I will never forget Melba Rogers. She was a dear, charming, intelligent woman of 61 who was a bit weather-worn and in not the best of health. She was a widow, living on the streets of San Francisco. The social security widow's benefit she received fell into a broad gap--too high to qualify her for public assistance, and too low to provide her everything she needed. She had to make a choice. She could either rent a small, relatively safe apartment and not eat or buy her medication, or she could get by in the homeless shelters. At least that way she would be able to maintain her expensive medication, eat and stay healthy. Melba was just one of many individuals living in the gap.

Homelessness and poverty are inextricably linked. Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, child care, health care, and education. Difficult choices must be made when limited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing, which absorbs a high proportion of income, that must be dropped. Most people are just one paycheck away from being homeless.

According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, 13.3% of the U.S. population, or 35.6 million people, live in poverty. While the number of poor people has not changed much in recent years, the number of people living in extreme poverty has increased. 14.6 million people -- 41% of all poor persons -- have incomes of less than half the poverty level. This represents an increase of over 500,000 from 1995. Forty percent of persons living in poverty are children; in fact, the poverty rate of 19.9% for children is almost twice as high as the poverty rate for any other age group.

Don't let yourself become a statistic like our dear Melba. Get the facts. Prepare. And, help out where you can.