Faces for a forgotten group

For 875 seconds yesterday — roughly 15 minutes — about 100 people stood on the lawn of… For 875 seconds yesterday — roughly 15 minutes — about 100 people stood on the lawn of Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall covering their faces with a picture of a homeless child.

After those 15 minutes, demonstrators chanted “listen” ten times, then all clapped at the conclusion of the event.

The Homeless Children’s Education Fund hosted the demonstration as part of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Each second represented one child who accesses homelessness services in Allegheny County on a daily basis.

The nonprofit organization HCEF chose the spot because it provided visibility and because of the flow of heavy traffic — both pedestrian and vehicular — said founder Joe Lagana.

Susy Robinson, manager of outreach and volunteer services for HCEF, said the goal of the demonstration was to raise awareness of the issue of homeless children.

“The goal today was to have 875 people participate to represent all 875 homeless children in Pittsburgh,” Robinson explained.

The number comes from an Allegheny County Department of Human Services point-in-time study conducted in January. A point-in-time survey is a federally mandated study to count the homeless in a given community.

The results of the survey indicate an increase of almost 39 percent in the number of homeless children — that’s nearly 250 additional children without homes — since the 2009 survey, said Bill Wolfe, executive director of HCEF.

In Pittsburgh, 17 homeless shelters are now able to provide learning centers for the children to do homework. Services within these centers include computers, tutors and teachers, which all help homeless children continue their education and,especially, work on literacy.

HCEF contributes to the shelters by providing volunteers and donated services through money they raise from the community.

“Homeless children have a right to education, no matter what,” said Wolfe.

Lagana said that he started the fund 12 years ago to “dramatize the plight that homeless children face.”

“These children are invisible,” he said.

The fund advocates their cause through newspaper ads, radio and other media. The Fund also works with Pittsburgh’s Rotary and Lions clubs.

Wolfe said the organization also works with the Clairton, Duquesne and Pittsburgh city schools to support teachers who try and help homeless children.

A new Pitt group, the Panthers for Homeless Children, came to support the event.

Christine Kamau, a senior majoring in psychology, said her group hopes to make the community more aware of broader issues concerning the homeless.

“This event went well and most of the members of our organization showed up,” she said.

In the future, HCEF hopes to work with the Pennsylvania state legislature in passing Senate Bill 1414, which would create a task force to address childhood homelessness, Lagana said.

Zachary Wenzel, a Pitt freshmen and member of Panthers for Homeless Children, said, “During the 15 minutes of silence I kept thinking how cold it was, but then realized that’s what actual homeless people experience every day.”