National Homelessness Day
Letter to the Editor
The Greeneville Sun | October 13th 2023
National Homelessness Day
Tuesday, October 10th is the 13th annual “National Homelessness Day”. Homelessness can impact almost every aspect of a person’s life from one’s sense of safety and social support to one’s health and life expectancy. In addition to the trauma of being unhoused, these people face food insecurity and difficulty in accessing medical care. The disruption to families and the schooling of children can be severe.
In Greene County, approximately 170 families and 20 individual people have been identified as being homeless; and this is a conservative number. To address this complex challenge, the Coalition Addressing the Needs of Unhoused People of Greene County (CANUP) has been formed. Our mission is cultivating a compassionate community committed to meeting the needs of individuals experiencing homelessness. CANUP is incorporated as a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organiation. Within our organization, the following Levels of Assistance have been defined:
Level 1: Food Insecurity
CANUP has developed individual food packs which contain food products that do not require a can opener. Every evening a CANUP team drives a route and distributes the food packs and other food items to homeless people that have previously been identied and to others they encounter. You can become involved in this effort by financial contribution to build food packs and/or by becoming a part of the distribution teams.
Level 2: Short-term Shelter
A facility is needed to immediately get people out of the rain and out of the approaching cold weather. To achieve this goal requires identification of a place, or places, and funding for the place and staff.
Level 3: Development of low cost, affordable Housing
Contrary to public opinion, research shows the primary cause of homelessness is neither drugs nor mental health issues but a lack of affordable, low-cost housing. Experience shows that the availability of this housing is the solution to homelessness. The development of this housing is the long-term goal of CANUP and requires several partners.
We invite you to join us in these initiatives to serve unhoused neighbors who, under different circumstances, could be any of us, our sons, our daughters or our friends. We welcome you to come to our monthly meetings, to sign up for our newsletter or to contact us through email at info@canup.org.
Join us in calling for a future where homelessness is rare and brief.
John T. Johnson, Ph.D.
Chairman of the Board
Coalition Addressing the Needs of Unhoused People of Greene County (CANUP)
