This Christmas while you’re thinking about the gifts you’ll get for those you love, perhaps you could give one to a stranger in need.
When you’re living on the street, gifts are the last thing on your mind but as shown in this video, something that brings a great deal of joy. We hope you’re inspired to add an extra gift to your shopping list this year!
As the founder of Ripple Kindness Project, I’m keen to be actively involved in caring for my local community, so I’m a member of several committees designed to help improve lives or offer support to people who are struggling financially or emotionally. I’m also part of the “chaplaincy” or student well-being committee at my boy’s primary school (though they are both now in secondary) which has given me great insight into the daily struggles some families face.
Though Ripple has helped with Christmas goodies and other school fundraiser ideas in the past, this year, I decided to put the word out to the community to widen the ripple and make it a much happier time for as many as possible.
The aim was to support the school Chaplain by providing gifts for his most vulnerable families and also help some friends who work with people experiencing homelessness or are at risk of ending up on the street by providing backpacks filled with essentials and Christmas treats. read more →
“At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done.
We will be judged by ‘I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me, I was homeless and you took me in.”
– Mother Teresa
In September of 2007 Jon Linton began gathering imagery to document the homeless on the streets of Phoenix Arizona. That Fall he had volunteered both time and resource at a local homeless shelter to better understand the circumstance and plight of those without a place to call home. His project took shape, when the first man he photographed wept as he asked him his name. “You have no idea how long it has been since someone cared to ask my name”, he stated.
Through the course of this journey Jon has met many souls that through a bad set of circumstance, addiction or mental illness find themselves without a door to walk through at day’s end. They had fallen into what some had referred to as an “Invisible World”. The I Have a Name Project is a humble attempt to bring dignity and humanity to those less fortunate among us.
Jon encourages you to go out and help another in need. He says your soul will thank you and reminds you to always practice compassion with these 10 tips that will help you better understand how you can help someone in need.
What You Can Do To Help The Homeless
1. Respect the homeless as individuals
Give homeless people the same courtesy and respect you would accord your friends, your family, your employer. Treat them as you would wish to be treated if you needed assistance.
2. Respond with kindness
We can make quite a difference in the lives of the homeless when we respond to them, rather than ignore or dismiss them. Try a kind word and a smile. read more →
