I recently attended a fundraiser for a cause that almost everyone ignores: homelessness.
That's where Operation Nightwatch comes in. The group provides basic services and housing for people who don't have shelter — more than 2,500 people on an average night in Seattle.
Read that again: that's TWO-THOUSAND FIVE-HUNDRED people. The equivalent of six fully loaded 747s without shelter.
The group's annual luncheon was held in Seattle's ornate Union Station and drew some 450 people, which qualified it as a garden-variety luncheon downtown. Homemade sandwiches, cookies and Tim's chips passed around each table were a distinctive touch.
But the real impact was in the simple message that we must take care of each other.
That's a stretch in our new Gilded Age, where everyone aspires to great wealth even if their chances of achieving it are diminishing. More than 11% of Americans live in poverty, according to the OECD, though you'd never know it from the topics discussed during the recent election season.
These facts underscore the need for more leaders like the two couples who started providing supplies to the homeless in Seattle's streets back in 1967. Forty-five years later the charity they founded has grown and touches more lives than ever.
I walked out wondering why events like this get so little attention — almost no politicians in attendance, few corporate sponsors, no communications campaign — when the need is so great. The poor and homeless can't hire lobbyists or write checks. The one national politician who made povery an issue (John Edwards) is in disgrace.
The message that stuck with me was to not be surprised when you meet someone who's homeless. Everyone has a story and a life. With all of our support, they have promise.