LIMA — Homelessness is not a blatant issue. Instead it is often hidden in the background, tucked away in back alleys, under bridges or in abandoned houses.
However well it hides itself, homelessness is still an issue in the United States. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, more than 578,000 people were considered homeless nationwide, with almost 12,000 of them living in Ohio.
To help shed light on this issue, Changing Seasons, an outreach of Coleman Professional Services, held an event from 11 p.m. Saturday until 7 a.m. Sunday to help foster local awareness, with more than 40 people spending the night outside at the Town Square gazebo. The event was part of a monthlong effort to bring attention to a variety of issues facing the Lima community.
“It’s about awareness,” Maha Zehery of Changing Seasons said. “I believe awareness will bring donations. It’s one of the biggest secrets in town. So many people didn’t know about this, but now they are starting to.”
During the event, participants huddled up in lawn chairs and blankets to fend off the elements while enjoying live gospel, R&B and folk music, along with food and hot chocolate, with Mayor David Berger delivering “breakfast pizza” to the group early Sunday.
For David Harris, lead pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church, participating in the event was important, as ministering to Lima’s downtown is a key part of Trinity’s mission.
“It’s a natural for us,” he said.
Harris said that, for homeless men ages 18 to 22, there is no place for them to go, being too old for youth shelters and too young for adult men’s shelters. Another part of the tragedy of homelessness, according to Harris, is the link between homelessness and mental illness.
“You go back in history a few decades, and in the 1980s, when the federal government cut its funding for mental illness, it shut down a lot of institutions and put a lot of people out on the street,” he said. “A lot of them get into self-medication and then addiction develops.”
Brook Smith, Coleman’s recovery services director, also participated in the event, expressing hope that, with the community working together, homelessness in Lima can become a thing of the past.
“There are plenty of resources, but we are always looking for ways to collaborate,” she said. “But we’ve got to show people that this does exist and it doesn’t have to.”
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