TERRE HAUTE —
Dozens of people left their houses Saturday morning wrapped in blankets, bound to walk for those without homes to leave.
The fourth annual Homeward Bound Walk was off to a chilly start about 9:30 Saturday morning as stubborn temperatures wouldn’t budge much above the 40s.
Walk chair Teri Evans admitted it was cold, but the group’s mission was going forward nonetheless.
“When you start meeting people face to face who are homeless, it takes on a whole new meaning and you want to help them,” the Freebirds Solutions Center employee said.
Homeward Bound Walks raise money for the homeless across Indiana, but funds remain in the communities in which they’re raised, she said. This year, eight local agencies which service the homeless joined the coalition and will share proceeds from the event.
According to information provided at the event, 2.6 million Americans dropped below the poverty line in 2009 and 2010, and homelessness is projected to grow a record-setting 5 percent in the next three years.
Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett said the annual event helps raise awareness of a significant problem which has been growing worse.
“We need to do what we need to do to help these people find a home,” he said beside the fountain at Indiana State University’s Dede Plaza, the walk’s starting point.
Locally, service agencies dealing with homelessness served about 3,000 people in 2011, organizers said.
Evans, whose agency also works with those suffering addiction issues, said the stigma of being homeless keeps many from seeking help.
“Homelessness is very hidden,” she said. “They will live in their cars and not tell anyone they’re homeless. They’ll go from friend to friend.”
Corey Henry, 20, said she and her husband Josh, 24, were in that exact same scenario for more than a year before finding jobs and an apartment. Three children between them, Corey works at Rally’s and Josh at Taco Bell.
“I just got my GED December of this year,” she said, explaining the family shuffled between the homes of friends for about a year and a half. Pregnant at the age of 16, she said it’s been a long road, but things are looking up. “Your main priority is a job. If you don’t have a job, it’s hard to get anything going,” she said, preparing her kids’ strollers for the walk.
Homeward Bound Walks are coordinated by Indiana Association of Community Economic Development. More information is available online at www.
homewardboundindiana.org.
Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.
Local & Bistate
Valley residents walk to battle homelessness
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