Help for the Homeless

I can't imagine what it would be like to be homeless. Perhaps you can't either. 
This year approximately 3.5 million men, women and children will experience
homelessness. Their stories might surprise you. I know they did me.

Over the last eight years, Hanes has donated more than 2.2 million pairs of
socks to help provide comfort to those in need during the annual Hanes Holiday
Sock Drive. That includes 225,ooo pairs of socks and 18,000 pairs of underwear
being distributed through local organizations this holiday season.

The next time you drive through a city and you see folks living under a bridge,
or sitting on a sidewalk with their belongings, I hope you won’t see them as
homeless…I hope you will see them as people down on their luck and needing a helping
hand.

Facts about the Homeless in America

New York City remains in the midst of the worst crisis of homelessness since the Great Depression, with more than 62,000 men, women, and children sleeping in shelters each night. A chronic shortage of affordable housing and the potent combination of rising rents and stagnant wages have fueled a daunting and unabated 79 percent increase in the demand for shelter in the last decade. Three-quarters of New Yorkers staying in shelters are within families, and children constitute an alarming 38 percent of all those in shelters.

On a single night in 2016, 549,928 people were experiencing homelessness in the
United States. A majority (68%) was staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing
programs, or safe havens, and 32 percent were in unsheltered locations.

Over one-fifth of people experiencing homelessness were children (22%), 69 percent
were over the age of 24, and nine percent were between the ages of 18 and 24.

Between 2015 and 2016, the number of people experiencing homelessness declined by three
percent. Declines were composed entirely of people staying in sheltered locations (which
declined by 5%). Homelessness increased among people staying in unsheltered locations
(by 2%).

Now that you have seen through their eyes what it’s like to experience homelessness, can you find it in your heart to help? To learn more about how to help visit Hanes.com/SockDrive