when im not working at fenway park i spend all my time volunteering at Bridge Over Troubled Waters. It is a homeless shelter for children and teens in downdown boston on west st. They've touched my life. i found out about this place when an outreach worker came up to me asking for donations i didnt buy it at first but a long story short is i donated 7 $ for a wool blanket tht is given out late at night along with hot soup. I asked how do i make sure it really is going to the child, and he brought me on a tour the next day wich began packing blankets and warming soup. we then hit the streets in a van and found a boy rite away tht was 13 and freezing with layers of clothing tht didnt do much. we gave him the blanket and soup and the look on his face changed my life forever. i can proudly tell you he is in a safe home now south of boston well fed and warm. if u wanna join the good fight against this from home i will tell u how it is eassy.

our kids grow so fast...their clothes are practically new still. We take old clothes, jackets, blankets, toys, whatever to the shelters. I have gotten clothing drives together, as well.

thats awesome we have a really good one going rite now but the biggest thing is blankets and the ones we buy are grey wool and very thick.

at the bar I used to go to (kinda like a country version of cheers) we would do raffles. Sometimes people would donate tickets to something or the winner would get 1/2 of the pot. Most people would donate the winnings back. It went to the homeless shelter

see it in the inner city dailly, my motorcycle club spent christmas day cooking for an all boys shelter and we ate with them and bought them the basic necessities for Christmas, seeing the sparkle in their eyes made me ask, how in the hell can you abandon such a child, of course a few of them had been hardened by the streets and the writing is on the wall for them, but the younger ones can be saved if only.....so as always I have to ask, where's the real WAR at.

Kudos to you poster for what you do, the essense of life is sharing it with those less fortunate.

my family volenteered at a church on thanksgiving, the weird part there were no kids, so they must had gone over to the mission or some other church it was a great feeling and i have been almost yr now making foodboxes out of my home so when i have a food box to give out i usually post it on freecycle or craisglist but i have a list of people i have given to on a reg basis so i end up calling them to see if they could use a box.
there is a thrift store that is ran by a chruch and they feed the homless on certain days i have thought about contacting them again to help out

thats great if u want i can show u how to help out with this

i just wrote a poem on the homeless

http://mingle2.com/topic/show/261192

that would be great
email me please

I always like to see people get involved with those less fortunate....especially the children.

yes aand this is an awesome organization i would love to start my own in the near future with the right help

While not everyone can volunteer in direct services it is really easy to put your political representatives on your mail list and make sure that they know where you stand in regards to child welfare issues and that you vote. I personally feel if we can not afford houseing for children then we can't afford a lot of the stuff we are paying for as taxpayers.

Good point, I'd love to send money to Biafra, but won't because you never know where that money ends up, so instead I make sure I help out in my own community first and foremost, maybe if everyone did that, the world could start to heal one community at a time...It always amazes me when I see others go to another country to adopt a child when there is one in their own neighborhood that's homeless...go figure...red tape I guess.

Salvation Army is about the best charity to get involved with if you want to aid the homeless in your community. I also spent a lot of time working with Habitat for Humanity when I lived in Florida. Building homes for families who are nearing homelessness. Very rewarding.

I agree.Charity begins at home.I could never walk past a child in my town in need,as I go to the mailbox to send help to another Country.I help out where ever I can in my town.I have never turned down the hungry.Or someone that needed a shower & clean cloths.I am getting things ready to donate now.I look at it as (every little bit helps.)

I was so glad to see this topic. I run a home for homeless children - I have 10 teenage boys. I can not tell you how much they have blessed me. They are true survivors and I thank them every day for allowing me to be a part of their life. Thank you all for all that you do to help those in your community. God bless you.

well this is alot different we do not accept donations more than 25 $ at a time because of that reason 25 $ will put a kid up for the month with 2 blankets and hygene products ( food is given out at our hsoup kitchen wich they all love) we also send videos of the end result wich is cool

As the saying goes, 'charity begins at home'. You have to look no further than your own back yard to see suffering and need. Don't get me wrong, I am a charitable person but I do like to support local projects first.

I work for a charity that deals with homelessness on a daily basis. I have previously worked with local outreach services for homeless and young people, people with drug and alcohol issues and those subject to working in the sex trade/traffiking.

Kudos to anyone that gives up their time and their money for those who need it!

http://england.shelter.org.uk/ These are who I work for at the minute.

In the USA one of the best national programs to help homeless children is a Family Promise. The families are gotten into shelter and comprehensive resourceing from parenting skills, quality houseing, schooling, employment, and communuty networking. The majority of these programs are staffed by volunteers and supported by a variety of faiths but religious recruiteing is not the focus of the programs.