Baby, it's cold inside

We currently have no heat upstairs. Unless, of course you count the little heater/fan that I keep moving from room to room throughout the day. The other day, Big Sister wanted to play in her room while I got dressed. Since I am excited about any opportunity to get ready without company, I agreed and began the task of bundling her up to play in her room. Here is what we ended up with:

It started with a robe and warm socks, and then she found her hat & gloves. I'm not really sure how the lei or balloon scepter factored in, but did I mention I was really looking forward to getting dressed by myself? I let the eccentric accessories slide.

But then I stepped back and looked. Change that heater into a trash can bonfire, and cut the fingers off her little pink gloves, and Big Sister would pretty much fit the picture most of us have in our head of homeless people. What's even scarier, regardless of her clothing, Big Sis does look like many homeless people in the real world. Check out this statistic:

• The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty states that each year approximately 3.5 million unique individuals experience homelessness in America. 1.35 million, or 39%, of them are children. 45% of those children are under the age of 5.

Do the math really quickly and that means there are more than 607,000 homeless babies, toddlers and preschoolers. I think about how cold it is in the girl's room in the morning, and how much it concerns me as her mother to keep her warm and healthy. At least we have a roof over our head and a working heat unit downstairs. At least there is a part on its way that will help us to have heat once again. Others are not so fortunate.

We hear it all around us this time of year- calls for warm coats, space heaters, extra clothing, canned goods for a holiday meal, even toys for Christmas. I suspect most of us heed the call. But hearing it now, as a mommy trying to keep her own little ones warm, even temporarily, it's louder than ever. Here are some of my favorite links for collecting and offering assistance to the homeless. The first is local, the source of my statistic. The other two may be more familiar and are nationwide. Check them out:

Chattanooga Community Kitchen
Salvation Army
Goodwill

Regardless of how you feel about homelessness, joblessness, welfare or other economic issues in our country, children are innocent victims in all of this. I hope you'll join me in helping the least of these. After all, how can you say no to a face like this?