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:: Sunday, January 29, 2006 ::
Give Red Envelopes to Homeless People at Chinese New Year
Today is Chinese New Year. Traditionally, Chinese people give red envelopes that has cash gift inside to their children, grand children, relatives' children ...etc. It is also a good time to give red envelopes to anyone they love.
Knowing that most homeless people or working poor are often short of cash to carry out their life goal or just to maintain their daily life, but you do not have a good time to show your care and love to them? Chinese New Year from Lunar Calendar January 1 to January 15, you have plenty time of giving Chinese red envelopes to them as good luck, wish and assistance.
:: Mr Cheng 2:15 PM [+] ::
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:: Sunday, January 01, 2006 ::
Do NOT spend more than Incoming resources
After all these years helping homeless people to move off homelessness and prevent former homeless to fall back to homeless, I have identified the key reason why people becoming homeless. They over spend their resources.
A single dad with son in Williamsburg VA area is not able to pay his rent because he is making $1,000 a month doing paper route, yet renting $769 a month 2br apartment. He has been facing the presure to be evicted. When I was making $30,000+ a year at Bellcore many years ago, I was renting $280 a month attic in Highland Park NJ.
A single mom with 3 kids in Roanoke VA area every month would send in SOS message, not enough food to eat, no clothes, no heat ...etc. The electricity bill was $240 a month that we have to find someone to pay for it. On the other hand, my bill was only $86.
Another single mom with 2 kids in Williamsburg VA did not have money to pay electricity bill, cell phone bills ...etc, but her thermostat set to 68 degree, but my furnance did not turn on and the temperature went from 40 degrees to 60 depends on the weather and if sunny days. I asked her to set down to 50 degrees; she refused. We have helped her family over $1,000 not to mention other charity organizations and social services. Her cell phone bill added up to over $1,000...
There are many many more cases in which the desperated people have preset their "living standard" to be comparable or over the average income people, yet they make little income. On the one hand, that is the reason they dig a deep hole for themselves; on the other hand, they could not focus on saving enough to move them up to next stage.
A single mom with a son at Hanover VA area does not have money to buy heating oil, so she turned on 3 portable heaters without knowing how to pay her electricity bill in the months to come, but, at lease, she told me that she maintained a limited phone services so that she can get online and have most long distance call her and use cheap phone card to make must outbound long distance calls.
How to help families like this? If you help them, they will continue over spending on what they could afford; otherwise, they will become homeless. The more you help them, the less they will take your advise to lower the living standard to match their income. So, charity organizations like United Way would set up a policy to NOT helping families not able to pay the rent till they got eviction letter. Doing so may sound inhumane, but it seems to be an effective way to force these families to lower their living standard.
A familiy in Columbus OH area was not able to pay their 3br house rent of $850 and no charity organizations would help. As you can guess, they were eventually evicted right before cold Christmas time. Tracy Pay Palthem $450 together with other people's help, they now stay at a thrifty hotel at $146 a week and found a bigger and cheaper 2br apartment at $500 a month starting January 1, 2006.
The conclusion is for desperated people not to overspend. If you make $10 a day, spend $1 to buy a loaf of bread and keep $9. If you make $30 a day, spend $10 and keep the rest. If you want to spend $30 a day, be sure to make more money, weather going to work or bagging for resources. When you have some cash in hand or in your bank, you will feel safer and that will help you reduce or eliminate extra cost such as late fee or eviction cost
I am not saying you are going to stay at the very limited resource type of life, nor much lower living standard. You just need to come down much more before you can have enough momentum to jump up again. Like, if you want to change lane from slow lane to fast lane in the highway, you have to first slow down to keep much longer distance from the cars in front, then accelerate when you see a chance to change lane.
:: Mr Cheng 3:31 AM [+] ::
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