If you're a librarian, this rose is for you. "Brenda" was waiting for me inside Cossitt Library, Memphis’ small but historic downtown library where she, and other homeless people often spend their days, knowing they'll be safe, accepted, and treated well, just the same as other patrons.

People have often asked me why I am so hooked on trying to help homeless people, especially those who most often sleep on the streets. Mainly it’s because I just can’t stand to see people, most with staggering levels of disabilities, sleeping on the streets of America. To be honest, though, part of the reason is that it’s never boring.

"I’m not dead yet!" she'd remind us, sometimes rather forcefully... And then she was gone, way too soon, leaving us with holes in our hearts and a huge hole in the heart of the homelessness "system."

For a lot of homeless men, there's been no "room in the inn" this summer in Memphis and many other cities across the country where churches have come together to provide emergency shelter in their church buildings.

It’s that time again (the last week in January) and from coast to coast thousands of volunteers have been recruited to help count homeless people during the point-in-time (PIT) count required by HUD, the 800 pound gorilla of “homeless” funding.

Last month found me at the National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference. The keynote was delivered with elegance, wisdom and heart by First Lady Michelle Obama. To sum it up, the conference was a rip-roaring success. Ending the cycle of homelessness is what I'm about and what my personal goal is

As a wannabe writer, my dream was to have my writing validated by people who read and write for a living. I never dreamed that writing about homelessness, the homeless people who stole my heart and broke it, and how profoundly they affected my life, would make my dream come true.