Homeless people need compassion and assistance

I felt compelled to respond to the article "Homeless campers create conflict in Thousand Oaks" (Sept. 6 T.O. Acorn).

I work for State Farm Insurance, a company that believes in giving back to the community, and am currently on loan to United Way. My company continues to pay my salary and provide me a company car so that I can work as a loaned executive for four months at United Way to help them to end homelessness.

I do this by traveling to various companies and organizations, telling the stories of the homeless and asking for the support of those organizations in their community.

Just three weeks have changed my life and my view of homelessness. Many of us are just one paycheck away from homelessness. Recent job layoffs at Countrywide, Amgen and Indymac and our current mortgage and housing problems contribute to this situation.

Many people become homeless because of a one-time catastrophic event that has occurred in their life: the loss of a job, the loss of their home, medical needs with inadequate or no insurance.

When people become homeless, they get depressed and often fall into addiction because they don't have anywhere to go or anything to do. Substance abuse manifests itself because of the lack of being able to do anything else.

They need services, including basic needs: food, shelter and access to healthcare; they need improved education, especially adult classes emphasizing job skills; and they need programs that deal with money management, like saving and budgeting.

City Councilmember Dennis Gillette needs to support and encourage the agencies who help the homeless.

Funding needs to be given to agencies to expand their services. Imagine if every person in our community gave just $1 one time to one agency. A community with a population of 100,000 would raise $100,000.

I would encourage Gillette to get educated about the issues that prevent these homeless people from turning it around.

Thank you for allowing me to share my opinion.
Michelle Mitchell
Newbury Park