Feeding the Homeless

Submitted by Alex Sanchezs group

Bates, Lexi
Pittman, Nicoli
Robinson, Taylor
Sanchez, Alex
Snow, Ashlee

Salt Lake Community College

COMM 1010
December 1, 2014

Table of Contents

Title Page

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Project Description

Methods

i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.

Problem Question
Analysis of Problem
Criteria
Brainstorming Possible Solutions
Solution Analysis

5
5
8
8
9

Conclusion

11

Works Cited

12

Appendices

13

Appendix 1: Team Contract

Appendix 2: Solution Analysis Chart
Appendix 3: Participation Points

13
15
16

Executive Summary
This report is a summary of our groups problem solving process for our Group Communication
Project. We had used John Deweys Reflective Thinking Sequence from our textbook (Comm
1010, Adler, Ronald B.; Elmhorst, Jeanne Marquardt pg. 258) to complete this project. Our
problem was to find the best way to help the homeless people in our community. We wanted to
find the solution that would be the most beneficial to the homeless but was safe and realistic.
Our group used the Reflective Thinking Sequence to find the best possible solution. We created a
problem question, researched the problem, set up criteria for the potential solutions to follow,
brainstormed and analyzed each possible solution, and chose the best solution. We then made a
plan for implementing the solution.
We decided that the best way to help the homeless people in our community was to feed them,
but the safest way to do that would be to collect food donations from our neighborhoods. This
solution fit all the criteria and it would be the most effective and beneficial.

Project Description
Homelessness is a major problem all over the world. Driving around you can see a lot holding
signs up asking for money. Once you become homeless it can be really hard to get back on your
feet. Also, if you dont have money you cant pay for food and your health can go down quickly.
Our group has decided to do something about this. We wanted to go to Liberty Park and go feed
the homeless and take pictures with them but couldnt since we dont all have food handlers
permits. Because of that, we decided to do a food drive instead. On December 1st 2014, we are
all going to go to 20 houses in each of our neighborhoods and leave flyers and a bag telling
people what we are doing. Then, on December 6th 2014, we are going to go pick up the food and
take it to the food bank.
It was important to our group to do whatever it is we could to help homeless people. We are all
lucky to live in nice homes and be healthy and get a good education to help us get a good job.
We know we cant end homelessness completely but by doing this food drive we know there will
be a few less homeless people going hungry because of what we did. We didnt get to actually
interact with any homeless people because of certain problems, but we could still help out in
other ways and that is exactly what we did.

Methods
The first step we took to design a successful group project was making a team contract, where
we assigned our group norms and roles, as well as individual roles (Appendix 1). Then, we used
the reflective thinking sequence (created by John Dewey) to help the group decided which of the
possible solutions would be most effective. Below is the written up process of our research,
brainstorming, and implementation of the solution.
Part I: Problem Question
What is the best way we can help the homeless?
Part II: Analysis of Problem
A. History/Background
1. History: Homelessness used to be seen as a moral deficiency and that if you were
a good Christian, God would meet your needs. Creating a negative image for the
homeless, which resulted in, people looking down on them and not being open to
aiding them.
2. Causes: Things like natural disasters, loss of jobs, drug use, and many others
cause people to become homeless.
3. Statistics: Homelessness in the US: more than 3.5 million people experience
homelessness each year. In the U.S., more than 3.5 million people experience
homelessness each year. 35% of the homeless population is families with
children, which is the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. 23%
are U.S. military veterans. 25% are children under the age of 18 years. 30% have
experienced domestic violence. 20-25% suffer from mental illness. In urban
communities, people experience homelessness for an average of eight months.
B. Characteristics
1. Definition: those who sleep in shelters, public places, or places not usually
considered suitable for human habitation, such as cars or abandoned buildings
(David Levinson).

2. Groups: The homeless population can be categorized into many different groups,
i.e by age, gender, family status, race, etc. One group that makes up a large
portion of the homeless is mothers and children. They often exhibit depressive
symptoms and signs of exposure to trauma. The children tend to be worse off in
educational achievement, as well as physical and mental health. Most often,
homeless mothers and children have been victims of domestic violence. An even
larger group that can be found among the homeless is single adults. Single adults
usually have mental health issues and substance abuse problems. Interestingly,
veterans make up a large portion of the homeless population. In regards to age,
the largest group is people in their 20s and 30s. Minorities make up the biggest
part concerning race. (nationalhomeless.org)
3. Common Problem: Not all homeless people share the same characteristics, but
they do have the same needs. Affordable housing, adequate incomes, and
mental/physical health care are just a few of the many things they need (David
Levinson). The main problem they have in common is they are all hungry.
C. Stakeholders
1. Homeless People: Homeless people are affected by homelessness because they
dont have a home, cant take care of themselves or their family and cant afford
to eat because they have no money since they dont have a job. They recycle to
get money but people have complained saying these homeless people are stealing
their recyclables and they get sent to a local jail or get a ticket.
2. Donators: Donators play a big part in homelessness and helping these people.
There would not be places like soup kitchens or donation drives without these
people. Some homeless shelters provide beds and a warm place to sleep for as
many people as they can fit. I read a story about someone named Scott and he got
sick from being on the streets and was hospitalized for seven weeks which is just
one of the reasons why donating is so important. (www.mungosbroadway.org)
3. Shelters: Shelters provide a safe, warm place for people to stay who dont have a
home or place to stay. Most of these shelters are non-profit organizations and
sometimes are associated with churches or the government. Also, some of these
organizations have services like job training and soup kitchens to help get people
back on their feet.

4. Community: In the moral dimension we are all affected by homelessness because

we share public space with them. A lot of people say that people choose to be
homeless or that its their fault if they are, even when they dont understand the
real issues. In social inclusion homelessness creates divisions in a community (us
vs. them). Families who become homeless from a flood or fire are more likely to
receive aid or help than individuals who go through the same thing. In social
harmony conflict occurs when large numbers of people dont have access to their
own private space. This can bring up big issues about people in a society who are
of lower class. (poor) (http://headlinestheatre.com Homelessness Affects Us All)
5. Psychologists: Psychologists are affected by homelessness because a lot of the
people, if not all, need to go through therapy to help with the trauma that comes
with being homeless. People go through trauma just by being homeless as well as
dangerous situations that can occur. In Canada, for example, there are about
17,000 shelter beds, but 400,000 people who are in need of shelter.
(www.psychologytoday.com Homelessness as Trauma)
D. Policies/Politics
1. Federal Government: The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act in 1987
was the first time the federal government has responded to homelessness. The act
allows federal funds to be given to homeless shelter programs, and originally had
fifteen programs that provide many different services for the homeless. There are
now more federal programs that deal with homelessness and poverty, such as
Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
2. Local Government: Although there are more programs that assist the homeless,
local governments are making it harder for individuals to do what they can for the
homeless in their communities by making it illegal to provide them with food.
Local governments are able to do this because they are only creating new rules on
the use of public property and new food-safety regulations. Since January of
2013, twenty-one cities have passed laws that restrict the people who feed the
homeless.
E. Resources Available
1. Donations: Many People Donate money or items needed to live comfortably to
charities, food and clothes drives, and to other organizations built to help the
homeless. simple donations are then sorted out and given away to people in
need.
2. Shelters: Thousands of shelters are located around the US. Shelters provide a
temporary home for the many people in need. They do a majority of good deeds
ranging from provide a place to sleep, to providing quality food and good
company. Many donations end up in a shelter.

3. Community: There are many kind people today and many of them will go out
and do what shelters or charities would do with a small group or even by
themselves. Sometimes people may know someone who has become homeless
and will offer them a spot in their home till they can get back on their feet.

Part III: Criteria

It is important for a group to agree on the criteria for the project before brainstorming can begin.
The first step we took is defining a general goal, and then we established the criteria based off of
things we learned in class.
A. General Goal
Our general goal is to find a way we can help homeless people.
B. Specific Criteria
1. Realistic price (less than $20)
2. Time efficient (no more than 5 hours)
3. Applies communication techniques learned in class
4. Beneficial to the homeless
5. Safe for us and the people were helping
Part IV: Brainstorming Possible Solutions
After establishing a goal and criteria, we needed to come up with some possible solutions. As
part of the brainstorming process, we all quickly came up with many ideas. There was no further
discussion or evaluation of the ideas until after the brainstorming process was complete. Below
is the list of possible solutions:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
J.
K.
L.

Feed them
Clothes drive
Throw a party
Write them letters
Play chess or other games with them
Provide comfort for them
Volunteer at a soup kitchen
Volunteer at a homeless shelter
Give them pets
Line them up with a job
Give them baths
Make and distribute hygiene kits

Part V: Solution Analysis

In this step, we analyzed our solutions.
We discussed each solution from the list that we brainstormed and decided on six that worked
best as far as money, time, and benefit of the homeless as well as fitting the criteria we had
previously decided on. We all agreed on which solution would work best and got to discuss
which one to complete.
A. Narrowed list of solutions
a. Feed the homeless
b. Clothing drive
c. Volunteer at soup kitchen
d. Volunteer at shelter
e. Line them up with a job
f. Hygiene kits
B. Chart
After we had six solutions we made a sample chart to decide which one worked best. On
the top of the chart we listed the possible solutions and down the left side we listed the
criteria that each solution would be rated on. Each solution would be rated based on if it
would cost more than 20 dollars, take more than 5 hours, if it would apply the
communication skills learned in class, if it would benefit the homeless, and if it was safe
for us to implement the solution. Each category was rated 0-5; 0 meaning it did not meet
the criterion at all, 5 meaning it met it completely. When we were each done, we
collected them and took an average for each section, totaled them up and the one with the
highest score would be the solution we chose. Once we had a winner we discussed it one
final time to make sure that this solution was the one that would be the best.
C. Final Solution
Feeding the homeless had the highest score. After talking with our group we decided that
feeding the homeless would help them the most. After doing some research into helping
the homeless we discovered that there are multiple organizations dedicated to feeding the
homeless. For example, the Utah Food Bank. So we decided to help feed the homeless we
are going to do a food drive in our neighborhoods by passing out flyers and collecting the
food and taking it to the Utah Food Bank.
This solution was best because it completely met the criteria of costing less than 20
dollars, applying communication skills, being safe, and benefiting the homeless. The only
one it does not completely meet is that it will take less than 5 hours, however the benefit
outweighs the downside.

D. Possible negative consequences

There were a few complications when choosing this solution. Such as, the possibility that
we couldnt all get together on the same day, that it might take more time than
anticipated, or that we wouldnt get enough participation in the food drive. We discussed
each of these problems and decided that this solution would still work the best and that if
a conflict arose, we would adapt and work through it.

10

Conclusion
We had five students from Mrs. Gallaways 6th period Communications 1010 class who worked
together to do a service project to help the homeless people in our community. We used the
reflective thinking sequence to study the problem, create criteria, and come up with solutions.
We decided together to carry out the solution we found out. Overall it was fantastic.
Our solution was to collect food using a food drive and give it to our nearest food bank. We
created flyers, passed them out throughout our community, and then a week later we all drove
around to the individual houses and collected the donations. It was the best solution because it
was the most effective out of our possible solutions. It was very time efficient and everyone was
able to help out without causing problems in their daily schedules. It was very cost efficient as
well and put none of us in any form of danger. It was a great activity and everything went very
well. This project reminded us how lucky we are and how important it is to help out one another
and give what we can in life.

11

Works Cited
Adler, and Elmhorst. COMM 1010. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
"Available Resources for the Homeless." Westchestergov.com. N.p., 15 Aug. 2012. Web.
<http%3A%2F%2Fsocialservices.westchestergov.com%2Favailable-resources>.
Barclay, Eliza. "More Cities Are Making It Illegal To Hand Out Food To The Homeless."
Npr.org. NPR, 22 Oct. 2014. Web.
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/10/22/357846415/more-cities-are-making-itillegal-to-hand-out-food-to-the-homeless>.
Fischer, Robert. "The History of Homelessness in America 1640s to Present." DCEH.
Downtown Congregations to End Homelessness, n.d. Web. <http://www.dceh.org/thehistory-of-homelessness-in-america-1640s-to-present/>.
Levinson, David. Encyclopedia of Homelessness. Vol. 1. N.p.: SAGE Publications, 2004. Web.
<http://books.google.com/books?id=qPgHH8TJi8C&dq=characteristics+of+homeless+people&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.
The National Coalition for the Homeless. "Mckinney-Vento Act." National Coalition for the
Homeless (2006): n. pag. Nationalhomeless.org. National Coalition for the Homeless.
Web. <http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/facts/McKinney.pdf>.
"Overview of Homelessness In America." National Student Campaign Against Hunger and
Homelessness. N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://www.studentsagainsthunger.org/page/hhp/overview-homelessness-america>.
"Who Is Homeless?" Nationalhomeless.org. National Coalition for the Homeless, July 2009.
Web. <http://nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/who.html>.

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Appendices
Appendix 1: Team Contract
Developing Relational Norms

No member will whine or complain.

Each member will listen to the ideas of the other members.
No member will interrupts when another member is speaking.

Developing Task Norms

Every member will participate equally.

Members will be on time to every meeting, and notify the group if they will be absent.
Meetings will be 90 minutes or less.

Assign Relational Norms

Harmonizer: Taylor
Tension Reliever: Nicoli
Praise Giver: Alex
Participation Encourager: Lexi
Evaluator of Emotional Climate: Ashlee

Assign Task Roles

Starter/Energizer: Taylor
Gatekeeper: Nicoli
Devils Advocate: Alex
Reality Tester: Lexi
Diagnoser: Ashlee

Task Roles

Alex is in charge of conducting meetings and making sure each part is completed fully.
Ashlee is in charge of keeping record of the meetings and turning them in to Mrs.
Gallaway.
Nicoli is in charge of putting together the report.
Taylor is in charge of putting together the powerpoint presentation.
Lexi is in charge of making sure the meetings run smoothly and implementing the
solution..

13

History Taylor
Characteristics Nicoli
Stakeholders Lexi
Policies/Politics Ashlee
Resources Alex
Team Meeting Times
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

November 10th in class

November 12th in class
November 14th in class
November 18th in class
November 20th in class

Team Contract Analysis

The norms and roles are very possible and make it easy for the group to run smoothly
with few problems.
Every member has agreed to abide by the terms of the contract.
The group leader will enforce the terms of the contract, or take points off for nonparticipating members.

Lexi Bates

Nicoli Pittman

Taylor Robinson

Alex Sanchez

Ashlee Snow

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Appendix 2: Solution Analysis Chart

What is the best way to help the homeless?

Feed Them

Clothing
Drive

Volunteer at
Soup
Kitchen

Volunteer at
Shelter

Line them
up with Job

Make and
Distribute
Hygiene
Kits

< $20

< 5 hrs

Communication Skills

Beneficial
Safe

5
4

3
5

3
5

2
4

5
2

5
5

Total

22

20

18

16

12

17

15

Appendix 3: Participation Points

Lexi Bates: 10/10 points
Lexi executed all her responsibilities. She made it to all the meetings and followed all the
agreements on the contract.
Nicoli Pittman: 10/10 points
Nicoli executed all her responsibilities. She made it to all the meetings and followed all the
agreements on the contract.
Taylor Robinson: 10/10 points
Taylor executed all his responsibilities. He made it to all the meetings and followed all the
agreements on the contract.
Alex Sanchez: 10/10 points
Alex executed all her responsibilities. She made it to all the meetings and followed all the
agreements on the contract.
Ashlee Snow: 10/10
Ashlee executed all her responsibilities. She made it to all the meetings and followed all the
agreements on the contract.

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