Hunger in South Florida

The clip "Hunger in South Florida" was extremely difficult to watch. In fact that whole concept of being homeless and hungry is hard for me to grasp. I had never, never, never seen a homeless person until I moved to Miami. Yes, I participated in food drives for school and helped at soup kitchens but most of the homeless were more jobless.

Let me share a few stories about my "homeless" people in North Carolina:

My uncle was homeless, but for him it was a decision he made. He chose to use his money on alcohol until he drank his way out of the family and disappeared for years. It's a small town so we always caught wind of where he "might" be and it usually involved a Salvation Army.

 I had a friend's mother help a homeless person land a job but by the end of the week, he decided he earned more money hanging out by the highway and quit.

My dad used to give money to a man that lived on the streets in Charlotte and had a dog with him. He's a food salesman so he always kept a few items in his car and dog treats in the event he passed by him. He told me he did this for years while heading to and from work. Then one day, there was a news story in Chapel Hill while I was visiting a friend in college and that same man was being arrested. I called my dad, as the story was getting ready to start. It began with a clip of the man sitting on the streets in Charlotte with a dog, and ended with the man in Raleigh North Carolina who owns TWO homes that are rented to tenants outside the city. Ever since then I have had a hard time distinguishing a true homeless person to a fake.

The truth is, until I moved to Miami, homeless to me was a choice. If you were homeless in North Carolina you were either lazy, hiding from the law or a scam artist.

Until I saw this video, I had a different view on what homeless meant. This short clip was heart ripping. I broke down in tears 3 minutes in, barely able to see the screen by the end. I felt helpless and ashamed for ever complaining about my not so difficult wonderful life. I had this strong sense of urgency, like something has to be done right now, this cant be true. I felt guilty for feeling so strongly about the homeless as lazy, scam artist or hiding.

Reality sank in and it was a hard truth to accept. I work at one of the most beautiful resorts in South Florida, and see all the locals and members flaunt their money by the dozen everyday. Nice Cars. Jewelry. Clothes. I usually have to hear them go on and on about how hard life is for them, and I watch this video and say how stupid. Are they really that naive, one lady's maid had left and she was stuck with the laundry and panicked!

Now what? What do we do?
I am a college student, living paycheck to paycheck what voice do I have? How much power do I have to create change? I have a cabinet of canned goods, I wanted to call the young man in the video and send it to him. I cant remember many times in my life where I was out of control, unable to help relieve the problem.

This is a real problem! Its a problem that no one wants to face because of the harsh reality of it. But these are children suffering, and alot of them come from families that truly try. That was the hardest for me to accept - the families TRY! They send their kids to school, they try to make ends meet and at the end of the day they come up with nothing. I know those parents starve themselves so their children can eat. I don't have kids but I know I would. There needs to be a better system.

I know the system is broken and corrupt because I have seen how it works:
There are families struggling to make ends meet and then there are families reproducing at a fast rate but somehow able to get their welfare checks, when in my opinion they don't even deserve it.

2 examples:

I am a strong believerer in faith, and I would never cast the first stone or judge someone but I have come across two instances in South Florida where I wanted to throw a boulder!

First, I was in Walgreens at the Take Care Clinic just trying to get a TB skin test done for my employer. It was the Friday before school started and I couldn't believe the amount of children running around waiting for physicals. There was a Caribbean woman ( I could tell by the accent) sitting next to me yelling on her cell phone. She was pregnant, and had 3 kids with her causing most of the chaos with bouncing balls. She was using profanity left and right screaming at a man about how he better get some money from somewhere because she doesn't know if the welfare checks will be arriving next week. She called him a few names and then hung up and called her mother. Told her mother that the boys need to leave because she has to bring the kids over, they have no food and maybe no place to stay until next week. She then tells her she is at *#&$* Walgreens trying to get physicals for the kids because the school wont let them in until they do. She then goes on about how she hates Miami, their rules.... and then says, this Dr. better accept 3 for 1, cause I am not paying $100 for these kids to be told they are healthy. AND SHE"S PREGNANT AGAIN! Seriously? If I had a child, I would not speak that way in front of them. I was embarrassed to even be within an ear shot of her. She must have a large family that supports each other because the children looked pretty healthy, a little dirty but they are kids and seemed pretty happy. Out of control, but happy. What are we teaching our youth? The kids were adorable, I would have taken them home myself if I new I could.

My next incident was with a friend of mine. Her and her husband moved here because her husband is attending medical school. They just got married, have a 5 year old son and at the time of meeting were expecting another child. They were the sweetest couple I had ever met. Very loving originating from Utah. After a few get togethers, I learned that they were Mormon (there's quite a group here in Miami) and not working. She chose not to work not because she's pregnant but because she didn't see the need!!! I am also dating a medical student and I know there are great loans out there to live on but her next comment made me want to throw a boulder - they are living on welfare. He's taking a minimum amount of money in loans because of the other money they receive so they wont owe much later. OK.I tried to find reason,  they just moved to Miami, just got married, have a son and expecting another one. She is not planning on working, but maybe in a year or two when the kids get older she will. She is now pregnant again with her third child and he is going into his 3rd year of medical school. They are young, is it really that hard to wait until you have things settled so you can ensure stability for your kids????? I mean 1 okay whoops. 2,  just a playmate - it evens the score. But 3??? Talk about using and cheating the system.

I don't know much about the system not having been on any government support aside from student loans but I'd like to believe the system is better structured that what I am witnessing.

I have seen the real deal here in South Florida, you don't have to look far to see a homeless person or anyone struggling to make ends meets and its disturbing. But I think what's also disturbing is that some of these families try extremely hard to provide and others find ways to get it handed to them on silver platters! Its one thing to get help and another to get help but have no intention in helping yourself.

This was an eye opening experience, and I half wished I could close my eyes and wish it were a dream. However, I know in my heart that's the root of the problem. We need to stop closing our eyes and start helping. I am at a loss of where to start aside from my church's soup kitchen. Once I am settled, I pray that I carry this incident in my heart and find a way to provide more when I know I can afford to.