When we decided to participate in Blog Action Day 2008, the theme Poverty, we were going to write about poverty in various countries, around the world.

Then in speaking with a friend, Dan Portnoy, who has been recently working on a project for the Union Rescue Mission, we realized poverty and hunger was in our very own backyard.

In our little piece of the world, we call Orange County; we see a beautiful place, 42 miles of white sandy beaches, wonderful weather, culture & entertainment, world-famous dining and the center of some of the best US resorts. We have something for everyone.

Yet, despite that we live in one of the top ten wealthiest counties in the United States, an estimated 35,000 people become homeless each year.

How is that possible? We almost never see people sleeping on benches, panhandling on a street corner or pushing a cart with their belongings. That is because being homeless in our area does not fit within our ideal of the O.C. Lifestyle.

Never seen a homeless person in your part of Orange County? It is time for a reality check, for all of us living here, homeless don’t wear signs. They are very conscious to fit in, to be clean and dress appropriately. They are not sleeping on our park benches, but in their cars, shelters, run-down motel room, on couches or the floor at a friend’s home.

Can you imagine the stress, the efforts to please our O.C. ideal, to avoid humiliation, people staring or avoiding them as if they have an infectious disease?

What about the children? Did you also know, a child is born into poverty in the Orange County every 2 hours? That puts the annual number of babies born into poverty, to 40% in Orange County alone, not to mention all of Southern California.

According to the O.C. Rescue Mission here are seven facts about the homeless in Orange County you may not know:

• 35,065 incidents of homelessness were reported in 2007.
• 24,545 of these incidents were homeless families.
• 16,332 of these incidents were children.
• 5,389 of these homeless incidents involved children under the age of six.
• Approximately 3,400 emergency shelter beds exist in the entire county.
• 60% of the homeless go regularly without meals.
• 81% feel severe hunger.

The Federal Poverty Line, in 2006, says a family of thee, with an annual income of $15,260 is at the Poverty Line. According to the United Way, a single parent with an infant and preschooler needs to make $49,791 to be self-sufficient, to live in Orange County.

A single parent of two children, under preschool age, requires almost $50,000 a year to be self-sufficient in our community. There are no extras this is just to sustain a place to shelter, food, clothing, gas, utilities, all basic needs.

Some may be thinking they don’t know anyone in this desperate situation? You may not recognize them, but you know them as a friend, co-worker, neighbor, client, coach, teacher, landscaper or even your housekeeper.

Let’s not kid ourselves, families are filing for bankruptcy in record numbers, and without a contingency plan, many families are only a few paychecks from being homeless.

Homelessness and Poverty is not only Orange Country problem, it is a worldwide problem. We are trying to education and resolve by 2011. Can we do it? That is the worldwide goal, through education and involvement.

If you would like to learn more, we have listed a few resources below, but there are thousands out there. If you have a good resource in Orange County, National or Global, please provide us with a link by commenting.

There are many issues to address in eliminating Poverty, as we learned in researching and communities with our business networks, but awareness of the problem opens doors to solutions.

Please tell us your thoughts. What can we do, within Orange County? What can we do on a larger scale to help meet the 2015 goal?

Related articles:

• Blog Action Day 08: We Don’t Need Coins, We Need Change
• Blog Action Day 2008 - Poverty (Skid Row)
• Orange County Partnership to end homelessness
• Orange County Rescue Mission
• End Poverty by 2015