This homeless person is Eli.

Pathetic that homelessness is so prevalent right here in the exceptional U.S. of A. About 2.3 million to 3.5 million Americans, according to HomelessnessinAmerica.com. The rate of homelessness among kids has seen a dramatic increase of 33 percent since 2007, according to a new report from the National Center on Family Homelessness. 1.6 million children – or one in 45 children – are homeless annually. In America.

Please always remember, the homeless people you’ll ignore today were much like you not so long ago. ~Mark Horvath, founder of invisiblepeople.tv

Here’s a sad update about Eli’s camp:

Read more about the eviction on HuffingtonPost.

Letter from invisiblepeople.tv founder Mark Horvath.

Dear Friends,

I need your help to continue telling these stories and reaching out into the streets, under the bridges, park benches, shelters and tent cities — in two months on the road we have been able to see huge results!

The lives that have been impacted through the InvisiblePeople.tv Road Trip have ranged far beyond expectation. Many of you have gained a new perspective on the struggle of others, and at the same time our efforts have brought a new hope to people who are in the midst of the struggle with homelessness across America. This road trip has not only made invisible people visible to world, but once again to themselves for many who had stopped even thinking they mattered, and now they have a new hope for their own lives.

This important journey cannot continue without YOUR help. Telling each story — reaching out in each city– helping each person we can, takes donations from people who will give what they can to make a difference — will you please help me continue this essential work.

Your $100, or $50 or $25 or anything you can give right now helps us get another story, stay on the road another day, or reach another person… Don’t just watch the story and follow along wondering what is next — help create the story and change it for each person we encounter.

Please give now — join us on the road trip, be the one helping tell how the story turns out for so many!

How you can help.

• * Host Mark at a stop on the tour. Bring him to your community’s shelters/tent cities/homeless encampments and see that these stories are heard.
• * Put the issue of homelessness on the front page of your local paper. Host a Road Trip event. Invite Mark and other local experts to speak. Invite the press. Write a letter to the editor about the tour. Make people listen.
• * Make a donation! Buy a tank of gas for $50, a night at a hotel room for $100, or two weeks of meals for $300.
• * Spread the word! Share this on Facebook and Twitter. Scream as loud as you can. Use the hashtag #invisiblepeople
• * Take action locally and get involved. Three sites to help get you started: Idealist.org I VolunteerMatch I 2-1-1 (dial #211 from any phone)
• * Don’t let your involvement end with the tour. CLICK HERE for 10 additional actions you can take to fight homelessness every day.

How does your state rank in homelessness?

Click here for the interactive map to find out.

* * *

Originally published on my blog, Putting It Out There.

photo credit: negativeattention via flickr.com