"Breaking the silence and reclaiming our voices" is a program that 
is trying to raise money for homeless children and families.

To break silence people need to talk, trust, listen, and ask questions. 
The program is 75 minutes long and keenly moving. 

There is a video of a child named rich who is homeless. He was beaten 
up and abused for being homeless. His only friends were the stuffed 
animals he carried around all the time with him. Rich was afraid to make 
friends because he thought that they would leave him. He also had 
reoccurring nightmares about running to find a home and on the way someone 
would beat him up. 

Gretchen Nordly, works for one of the American Red Cross Homeless 
Shelters. She works at the shelter located in Bucks County, Pa. The shelter 
was build in 1995 and opened in 1997. This particular shelter is open 
24 hours a day. 

There is a waiting list to get into the bucks county shelter. You must 
call their hotline. When you call the hotline they will ask you if you 
are a male or female and if you have children. The males have their own 
dorms that will hold up to 20 of them. The other dorm is the family 
dorm, it can hold up to 55 people. 
Once the shelter has established what sex you are and if you have 
children they ask you some intake questions. Then they will assign a case 
worker to help you get on your feet and out of the streets. 

90% of people that are homeless is because their lack of skill and 
education. In the shelter there is an education coordinator. He/she goes to 
schools to find local school programs for the children. No one knows 
that they are homeless except, the principal and the teachers. On the way 
to school they are the first ones to be picked up in the morning and 
the last to be dropped off. That way no one knows where exactly they 

At the shelter the men, women, and children are required to save all 
their money. The shelter will provide everything they need except 

Bedtime at the shelter is 8pm. During Fridays and Saturdays its 9p.m. 
Everyone in the shelter is up at 7a.m. and they serve breakfast at 

The shelter has up to 20 volunteers on a weekly basis. Including, 
young, old, and teens. 

Most of the funding for the shelter is donations. The government may 
also fund. 

There was also another program they spoke about, it was called 
Connie, the executive director came and spoke with us about her 
program. It is a program just for women and mothers who have a drug and/or 
alcohol addiction. Libertay opened in 1997. Libertay all started out in 
1973, with women who had alcohol problems. Libertay has a 1.2 million 

It is found that addictions like these will lead to unemployment and 
homelessness. Usually young women will get pregnant at an early age and 
cut off all options and hope for a better life. 

There are certain things that the mothers have to do. The mothers have 
to play with their child everyday for at least a half hour. 

They also supply therapeutic treatment and educational programs. 

Libertay also provides a half way house in Morrisville just for men. 

Students come to Libertay to volunteer to drive the women and children 
places they need to go. There are also people who come in to teach 
women for their G.E.D.

"Were all strapped to a bumper of a disaster car called the 
legislator," Connie stated.