Teens live 'homeless' for a night
GoodShop to Help the Homeless
The brave spend a cold night on the old courthouse lawn
M
organton - More than 300 teenagers bundled up and gathered together on a windy and frigid night to spend a night on the Old Courthouse Square. The teens were participating in the annual Homeless Awareness Lock Out, and had already engaged in a day full of mission work. Suzy Fitzgerald, a HALO coordinator, said the event has been going on for the past 10 years and allows the teens to raise awareness about the homeless. Fitzgerald said several church youth groups participate in the event, and various denominations take part in the lock out. The day started with mission
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work throughout Morganton, including building handicapped ramps, clearing trees out of yards, painting the soup kitchen at Burke United Christian Ministries, landscaping for Habitat for Humanity, participating in projects with New Beginnings and cleaning houses for the disabled, said Fitzgerald. The Meeting Place fed the teens after they met up at Burke United Christian Ministries. Fitzgerald said participants from 2007 had performed mission work for the Meeting Place and in return they wanted to prepare dinner for the 2008 participants. From there, they continued to the Old Courthouse Square, where sleeping bags littered the lawn. Hoards of teens lined the street and held signs encouraging passing drivers to help the homeless. On the other side of the square a stage was set up and Seal the Deal, a band consisting of teenagers, entertained the crowd. Fitzgerald said the itinerary for the evening included food collection, building shelters from cardboard boxes and an "Amazing Race" game. On Sunday morning, the event concluded with a devotional. The teens then spoke to their respective congregations about the experience.
A
s you all know we are trying to pay off our current mortgage,
raise money for our monthly expenses, as well as expanding. With these plans it always becomes more difficult each and every year mostly because of the economy. So each and every day we plan and plan to figure out ways of first getting donations and secondly how can Jennifer Frew (The News Herald)
Aaron Hayworth, 16, came with North Morganton United Methodist Church and said he has been participating for the past four years. Hayworth said, "besides helping the homeless, you get first-hand experience and it is especially mind blowing." Lindsay Bess, 17, and Emily Young, 14, did not come with a church group but were there because many of their friends were participating. Bess and Young were especially excited about the band's presence, but were wary of the cold weather. Despite that, Bess said it was a great way to raise awareness about the homeless. By Julie N. Chang morganton.com
we produce income without costing the supporters one cent. First it was the Internet Search via Good Search where we make one penny everytime someone searches on the Internet. We did not do as well as (Continued on page 7)
The old man in the run-down car
T
he world's first food bank was almost out of money. What
could this mysterious stranger in the threadbare clothes possibly do to help? John van Hengel watched the noisy,
State dangerous for the homeless
run-down vehicle stumble along Central
H
er cries for help were ignored and no one bothered to call the police, or an ambulance, after her attackers had left her for dead. ''I don't like thinking about that day,'' said Carol, a 62year-old homeless woman who says she was beaten and raped by two young men seven years ago while sleeping outdoors along Broward Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, not far from City Hall. Her story is all too familiar to homeless advocates who say Florida leads the nation in the number of reported crimes against the homeless. Consider: In 2007, 25 homeless people in Florida were beaten and seven were killed, according to a joint preliminary report by two Washingtonbased organizations -
Avenue in South Phoenix and stop in front of the old bakery building that housed St. Mary’s Food Bank. He’d been waiting all day for the old man who finally stepped out of his jalopy looking, in his threadbare clothes, more like one of the needy than the donor he claimed to be. Van Hengel tried to hide his disap-
the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Coaltion for the Homeless. California ranks second with 24 attacks, followed by Nevada with 14, and Ohio with 13. The report will be released on March 10 in Washington. But experts say the scope of the problem is far greater because most homeless victims of violence never report the crime to law enforcment authorities. ''Generally speaking, the homeless
are often wary of the police, and do not turn to them for help,'' said Tulin Ozdeger, civil rights director for the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. Weeks later, when Carol was finally able to get medical attention for her injuries, she learned that she had been infected with the HIV virus, which has now become diagnosed as AIDS. Since that day, she has not ventured far from the Broward homeless shelter she (Continued on page 11)
pointment. He had hoped, when the man called earlier in the day offering to make a donation to the food bank, that he would receive at least enough to keep the doors open for a while longer. He wondered, now, how the man could (Continued on page 5)