It's been an unseasonably warm early fall in the Top of Utah but that appears to be ending. Next week calls for sharply cooler temperatures and rain. By Christmastime, as we do every year, we'll be trudging through snow and calling 40-degree days "a little warmer."
There's a perfect storm this winter that is building against those who are victims of bad luck and the poor economy.
Call it winter versus the homeless. Several organizations that are dedicated to helping the homeless and poor are in dire financial straights. Federal stimulus funds are gone and they need, more than ever, to rely on the charity of us and our neighbors. According to a survey from the Community Foundation of Utah, 62 percent of area organizations that help the poor and homeless have only two months of cash reserves in the bank. That won't even last until the holiday season.
Even worse, 13 percent have nothing in the bank; they are operating paycheck to paycheck. And the Top of Utah has been rocked by the bad news that due to the economy, the Salvation Army's adult women's addiction rehabilitation center has closed.
We know times are tough for just about everyone. But if you have a warm, secure place to sleep at night, if you don't have to worry about missing hot meals, or missing the mortgage payment, please lend some cash, or time, or both, to a local charitable organization.
They include Catholic Community Services, St. Anne's Center, the Midtown Medical Center, the United Way, the Salvation Army, Ogden City, Family Counseling Service, Alan and Jeanne Hall Foundation, Weber County, the Northern Utah Red Cross and the Ogden School District.
These are critical times for those who are not living secure, healthy, safe lives due to economic misfortune.
We must do what we can to help these people, realizing that we are very fortunate to not be in that situation.
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