Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Samaritan House Offers a Hand
In the midst of our current economic crisis, Samaritan House plays superman by continually saving the financially burdened. With millions having lost their jobs, or suffered a sharp drop in their earnings, savings accounts have been drained, and the ability to pay rent has been lost. Homelessness statistics have reached levels paralleling those from the Great Depression, but the ability of the government's bank account to provide a "safety net" for our population is not the same as it once was. While Obama puts forth his stimulus package, the question remains "who deserves money the most?" Our government has figured that by distributing dollars into grants for smaller regions local government can figure out who needs it most. Samaritan House is one of the social service agencies that receives government funding. It's goal to help struggling families was highlighted by the New York Times, for its work specifically in San Mateo. The new building distributes upwards of 500 meals a day, and provides medical and dental insurance for jobless families. They also fill out countless amounts of paperwork for the homeless prevention program. While government funding is a huge source of their income, Samaritan House survives on generous donations from the public. Around this time they struggle to continue to support the community with lulls in donations. It is our responsibility to fund for these struggling agencies or should the government give larger amounts of funding to aid the economically challenged population?
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5 comments:
Wow, I didn't know that the amount of homeless people today parallel those from the Great Depression. I think it is great that there are still generous donations flowing in to the Samaritan House. In times of great need, it is those kind of people that the world need the most. I think the government should in fact use more money to help the less fortunate that were greatly affected during this economic crisis. Everyone needs to lend a helping hand when people need it the most, like right now, for example.
Missy! I am just loving your blog posts yo. Haha.
Thats so cool that you found the article the Samaritan House lady was talking about, and how cool that San Mateo was in the New York Times! Samaritan House is a good model of how the stimulus package really is working. I know that it has received a lot of criticism, but I think stories like this show that government intervention can work, it just takes the people to give it to the right place
From an economic standpoint this idea makes sense. Similar to what Keynes says, only through spending can the economy prosper. Similarly, by our individual spending by giving donations to the Samaritan house, we can help provide aid to those devastated by the economic recession. By doing this, people can recover, be more able to find new jobs, and increase that same spending that keeps the economy going.
It truly is sad how there is a rise in homlessness. I do agree though that the Samaritan House is great and the adding funds to help thoes who are on the brink of becoming homless is great as well. However, I would approach this a little bit differently by having the goverment use that money to the homeless social programs and to the people who are already homeless. Although I do agree that we should not just rely on the goverment to take care of this issue but rather have more people who are on the wealthier end of the spectrum volunteer and help thoes who are homeless.
It truly is sad how there is a rise in homlessness. I do agree though that the Samaritan House is great and the adding funds to help thoes who are on the brink of becoming homless is great as well. However, I would approach this a little bit differently by having the goverment use that money to the homeless social programs and to the people who are already homeless. Although I do agree that we should not just rely on the goverment to take care of this issue but rather have more people who are on the wealthier end of the spectrum volunteer and help thoes who are homeless.
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