Being Thankful Everyday

We have a wonderful life.  Our family is safe and sound.  We are Thankful.  
Being in Northern California for 1 week we have noticed more homeless people than anywhere we have ever been in the USA.

An older homeless man in Mendocino

It makes sense that if you are homeless you would want the temperate weather of California, hoping it would help you survive the nights without shelter.  Most every person we saw walking, hitchhiking, hanging around had a backpack and a dog.  Would the dog be for safety we wondered?  It would provide some companionship and  it would help protect you from another person or from wild animals?

A young man and his dog along Coastal Hwy 1

It was a phenomenon that we definitely noticed everyday while driving around the small villages, highways, grocery store parking lots and along the highways.   Checking into a bit of information on Homelessness in Northern California  we found some alarming statistics.  Twice today we were approached and asked for money; unfortunately we declined.   We gave instead to a donation at a couple of the stores collecting for homeless.   One fellow actually asked for a few dollars to buy beer !!!   Well at least he was honest.
1.  In the nation, the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single    night was 650,000.
2.  In California on any given night, 360,000 homeless individuals sleep on the streets or in shelters.
3.  California has the highest homeless population in the nation.

Another young man and dog in Willitts