Juancho+E.+Ignacio

Juancho E. Ignacio

ENGL 150

Professor Liz Carlyle

4 December 2013

Reflective Letter

 I am Juancho “June “Ignacio, I have been at the College of the Redwoods since fall of 2010. I am hoping I can complete my Associate of Science Degree in General Business by next year, spring of 2014. Studying at College of the Redwoods has been a good experience because it has helped me to build up my foundation to educate myself. Despite the roller coaster experience, I have acquired good tools to battle upcoming future hindrances in life, and have learned failures are part of the journey to success.

 At the beginning of this class, I struggled because the last time I took English was thirty years ago, and English is my third language. I was hesitant to continue ENGL 150 due to lack of confidence in myself. I almost withdrew from it because I thought I would just fail it without even trying. I talked to my English professor and consulted with her about my situation as an English learner. Afterward, I decided to give it a try and keep going to my ENGL 150 class and did my best to make it possible to pass it with the help of my English teacher, classmates and tutor.

 My essay “Down - and - Out” is all about the homelessness in Humboldt County. The reference article that I read is all about, “America’s Wondering Families” from the book Growing Up Empty (2002) by Loretta Schwartz – Nobel. It examines the difficulties for homeless families and children in America.

The first topic sentence of the 3rd revision of my essay # 2 didn’t have a clear transition to the next body paragraph. A specific area of the essay that I see the most growth in the last draft is in the first topic sentence, which is “__Due to the reduction in government aid, it is essential that the community step up to feed children and families.”__ This sentence made my point clear to the reader.

I found myself stuck in a fixed minded approach to the task when it came to making my essay at least a thousand words. It was hard for me to stretch or make my essay # 2 longer because of my controlled language; sometimes I’m grammatically wrong or don’t make sense at all. I eventually reached a thousand words by spending more time writing.

I applied a growth mindset to this activity by seeking help from my teacher, classmates, and tutor. This people were able to help me whenever I needed it most. They also helped me improve my essay. I always accept corrections on my work because in my case that’s a part of growing as a writer since I am an English learner. I accept the comments that are given to me because they boost my confidence and encourage me to do better work by showing me the correct way to put my thoughts into writing. I always take all comments and feedbacks constructively. All of these improved the way I revised my essay.

As days passed, I noticed that I am not that good at constructing a sentence, but seeing my mistakes improves my grammar composition. I am very thankful that I didn’t withdraw from ENGL 150. My teacher, classmates, and tutor were a big help and that’s why I’m about to complete ENGL 150.

I chose essay # 2, about homelessness in Humboldt County because I’ve experienced being homeless and starving in my life. It was a tough experience which was never my choice, it just happened beyond my control. These experiences made it easy for me to write this essay because it was a topic I really cared about.

Juancho E. Ignacio

ENGL 150

Professor Liz Carlyle

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">2 December 2013

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Down-and-Out

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;"> “America’s Wandering Families” from the book //Growing// //Up// //Empty (2002),// by Loretta Schwartz-Nobel, examines the difficulties for homeless families and children in America.

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">“More than 100,000 American children have no home of their own to go back to in America. These children and their parents signal the rise of a new, more desperate level of poverty and hunger in America. Twenty five years ago, the homeless population was composed primarily of the mentally ill, the alcoholic, or the drug addicted. Now that underclass has increased from single people who were lost long before homelessness ruled their lives, to families who are lost because it does. Today homeless families account for between thirty eight percent and seventy seven percent of the homeless population, depending on the area. Two-thirds of the people in these families are children” (249).

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">These numbers are growing. In Humboldt County homelessness and starvation are some of the major problems in the community. A lot of desperate people in Humboldt County are in a state of homelessness, living on the streets in the middle of nowhere. They are starving from day to day, looking for food to satisfy their hunger. According to the Point-in-Time (PIT) Count conducted on the twenty fifth of January, 2011, by the Humboldt Housing and Homeless Coalition (HHHC), Humboldt County has one thousand sixty four homeless adults and four hundred sixteen children in our community. The average age is forty years old for adults and the average age for children is eight years old. Thirty percent said they are alcoholic, twenty eight percent reported had drug issues and fifty percent reported had mental health challenges. With so many children reported homeless, it is important that our community provide food for them. In the moment of their crisis they don’t have the assurance that they can get back on their feet. The continuing growing population of homeless and starving children in Humboldt County is a big issue that has never been resolved by concerned authorities__. Because so many homeless are families with children, it is essential to the community, that we support homeless people of Humboldt County by providing more food for them.__

__<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;"> Due to the reduction in government aid, it is essential that the community step up to feed these children and families. __<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;"> According to Pastor Bill Radatz, who heads the Presbyterian Church Ministry, Presbyterian Crisis Center on Market Street, San Diego, California, “The political will is to eliminate welfare, not to eliminate poverty”, “They want to cover the problem, not to solve it” (254).The concerned authorities are cutting back the benefits of the in-need homeless American people from the government programs instead of providing resources to assist them in getting back on their feet. This means, the government isn’t helping homeless people as much as they used to. Many people who were living on the edge of homelessness were able to prevent themselves from becoming homeless with the help of government assistance, but are now without homes because there is less government assistance available.

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">However, since the government isn’t helping homeless people in Humboldt County as much as they need to, there are some organizations that are assisting to provide food to the homeless people of Humboldt County, but they can’t do it on their own. __Local businesses need to donate more to help organizations to feed the homeless.__ The Food for People also known as Food Bank provides food for homeless people and qualified low income individuals in our community. They are providing food like grocery items, fresh fruit and vegetables, and other nutritious food that can be provided to the in-need homeless of Humboldt County, but without the support of the local businesses, they will not be able to afford this. When these charities don’t have the support of local businesses and can’t provide services to as many people, people like Cheyanna Long, a homeless mother in Humboldt County, are forced to panhandle to survive (Walters 254). Most homeless people don’t have any cooking equipment with which to cook their food, so these charities are also serving cooked meals for the homeless people of Humboldt County. Other examples of food providers are the Salvation Army, Rescue Mission, and Presbyterian Ministry, which provide food for homeless people. Another local community philanthropist is Betty Chin who serves meals daily to the homeless and starving people in our community. She provides food to the homeless people on the street and also helps homeless kids get to school. Even though these charities are providing food, they still don’t meet all of the demand. If these charities could get more donations from local businesses, the community could increase the food that we provide to the local in-need homeless people of Humboldt County at Food for People.

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Many businesses don’t feel like they should have to contribute to this cause because they believe that giving food to homeless people makes them reliant on the “system” rather than empowering them. However, a lot of these homeless people are kids and they cannot work on their own. Businesses and charities need to provide nutritious food for these kids in order for them to stay healthy. If businesses and charities won’t help these kids, who will?

__<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">We need to provide enough food for all homeless because that one person who goes without food could be a child. To ensure all kids eat, we need to feed everyone and stop the cycle of homelessness. __<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;"> Children in particular, need good nutritious food to thrive. According to Schwartz-Nobel, “Their need for emergency food assistance is often as urgent as their need for housing” (250). To fend off starvation, some homeless people get their food from the garbage. They are forced to eat spoiled food just to put something in their stomach. Often times they get sick due to food poisoning or rotten food. We should provide homeless families nutritious food so that they can have a strong immune system and stay healthy. Therefore, if they’re healthy, they should be competent enough to direct their lives and get back on their feet. They can start getting jobs and start new lives. With proper nutrition, kids can learn better in school and may not fall into the same problems as their parents. Afterward, they can start contributing to our society and some critics would no longer be disparaging them that they’re a burden and big issue in the community of Humboldt County.

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;"> In conclusion, homelessness and starvation is a vast problem in Humboldt County. As concerned citizens of Humboldt County, we need to help these desperate, unfortunate and homeless people. We need to provide food for these homeless people so that they will no longer starve and they can stay healthy. Some people might say that homeless people don’t deserve food from us; however, they deserve food and proper nutrition. As human beings, it is their right to have three proper meals a day. Although many people believe that homeless people choose to live that way or are too lazy to get a job, that’s not necessarily true. Many of these homeless people didn’t choose homelessness; it’s beyond their control. Maybe if we help these homeless people, they will start a new life and get back on their feet.

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Works Cited

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Carlyle, Elizabeth. //Essay 2.// N. d. Assignment Instructions. College of the Redwoods, Eureka.

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Schwartz-Nobel, Loretta. //America’s// //Wandering// //Families//. New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc. 2002. 249-262. Print.

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Walters, Heidi. “Family on the Corner: Eight Months in Front of Costco, with a Pair of 3-Year-Olds.” //Northcoast// //Journal// 4 November 2010: 256. Print.