On Thursday, October 31, I attended a public service class where the professor had invited two spokespeople from the "National Coalition for the Homeless" to share their personal stories and what the public can do to help. The first to speak was David Perle and he began by analyzing his own difficulties: poverty and homelessness. Mr. Perle has always worked but his income was not sufficient to afford basic necessities. He worked whenever someone hired him but couldn't find long-term employment. For this reason, Mr. Perle moved from county to county in search of work. He eventually ended up in the Washington area and was finally able to get the help he needed by staying in a shelter. The people who work at the shelter helped him during this difficult time and helped him through the process. Mr. Perle refused to ask for help first because he felt embarrassed to let others know about his situation. He didn't even go to his family because he didn't want them to think he was a failure. After Mr. Perle concluded his account, it was the next speakers' turn to share his struggles with being homeless. Alan Banks was second during that seventy-five minute period. Mr. Banks started his story from the beginning when he was in college, had a decent job working for the government, and was married. She had a small shopping addiction that increased as her marriage progressed. Mr. Banks bought expensive items that he rarely or never used. When his wife left him, he fell into a deep depression. Soon after, she lost her job but still used shopping as an outlet. Mr. Banks' house was foreclosed on and he lost all his possessions. He lived on the streets in New York City for three years and went without food for... half of the paper... Being homeless is because you're too lazy to work. The reason for this is that the working poor, or individuals who do not earn enough to support themselves, suffer from a lack of affordable housing and unemployment. A huge number of people have jobs, but don't earn enough to survive in today's economy. From learning this, I feel like we should volunteer more often than we should. It's not that they put themselves in that situation on purpose, they just can't keep up with the rising cost of living. When I first entered Krug Hall for this panel, I was worried because I felt like I was intruding on someone's class, but I'm glad I went. The panel was informative, the members of the "National Coalition for the Homeless" were friendly and had interesting stories to share and it changed my initial thoughts on homelessness.