Despite such views, Milwaukee homeless facilities and agencies have plans to provide the less fortunate with traditional meals and activities this Thursday.,”As local homeless shelters prepare for special Thanksgiving meals and activities, a new poll shows Americans have a negative view of the homeless, associating them with drugs and alcohol.
Despite such views, Milwaukee homeless facilities and agencies have plans to provide the less fortunate with traditional meals and activities this Thursday.
The Milwaukee Rescue Mission plans to give out 100 food baskets to families and will have a traditional meal on Thanksgiving, said Rescue Mission executive director Pat Vanderburgh.
After their meal, people can watch football in the living room at Repairers of the Breach, a local daytime shelter and resource center run by the homeless.
"They can sit back, watch the game and socialize just like the middle and upper classes do in their own homes," said MacCanon Brown, Repairers of the Breach executive director.
These local efforts do not mask the results of a Gallup poll released last week that reports eight in 10 adults across the nation identify drug and alcohol abuse as the leading factor that causes homelessness.
Twenty-six percent of respondents cited drug and alcohol abuse as homelessness's primary cause, 21 percent attributed homelessness to metal disability and 18 percent listed job loss or unemployment.
Gallup conducted the poll by performing 5,200 telephone interviews and surveying 1,002 U.S. adults between Sept. 14 and Oct. 17.
The Fannie Mae Foundation, a philanthropic and business organization dedicated to ending homelessness, initiated the poll because it "wanted to better understand who people think are homeless and why," said Fannie Mae spokeswoman Christina McHenry.
McHenry said Fannie Mae hopes the results will guide leaders to more effectively promote awareness and find solutions for the problem of homelessness.
Vanderburgh said the poll results correspond to the individuals that regularly visit the Rescue Mission.
"In single men, the most serious issues that cause homelessness are drug and alcohol problems," he said. "In a lot of cases, it is the primary cause. They're not working or cannot hold a job because of their addiction."
In the Rescue Mission's family shelter, Vanderburgh said the greatest factor is domestic violence, which can be indirectly caused by alcohol and drug abuse.
Despite Vanderburgh's agreement with the poll results, many other leaders in the fight against homelessness believe the results show a misconception of homeless people exists in the minds of the American public.
"Their perception is not the reality," McHenry said. "We were disappointed to find that people think alcohol and drugs are major causes of homelessness."
Brown said she was also disappointed with the poll and disagreed with the results.
"Poverty would be the most prevalent cause of homelessness," she said. "Very close behind that is being a veteran and having mental health issues."
According to a survey of homeless individuals conducted in January by the Milwaukee Continuum of Care Homeless Coalition, the major cause of homelessness is job loss or an inability to find work. Twenty seven percent of respondents listed this reason as the cause of their homelessness while only 13 percent listed alcohol and drug abuse.
"This survey shows what is actually experienced by individuals that are homeless," said Denise Callaway, director of communications for the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, an organization that provides funding for Milwaukee agencies and programs geared toward helping the homeless.
According to the group's Web site, between 15,000 and 20,000 people in Wisconsin have nowhere to live at some time during the year. To lower this number and change Americans' perspectives, groups need to raise public awareness.
"We need to better educate people about who's homeless and why," said McHenry. "Solving homelessness will require a fair amount of public will and commitment."
Campus Kitchen, a student organization that prepares and delivers meals to local agencies, will provide more than 400 Thanksgiving meals for 10 agencies through their Turkeypalooza program. The group will also provide two additional agencies with grocery bags full of ingredients to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner, said program coordinator Sara Kandler.
"A Thanksgiving meal is beyond (some families') budget range," she said. "It's not something they can celebrate the way most Marquette students do."
“