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When you pass a homeless person who is out on the street, smile and say hello. Donate Here. Looking for shelter, clothing, housing or food? Homelessness is a desperate situation regardless of what season it is, but to be homeless during a Canadian winter can be especially harrowing.

Buy Something Hot to Eat or Drink If you want to give directly to a person who is homeless, then buying them food and a warm drink are a good idea. Make and Hand Out Care Packages There are a few everyday essentials that a person needs to live and function that may be out of reach for someone who is homeless. Donate to Charity The best way to help is to make a monetary donation to a charity that supports the homeless population.

Be Kind! To stay warm, he stuffs hand warmers inside his bedding and covers himself with industrial garbage bags. Making it through the winter outside used to be easier because he would sleep in a tent with a donated propane heater, Gordon says. While the heaters can be hazardous, he says that you only need to run them for 15 minutes inside of a tent to get warm.

But city officials have reportedly cracked down on tents to make way for construction. In recent months, Gordon says he had four tents and two propane heaters taken away. Gordon believes that the city is unfairly concentrating on depriving homeless people of the supplies they need to survive instead of offering them permanent housing or finding other long-term solutions.

Doug Schenkelberg, the executive director of Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, says Chicago has added about beds to its homeless shelters during the current freeze, and has opened warming centers in buses, libraries, and recreational centers across the city.

However, he says that there are many reasons homeless people may avoid shelters. CNN As temperatures plunge across the country, staying indoors and warm is not always an option for the nation's homeless. For the homeless, staying indoors isn't always an option. A man tries to stay warm on a Manhattan street in The National Weather Service warns that hypothermia can occur in temperatures even as high as 60 degrees Fahrenheit, especially if the person isn't properly dressed.

Here are some ways you can help those in need:. Direct them to shelters. Homeless populations are particularly vulnerable since they have significantly fewer places to take refuge from the weather and less ways to protect themselves outside. Read More. Hand out care packages.