HANAMA‘ULU — Kaua‘i social services organizations on Tuesday began counting the island’s homeless. Kimberly Cummings of Women in Need was joined by Tammy Cacal and Renae Wa‘alani on the first day of the homeless count coordinated by the Kaua‘i Community
HANAMA‘ULU — Kaua‘i social services organizations on Tuesday began counting the island’s homeless.
Kimberly Cummings of Women in Need was joined by Tammy Cacal and Renae Wa‘alani on the first day of the homeless count coordinated by the Kaua‘i Community Alliance.
Their assignment for Tuesday was Hanama‘ulu Beach Park where they had little trouble locating homeless people and getting them to answer the survey, which takes about three minutes to complete.
“We’ll be doing this through Saturday night,” Cummings said. “We have a different section each day.”
Homeless people move from place to place, Cummings said, explaining the necessity of being mobile in conducting the count.
“We get their name and birth date, which will be entered by Kaua‘i Economic Opportunity into a central homeless management database,” Cummings said.
“By having the names and birth dates to cross-reference, we can eliminate duplication,” she said.
Homeless people who would like to provide information for the count can approach the KEO Care-a-Van throughout the week, or they can stop by the Catholic Charities office in Lihu‘e, located on the second floor of the Central Pacific Bank on Umi Street.
Each year, volunteers from across the state conduct a count of families and individuals who are homeless, states a news release from Catholic Charities.
This information goes to various nonprofit and government agencies to determine where to best target money for services to the homeless. Volunteers will be at beaches, food banks, parks and other locations.
“In addition to the survey, we also have bags of personal hygiene items which we distribute,” Cummings said. “This is the best part of the job — the outreach.”
For more information, call Stephanie Fernandes at KEO at 245-4077, ext. 228, or email Catholic Charities at CCHKauai@gmail.com.
