Monthly Archives: November 2015

Two Worlds Collide: Inequality in America

A “Sleep Out” in Washington, D.C.’s Freedom Plaza during Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week in mid-November. Photo Credit: Laura Tarnosky, <a href="http://streetsense.org/article/covenant-house-advocates-freedom-plaza-sleep-out-previews-vigil/#.VlzIkmSrRz9" target="_blank"><span class="s1">Street Sense.</span></a>
A “Sleep Out” in Washington, D.C.’s Freedom Plaza during Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week in mid-November. Photo Credit: Laura Tarnosky, Street Sense.
Seattle University student Lindsey Habenicht recently interned as a reporter with the Street Sense street newspaper in Washington, D.C. Because the internship was unpaid and housing costs were outrageously high (even for a shared bedroom), Lindsey also worked at Nordstrom in an affluent part of Virginia. She found it "eye-opening, jarring, and heart-wrenching" to go back and forth between settings of poverty and abundance, and also to watch her department store co-workers display a lack of empathy for a woman who was experiencing homelessness and spent time in the store. Lindsey reflects on her experience, takes a look at the national War on Poverty, and shares how we can all take action to address an economy that is out of balance.

“They Had No Obligation to Take Me In and Become Parents to Me”

Ben Kastenbaum told Catherine Hinrichsen about his experience with homelessness as a child, and his love for adoptive parents who gave him a safe home. Photo credit: StoryCorps.
Ben Kastenbaum told Catherine Hinrichsen about his experience with homelessness as a child, and his love for adoptive parents who gave him a safe home. Photo credit: StoryCorps.
It's that time of year when many of us pause to reflect on all that we have to be thankful for. In a moving StoryCorps "Finding Our Way" interview, Ben Kastenbaum talks about his gratitude for the people who gave him his first real home.

What Will You Do to Help End Homelessness?

Joshua Holland pledges to use his talents to help end homelessness. He was one of hundreds of community members who joined All Home's Nov. 17 event.
Joshua Holland pledges to use his talents to help end homelessness. He was one of hundreds of community members who joined All Home's Nov. 17 event.
What are you passionate about? What are you good at? Take answers to those questions and find a way to get involved for life. This was Facing Homelessness founder Rex Hohlbein's advice to an energized crowd last night at a community event hosted by All Home.

Homelessness: A State of Emergency

Doris O'Neal manages a domestic violence program at YWCA Seattle | King | Snohomish. Image credit: KUOW.
Doris O'Neal manages a domestic violence program at YWCA Seattle | King | Snohomish. Image credit: KUOW.
Doris O'Neal, who manages a domestic violence program at YWCA Seattle | King | Snohomish, told KUOW about her clients' experiences with homelessness. KUOW interviewed Doris after a press conference Monday at YWCA headquarters during which Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and King County Executive Dow Constantine declared that homelessness is in a state of emergency in Seattle and King County. Listen to the story on KUOW's website.