Sussex teens sleep in boxes to help understand the local homelessness crisis

(This post was originally written October 21, 2008)

In Sussex County alone there are 297 people living without a home this year. Even more shocking -- 187 of them are children with the average age of nine. Also frustrating is that among the three shelters in the county for families: Samaritan Inn, Interfaith Hospitality Network, and DASI, none of them can service single men.

Many of these families are just like you or me, but come across a streak of bad luck; an illness or job loss can put a comfortably living family out on the streets. With the bad economic times we are all suffering it is harder to job back from a job loss or keep your home after a serious illness. Foreclosures have tripled since the beginning of 2008 (The Record).

Recently, 106 Sussex County high school students came together to increase awareness of the local homelessness epidemic.

-Christine McDermott