Last week I was honored to teach four classes at Burke High School. Mrs. Kawecki’s Honors English classes are reading Oliver Twist and discussing poverty and homelessness. I shared with the class about present day poverty and homelessness, especially here in the Omaha area. What we discovered, by comparing the situations then and now, is that society’s opinion and treatment of the homeless hasn’t changed all that much.
Whenever you teach teenagers, you are never sure how much they “hear” and “retain”. When I speak, I always hope that I’ve changed a least one person’s attitude or opinion about homelessness. Mrs. Kawecki’s classes listened and learned! The students overwhelmed me with their personal notes about what they had learned and how their perspectives on poverty and homelessness had changed. These notes were a great encouragement to me personally-I know these students have a new understanding and compassion toward the homeless and near homeless. These students will make a difference in their neighborhoods, city, state and nation because they now look at a social/economic situation with a new perspective.
I invite you to bring your high school students to Open Door Mission for a tour and to see how they can make a difference in someone’s life and help break the cycle of homelessness and poverty. Consider volunteering at Open Door Mission. If you give only 2 hours a month, every month for a year-you have given just one day of your life to change someone else’s forever. Please help Open Door Mission provide basic needs for the homeless and near homeless in our community. Please help us provide more than 1,500 meals a day so men, women and children won’t go hungry. Call today to find out what you can do to make a difference.
Maggie Cope
Communications Coordinator
402-422-1111
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