By Stacia Kalinoski
EUGENE, Ore. -- The 2010 one-night homeless count shows Lane County's homeless rate took a big jump this year.
That's a big challenge for census workers, for a variety of reasons. Thursday, they attempted to count at the annual Project Homeless Connect.
Project Homeless Connect brings 80 local agencies together to help the homeless with housing, employment and even medical and dental check-ups.
But most of these services operate with federal dollars. Dollars that come with an accurate census count.
They come for a haircut, a dental checkup, and a hot meal. But looming on many of their minds, is finding a job. With many jobs cut last year, a huge influx of people are new to homelessness. People like Michael Hall.
"It brings a sparkle to my eye that these people are willing to do something like this, expecting nothing in return," he said.
But the seemingly lack of work brings tears of frustration to Ronald Lange's eyes.
"You want me to come mow your yard or clean your garage, I don't care, just give me a job," he said, wiping away tears.
Michael and Ronald represent the people most in need of the federal dollars heading to social service agencies. Much of the funding comes from updated census numbers, but the United Way marketing director says most homeless people want nothing to do with the census, especially veterans.
"This is a group that often time feels like they've been betrayed by their governement because they haven't been taken care of after their service. They say, 'government has done nothing for me, I in turn, am not going to give anything back.' "
The homeless here say it's not just vets, but the mentally ill and those who've lost all their self-esteem. "All my savings, my retirement, it's gone," Lange said.
"Some homeless people just don't want to be counted. They don't feel like they're part of society," Tracy Rollins said, who is homeless.
Now the United Way is trying to convince people like Ronald that he does matter. Every person counted in the census is worth $140,000 to the community, which funnels money into the cities' social service programs in order to help those in need.
"I don't think people understand how many people are homeless out there," Hall said.
"We're talking about a good 10 percent of our population, that's a huge undercount. Our concern is letting them know this is for their own good," Crumbley said.
The 2010 One Night Homeless Count showed nearly 4,000 Lane County people were homeless at that time. Thursday, 1,400 of them showed up for free services.
