National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day

“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” – Martin Luther King Jr.


December 21st is the first day of winter and the longest night of the year. It is also National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day. I ask that you remember those who continue to struggle with day to day living and get involved in you community by giving back through volunteering your time to those in need. I recently wanted to volunteer at Second Harvest here in Savannah to help stock the food shelves. When I got there, they had so many volunteers that they didn’t need my help. This was a beautiful thing to see. There were adults, teenagers and little children taking time out of their day to make a change within their community. Although it was great to see so many people helping out and donating their time to those in need I didn’t see anybody who looked like me.

I think that it is important that we as Black people start helping our own community and uplifting each other. We have a Black president who has called for all of us to make a change. That means a change in the way we are living. People are dying on our streets from alcohol, drugs and guns. Maybe if we were more involved in uplifting each other and our communities we would have peace in the streets. I have a lot of friends who have done so many great things for my surrounding community and I am thankful for what they’ve done and what they continue to do but I think that more people need to get involved, more people like me; people who have grown up in these communities.

My friends, you all know how passionate I am about ending homelessness and violence within our communities. I wish that people would trust in God instead of a gun. I understand their struggle because I grew up in these neighborhoods and I hustled in these neighborhoods just the same but I made a change. I had to in order to keep living. If we continue to live in a destructive manner we’ll all kill each other. We need to stop killing each other and start caring for each other through advocacy and community service. We need to uplift our communities. I’m doing all that I am able to do with what God has given me. Politicians, CEOs and case workers do what they can but there are some people who are doing nothing.

Remember that there are a lot of people who are still hungry and struggling with addiction on our streets and they need help everyday not just during the holidays. Thank you to all of those who continue to give back and work towards making a change in our communities. Thank you to all of those who have donated their time and their money towards social justice. Thank you to all of my friends who are good people doing good deeds. To those who don’t know whether or not they should volunteer or give back just think about the condition of our community and open you eyes to what is going on. Uplift your community and be excellent in helping each other achieve that goal.

For the 2008 statistics of our homeless population in Savannah please visit the following link: http://www.homelessauthority.org/savstatistics.htm

If you are interested in volunteering for the Savannah community but don’t know where to start go to http://www.handsonsavannah.org/ If you are from another city visit http://www.handsonnetwork.org/ to look up your local chapter. You will find a calendar of volunteer opportunities which is how I reconnected with Second Harvest.