Life on the verge, in more ways than one: Tents along Cornwall Avenue provide temporary shelter for some of Bellingham’s unhoused residents. (Salish Current photo)
What do you know about homelessness and the homeless?
Salish Current and the Rotary Club of Bellingham (RCOB) invite you to share what you know:
- your concerns about homelessness
- your impressions of the homeless
- an encounter with a homeless person that was particularly touching or disturbing
- your thoughts about how to reduce the likelihood that someone would become homeless or what is needed to help people escape from homelessness.
This year’s point-in-time count of people who are without homes found at least 832 in Whatcom County, at least 146 in San Juan County and at least 314 in Skagit County. [Many who work with the unhoused of our community agree that the counts typically represent a lower number than those who actually are houseless.]
“Homelessness has been identified by the Rotary Club of Bellingham as one of our top concerns,” said John Dunne, a member of RCOB. “Homelessness has become a focus of increasing community concern as more people are forced into homelessness by unaffordable housing but solutions have been elusive.”
The form of what you write on the homeless or homelessness may be poetry, an essay, a letter to a fictional homeless person, an epitaph, or a fictional letter to an editor, mayor or city council.
Please keep the length of submissions to no more than two pages. Brevity is appreciated but not required.
Three submissions will be selected by a three-person Rotary Club of Bellingham panel. Salish Current will make a final selection.
The final selection will be published in the Salish Current and the Rotary Tattler. The winner will also be introduced at a Rotary Club of Bellingham meeting.
To enter, please send submissions by email to John Dunne, jedunne@uw.edu, no later than Monday, Sept. 19.
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