Baton Rouge is for most of us a stopover point between grade school and graduation, a springboard to the rest of our lives, a place where we learn what’s possible.
For others, it’s a dead end.
To the more than 12,000 homeless people in Louisiana, Baton Rouge can become a depressing black hole of hunger and joblessness.
This week, Kitchens on the Geaux and other local organizations honor National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week by providing breakfast for the Baton Rouge homeless and hungry and volunteering at the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank.
They also placed 12,500 forks on the Parade Ground with signs indicating their meaning: One fork for each homeless person living in Louisiana.
And that’s only the population we know about.
Homelessness is a difficult thing to measure, and since the stigma is so high, many are afraid to admit their status.
So it may be that 12,500 forks aren’t enough. Beyond that, many Americans are a mere paycheck away from being able to pay rent, feed themselves and support family members.
The good news is that most homelessness is temporary. Eighty percent of reported cases last less than three weeks.
That leaves 10 percent of homeless out in the cold for up to two months, while the remaining 10 percent are chronically homeless.
These people typically suffer from substance abuse or mental illness, and don’t have anywhere to turn.
Baton Rouge tried to assist those homeless citizens by offering free bus tickets in June to locations where they have family willing to help, and while the ideals seemed noble, what one Metropolitan Council member said about the city’s homeless was not.
“At the end of the day, we did not spend millions of tax payer dollars on refurbishing downtown to make it as nice as it is just to have it flooded with homeless people,” said Metro Council member John Delgado.
How many of you silently agreed with this statement? I mean, your tax dollars or your parents’ probably contributed to that downtown, so it’s your right to dictate how it’s enjoyed, right?
I shouldn’t assume that, though. Maybe you read that and were appalled. But take a couple seconds anyway to think about how downtown looks on any given weekday.
It’s barren. All the hardworking, bootstrap-pulling good people are inside, working away. Why shouldn’t those without homes be allowed to exist in a place built for human betterment?
No matter what Delgado implies about their peskiness and lack of humanity, these people are just that, people. And they need some assistance.
Sure, there are exceptions to every rule, but if the rule is 80 percent needing just a little bit to tide them over, we as a responsible society should be able to provide.
The other 20 percent deserves support as well, no matter their          circumstance.
Consider how close you might be to becoming part of these numbers. Imagine if your grants didn’t come through in time, or if TOPS or your parents decided to cut you off? What would you do?
It’s the stuff of nightmares, and this week those forks on the Parade Ground are there to help us remember.
When we’ve moved on to our supposedly bigger and better jobs, we should remember those forks, and the people they represent.
Take some money each paycheck and set it aside. Donate it to food kitchens, buy a man on the street something to eat or have a conversation with the woman who walks between the homeless shelter and the bus stop every morning to take her child to school.
Do what makes you comfortable, but know that these 12,500 forks represent people just like us.
Megan Dunbar is a 20-year-old English senior from Greenville, S.C.

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Angela Major

Kitchens on the Geaux has created an installation on the LSU Parade Ground to raise awareness for LSU National Hunger and Homelessness Week.