'These Storied Streets' to tell tales of homelessness
MILFORD — A wide range of musical acts — along with a wide range of stories about hunger and homelessness — will be heard at a music concert and speaker event to be held in Milford on Nov. 14.
Calling All Angels Mission, which operates the Calling All Angels Shoppe in Milford, is sponsoring the event to start off Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, Nov. 14-22. The event is being held in conjunction with the Ecumenical Food Pantry of Pike County and Pike County Hands of Hope.
This year's coalition theme is “These Storied Streets.”
“The faces of hunger and homelessness in our nation and in Pike County are changing,” says thrift store manager and board member Charles Reynolds. “We want — no, we need, people to understand the changes. We need people to see that the stories by those affected in this country, and more specifically here in Pike County, are not some distant, this-is-only-happening-to-someoone else kind of stories. These are stories that could happen to them — to anyone.”
In Pennsylvania, the homelessness rate among families and veterans rose by 10.6 percent between 2012 and 2013. And the hunger insecurity rate — which week by week tracks lack of access to adequate, nutritious food in the state — was 14.2 percent in 2013 for the general population and 20.4 percent for the child population.
“Here in Pike County the food insecurity rate for children is 19.8 percent, which shows a slight increase from the year before," said Reynolds. “And in Wayne County, that rate was 21.6 percent.”
The mission board member explained that in “real numbers,” this means that in Pike County, 2,500 children went without adequate or nutritious food each week. And in Wayne County, that number was 2,100.
The event is not simply a way to raise funds for the local charities dealing with these issues, but also to raise awareness.
“I want as many people in our county to come to this event so that they can be personally affected," said Reynolds. "I want all the local political leaders — commissioners, supervisors, borough council members, all of them — to come and be personally affected by these stories by their neighbors. So that then these issues can be given the proper attention in our communities, our county, our state and our country that they deserve. No one should be hungry. No one should be homeless. And the more people are taking these issues to heart, the higher the likelihood something will get done to make positive changes.”
Anyone unable to attend may make an online donation via GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/wz7rqerj. Or they can drop off a donation of cash or food or clothing at the Calling All Angels Thrift Shoppe, 611 Broad St., Milford.