iCare is committed to staying on the pulse of changes and issues relating to poverty, hunger and homelessness.  Some of the ways you can help us be effective community advocates are:

• Get involved with us by volunteering, sponsoring a program or event or making a financial contribution to further our work.

• Volunteer for Our National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week Activities (see the Events page for more information)

• Help us Respond to Legislative Alerts (These alerts give the most up-to-date information about what is happening in Congress affecting homelessness and poverty on a national level, and what we can do about it.)

• Help Us Register People Experiencing Homelessness to Vote (The “You Don’t Need A Home to Vote” nonpartisan voter registration/education/get-out-the-vote campaign occurs nationwide each election cycle.  Contact us for information on our scheduled voter registration drives.)

• Become More Aware of Your Language (Try to minimize language in your own and others’ vocabularies that refers to people experiencing homelessness in derogatory ways.  By using expressions such as “people experiencing homelessness” rather than labels such as “bum,” “transient,” or even “the homeless,” we remind ourselves that people who are in such situations are still people first—just people who are going through a difficult period in their lives.  In a time when they may find it difficult to hold onto their sense of humanity, it is particularly important that we do not use language that further diminishes the dignity of people in homeless situations.)