When confronting a problem as lingering as homelessness sometimes it helps to see the grim reality of real faces and real people who have real problems. The issues of homeless plight can be a temperamental debate -- many argue the root causes -- but, faceless hypotheticals bear little merit when addressing a problem with severe social consequences.
Having confronted the problem of homelessness face-to-face, engaging more than two-hundred homeless men and women on the streets of Hillsborough County, I have discovered at least one common thread shared amongst the strife of the downward spiral. Each of them have a problem -- or problems -- that they either don't recognize or are incapable of solving on their own. And that's where the Homeless Initiative steps in -- helping each homeless candidate recognize first where they have gone awry -- then sending them in the right direction to fix it. It may seem like an understated approach but it's just one of many layers unique to our proprietary street engagement model.
The Hillsborugh County Sheriff's Office has assisted the seven men and women featured in today's post all within the last forty-five days. Each of them came with a storied past -- sometimes it's family entanglements other times its years of accumulated oversight and tardy inaction.
But, in every case their problem was identifiable.
What made these men and women successful in their recovery can be seen as the Golden Egg of problem solving -- they each decided to accept personal responsibility for where they are in life -- they became personally accountable for their inaction and were determined to fix it.
I pay tribute to each of these homeless recovery success stories who didn't get a hand-out -- all they needed was a hand-up.
Deputy Steven Donaldson
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
District III Office: (813) 247-0330
Email: sdonalds@hcso.tamp.fl.us
Facebook.com/HelpCopsHelpUs
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