People On The Street: Christmas Time
By Markela Ndocaj
Homelessness is a socially systematic problem that keeps affecting more and more people, still today. The European Union itself counts a population of 895.000 people living on the street, which is considered to be an unspecic number, in fact it only includes those who live in visible forms of homelessness, making experts believe the actual number far higher.
Sanitary problems are on top among the worries people living on the street have to face as countless of them suffer from and eventually die of cancer, strokes or diabetes, without ever receiving the proper attention. Overwhelmingly, what is a very common risk is developing mental health issues, usually caused by different reasons such as sleep depravation, sporadic eating habits, alcohol and being more exposed than other people in terms of bad air quality (these also add up to the physical health issues). 12 percent of the homeless part of our population suffers of grave mental disorders, 11 percent presents signs of mood disorders and almost 40 percent is a victim of alcohol or drug dependence.
When approaching winter and Christmas time, most could say that it is one of the happiest times of the year, as holidays enhanced by family time, Christmas markets and countless of presents approach. Even though Winter sees a bigger part of the community committing to volunteering for soup kitchens and overall prioritising charity, people living on the street go through what is probably one of the hardest times. Climate wise, the lower temperatures augment the risks of terminal hypothermia, thus why donations of winter apparel items, proper shoes and blankets are prioritised. What it is not to be overseen is the increase of loneliness, of which six out of ten people without a home suffer from on a daily basis making them the most isolated group of people in our society. Totally, one out of four spends Christmas alone. With time passing, studies actually show a decrease in donations towards people living on the street, made worse by the constant increase of housing and job crises which attack both sides: donators are less keen on prioritising philanthropy and the number of homeless people increases.
Prioritising more those in need is also a benefit for all, bettering their life quality and bringing common feelings of satisfaction and unity, while also bettering the environment around the overall population: ultimately, decreasing homelessness also does decrease health (lowers emergency departments visits by 80%), crime (80% less probability of committing a crime) and unemployment (increases probability of employment by 24%) issues.
Having reached the season, STCP is ready to offer support to anyone ready to help the community in countless of ways in this time, like giving our time to people living on the streets or in shelters, donating and offering assistance in case of need, participating in winter food distribution and soup kitchen activities and most of all, showing and acting out of respect, empathy and sense of community, always remembering that every single individual is indispensable for the successful developing of a society.
