Volunteers are needed for a Homeless Survey scheduled for Thursday by the Smith County Coalition for the Homeless, the Texas Homeless Network and other local agencies. Organizers call it a continuing effort to address the homelessness issues facing Smith County and the state. “We will be carrying out this survey and count on the same day as other agencies all over Texas,” said Christina Fulsom, the President of the Smith County Coalition for the Homeless. “The survey will result in a comprehensive report on the number of homeless persons - sheltered and unsheltered - in our community; demographics, reasons for becoming and remaining homeless, educational attainment, employment status, health care needs, and other factors will be collected.

"We have to truly understand the scope of the problem in order to improve our ability to plan and implement effective housing and service programs. The same survey was conducted in January of 2009 - 261 homeless individuals, 62 of them children, were identified in Tyler, there were many others we did not find that night.”

Fulsom says the Coalition needs at least 50 volunteers to make this a successful study.

For more information, or to volunteer, click here.