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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 8, 1992                   TAG: 9202100199
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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LEND A HAND UP TO POOR, HOMELESS

MY HEART extends the deepest disgust to people who put the homeless down for being "lazy," or who talk about how concerned they are, yet just sit, stare, and do absolutely nothing to help them!

I am a 15-year-old. I volunteer at RAM House. I adopt a family at Christmas, contribute anything and everything I have to give. I give old clothes, and my mother helps as well.

The homeless aren't lazy. More than 95 percent of them want to get a job, want to succeed. How do you expect someone to hire someone else who's dirty, smells, and hasn't got proper clothes? They can't attain these things without money.

Please give, and help. They just need someone to help them start out. They aren't convicts, they are real humans with God-given souls. They want to live, they want to be a part of life. Give them the will to live. It will change their lives and yours too! ALLISON C. ELLIS ROANOKE

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