back a few hours later. She said she wasn’t sorry she’d fallen for the scheme because it felt good to help at the time.

I always think of her situation when I see sign holders now.

The other rumor I heard growing up was the sign holders would write about needing money for food or to help their families, but they would use the money given to them for booze or drugs.

A few months ago I saw a younger guy standing on a corner by a freeway with a sign that read: “Need money. To be honest I will use it for beer. Thanks.”

I saw five cars in a row give him money before entering the freeway. That was the most help I’d ever seen a sign holder receive.

I wondered, did he get more help because people appreciated the blunt honesty?

In the city, there are seemingly hundreds of homeless standing around. They wait by freeways, fast food restaurants and on street corners downtown.

They are sometimes talking to themselves, crying out or stopping you to ask for money. It isn’t like that here in Grant County.

I have only seen maybe a handful of people holding signs here. I was baffled to learn the homeless hide in Grant County and seem to suffer in silence.

It’s easy to hear these statistics and get passionate about wanting to help. It’s quite another issue to actually do something.

One of my favorite songs is called “Waiting on the World to Change,” by John Mayer. Mayer sings about how most people know the problems occurring around them, but feel they are too inadequate to do anything about it.

Mayer sings: “Me and all my friends, we’re all misunderstood. They say we stand for nothing and there’s no way we ever could. Now we see everything that’s going wrong with the world and those who lead it, we just feel like we don’t have the means to rise above and beat it. So we keep waiting, waiting on the world to change.”

I realized last week it is better to do one small thing to help than nothing at all. I am as powerless as I enable myself to be.

I’m not sure where to begin, but I am looking. And I am no longer complaining.

Sarah Kehoe is the Columbia Basin Herald health and education reporter. Her desire to help reminds us of the phrase, “no snowflake ever claimed responsibility for the avalanche.” Let’s hope she causes an avalanche of help for people less fortunate.