I would think it would be safe to say that the majority of people don’t truly understand what it is like to be homeless. Most people when they are down on their luck have parents, siblings or friends that they can hang out with until they can get back on their feet.
Everyone needs some basic things to sustain life. They need food, clothes, a place to take a bath, shelter from the elements and sometimes health and dental care.
If a person is truly trying to get back on their feet they need to be able to apply for a job, which in this day and time means they need an address at least where they can get mail and a phone so the company can call them about their application. They need access to something like a library where they can use the computer and prepare a resume. An address is also required to be able to get food stamps. Paying for a Post Office Box for six months is probably something that a giving person would not think about to give.
People do have compassion for, and care about, homeless people and are very giving of their money or supplies to help care for them.
Many homeless people have alcohol or drug problems and require an entirely different level of help.
Others are homeless due to loss of job, divorce or returning military personnel that has been unable to find work in the public sector quickly enough.
Many people think the homeless find a place to sleep at night at one of the missions for the homeless. The truth be known there are more homeless people than there are beds available at the missions. So, people without a home or apartment are left to sleep in their car, on the streets, in our public parks or in rural areas just in the woods. Many missions or businesses will allow the homeless to sleep in their parking lots at night, with or without a car.
In our city we generally only have extremely cold night about 5 to 10 nights a year. On those nights most of the missions will sleep people on the floor and try not to turn anyone away. Out city government has also starting opening up a section of our civic center area for anyone who needs a warm place to sleep on nights that the temperature drops below freezing. This also includes those who do have a place to live but can’t afford the heat bill during that kind of weather.
Having a place to sleep brings me to the title of this post. I, for one, and probably many of you reading this post would never have thought of giving inflatable air bed mattresses as a bed for a homeless person.
I recently read a post by a person who had previously been homeless telling what that experience was like. One of the things that he shared was watching a guy get an inflatable mattress out of a trash bin to sleep on in the parking lot behind a mission where he and some others were sleeping for a few nights. One guy had also come up with a small tent that he was using.
Many of these air mattresses have built in pumps and can be inflated and deflated very quickly. They are lightweight and will fold to a very compact size, making it easy to carry in a backpack for use most anywhere. The same thing for tents.
There are also inflatable air beds that are great for the backseat of a car or in the cargo area of an SUV or in a minivan.
Another item would be the Mylar emergency blankets. These are really inexpensive and many people keep them on hand to use during an emergency. They are really lightweight, waterproof, weatherproof and retain 80 to 90% of body heat.
You may not know how to get one or more of these items to a homeless person. Donate them to some of the local missions or church soup kitchens in your area.
The inflatable air bed mattresses could be used as extra bedding in the missions when they are packing people in and having them sleep on the floor on really cold nights.
The mission can also hand out inflatable air beds, Mylar emergency thermal survival blankets, sleeping bags and tents to people that they turn away on milder nights. Even people sleeping in their cars usually get some kind of aid from a mission, so the opportunity to help the people turned away is also available.
Most people think to give food and clothes to the homeless, so be someone that thinks outside the box and gives them something that the majority don’t think about, but that will make surviving on the streets more bearable.
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