Organization

Artists Helping the Homeless, Inc., was founded by Kar Y. Woo in February 2008 and obtained 501(c)3 status to fund a Sunday night meal program for homeless in the Plaza/Midtown area through the sale of art.  Woo had encountered the homeless while walking his dog in the park behind his store.  When one Sunday night he noticed MNU students serving the homeless dinner, he joined them.  As relationships grew, he learned of the needs and challenges of the homeless.  He realized many could be address through existing community resources before they became a costly, and sometimes painful, emergency and had some success. 

Artists Helping the Homeless operates under five basic principles.

From Randy Pausch's 'Last Lecture'

Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.
No one is pure evil.  Find the best in everybody.  Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you.
Brick walls are there for a reason.  They are not there to keep us out.  The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.  The brick walls are there to stop people who don't want it badly enough.
It is not about achieving your dreams but living your life.  If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself.  The dreams will come to you.
We can't change the cards we're dealt, just how we play the hand.  If I'm not as depressed as you think I should be, I'm sorry to disappoint you.
Never underestimate the importance of having fun.  I'm dying and I'm having fun.  And I'm going to keep having fun everyday because there's no other way to play it. 

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines a homeless person as someone who is:

• sleeping in an emergency shelter;
• sleeping in places not meant for human habitation, such as cars, parks, sidewalks, or abandoned or condemned buildings;
• spending a short time (30 consecutive days or less) in a hospital or other institution, but ordinarily sleeping in the types of places mentioned above;
• living in transitional/supportive housing but having come from streets or emergency shelters;
• being evicted within a week from a private dwelling unit and having no subsequent residence identified and lacking the resources and support networks needed to obtain access to housing; or
• being discharged from an institution and having no subsequent residence identified and lacking the resources and support networks needed to obtain access to housing.

 Homelessness is caused by a number of factors, including:

• Poverty and the lack of affordable housing: current levels of housing costs, coupled with low-wage jobs and the recent economic downturn, push even the working poor out of their homes; 
• Divorce, domestic violence and lack of family support;
• Chronic health problems; 
• Mental illness;
• Drug and alcohol addiction; and
• Natural disasters.
  

Due to the circumstances of homelessness, it is very difficult to come up with a reliable number of people who experience homelessness. According to the Alliance's most recent estimate, approximately 744,000 people are homeless on any given night. Read more in Homelessness Counts. Information on the last annual estimate of 2.5 to 3.5 millions people experience homelessness per year, is available in Homelessness: Programs and the People They Serve.

Resource data from National Alliance to End Homelessness

"God didn't promise days without pain,  laughter without sorrow or sun without rain, but He did promise strength for  the day, comfort for the tears and light for the way". Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain.