The homeless are people with addictions or mental illness, families with children and veterans with no place to go.
Because it is a transient population, nobody knows for sure how many people without permanent homes live in Washington County.
The Herald-Mail spent months talking to homeless people in wooded areas, shelters, and temporary housing in the Hagerstown area, as well as to those who try to help them.
Church works to provide for homeless
HAGERSTOWN — On a day in early April, a state correctional officer and a recovering alcoholic who served time in the county jail walked side by side through the woods on a mission to serve those less fortunate.
- Resources available to homeless
Dinner on this cold night consists of steamers, rice, salad, chocolate cake and cookies. Some diners are already sitting at the plastic tables in the REACH Cold Weather Shelter, finishing their meals. - Solutions sought to end homelessness
The availability of more low-income housing subsidies would be a crucial step in reducing homelessness, according to Michael Stoops, who until August was executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. - Homeless man says, ‘Life is beautiful for me now’
HAGERSTOWN — “Writers see a little further than other people see,” said Charles Carey, who is a writer, a Vietnam veteran, a father, a grandfather and homeless. - Homeless ‘brothers’ reflect on their lives
HAGERSTOWN — Michael Petry and Peter Allen Keyser have been homeless for years. During the winter, they usually spend their nights at the REACH cold weather shelter. After that closes for the season, they camp in the woods. - Homeless take shelter in library
HAGERSTOWN — Washington County Free Library staff members usually can tell which of the people sitting in the main branch in downtown Hagerstown are there to get out of the cold or the rain or the heat. - Local man remembers hitting bottom and fighting back
Daniel Prosser is sober now, married and with a steady job, but he spent years living in a wooded area near City Park. - Family deals with the upheaval of being evicted
HAGERSTOWN — She worked for the Department of Social Services but was laid off in April 2008 when her position was eliminated. The mother of three had been looking for work ever since, driving as far as Montgomery County and - Self-proclaimed hobo rode the rails
HAGERSTOWN — He’s a hobo. That’s how 57-year-old Allen Longnecker identified himself on a Friday night in April at the REACH cold-weather shelter. - Trying to find the cause
HAGERSTOWN — Those who work to feed, house and otherwise help the homeless have ideas about why people find themselves without permanent roofs over their heads. - A tent is preferable to a shelter for some
HAGERSTOWN — “If I’m not working, I’m not living,” Klaus Kneeland said from inside his tent. Kneeland, who last winter said he slept during the day and worked at night, didn’t want to come out of his tent, but consented to be - Woods is her home 'on and off'
Last winter, Alice Shorday was living in a wooded area in Hagerstown, a place she's called home "on and off" for three years. - Tents are a shelter, not a home
Hundreds of beer and liquor bottles, a black duffel bag hanging from a tree, the remnants of a fire. - Homeless numbers difficult to estimate
WASHINGTON COUNTY — In Washington County, some homeless people live in the woods, others spend a night here and there in shelters. Some live in temporary housing provided by an agency. Some hold full-time jobs, others work part
