As a volunteer that night, we counted one homeless person (not in a shelter) in Parkesburg (at the Wawa on Rte 10). I wonder why they left that one out of their count?

This is very sad. Is there any way to find out how many children there were?

Had no idea there was this many. Time to donate.

Found some online info...
http://shelter.ccil.org/

Here's a link to a PDF that breaks down the demographics (although from 2010)
http://dsf.chesco.org/cccims/lib/cccims/pdf/reports/2010/2010_homeless_characteristics_final.pdf

I wonder if donations to United Way benefit our local charities - specifically these. I'm sure anything to the local food bank would be also a huge help.

Pete- I think our person was left out of the count because we found her after our group finished our 3-5 a.m. shift, and our leader decided not to come back to check on the situation.
As for the experience, my friend and I accompanied two workers from Chesco Dept of Community Development and a deputy sheriff and his K-9 partner. We met at the Rte. 10 Walmart and then drove around the boroughs of Honey Brook, Atglen and Parkesburg. We looked at all the places where we thought a homeless person might stay - parks, train stations, all-night convenience stores, laundromats. We found no homeless people and we headed back to our cars, and our team split up. We then drove across the street to the Wawa and found a homeless woman (it could have been a man - we couldn't tell because of the big hooded sweatshirt she was wearing). My friend and I called our team leader who basically decided she couldn't come back to meet us (even though she had just driven away 1 or 2 minutes earlier). We were told not to approach the homeless person because of safety issues. Now, in hindsight, both of us wish we had approached. Maybe offered her a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich. That would have been the right thing to do. When I volunteered, I was told that we would not only count the homeless on the streets, but also check on them to see if they had any needs. Our county worker didn't seem to care about that part of the assignment. I will probably volunteer again next year, though.

@regina - here's a list of food pantries - You might need to cut and paste:
http://www.referweb.net/chesco/MatchList.aspx?c;;0;;;0;70677;Clothing/Food/Personal%20Goods/Services;Food;3;Food%20Pantries~

And here's a link the the Chester County Community Resource Directory - http://www.referweb.net/chesco/

Hi Pete,

Thanks so much -- that's very helpful. I missed the article on the People's Pantry -- thanks for the link.