European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 27, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Volunteer workers serving a thanksgiving meal to the homeless on the ground s of the . Capital the american dream gone a wry by Laura Castaneda associated  than 32 million people in the United tales Are considered poverty stricken and nowhere is the contrast Between Richand poor More jarring than in Mew York. In Bohemian Greenwich Village a Young Man lives on the sidewalk and peddles. Paperback books just around the Corner irom trendy jazz clubs Calas and Bou liquor. On the lower East Side where a Spanish language Church Sils on the same Block As a thriving chinese Noodle shop and Kosher bakery poor people of every race and age Wail in e crowded health clinic. In Central Park cyclists on bikes Worth hundreds of dollars Whiz by a sickly 20-year-old cocaine addict and. Hundreds of others who make their Homes there. The Federal government spends billions of dollars annually on emergency food shelter and health programs. But the High number of people living on the streets hungry end unemployed re Mains a serious problem that directly or indirectly touches everyone in she uni led states. Some blame the poor saying they be become Lazy and developed a comfortable Reliance on Public handouts. Others blame the social system for the loss of Well paying jobs education and raining programs a Lack of housing and underfunded government. Programs. But one thing is certain poverty is a serious problem in one of the world s most prosperous and Power la nations. It has reached catastrophic  said Prol. William Julius Vilson of the University of Chicago who has conducted several studies on poverty in the United slates  it used to be you could improve your slate. That s the american dream. Bui it s not True  said Tracy Huling of the federation of protestant welfare agencies adding that the nation is evolving into Claas system. In a Calcutta come to the United Stales said Diane Sonde director of project Roach Oul which works with scary life on new York s mean streets by Rober Dvorchak. Associated Pressor five homeless years on Nev York cily mean streets Chris Martin said he turned " dozens of $5 Iricks a Day with other men toiled his cocaine habit slept in a Salt  and washed in a fire hydrant. V. I was Selling my body for drugs. I was in a dead end zone said Marlin a transvestite. Ii was a scary life. You re on your own. Nobody s there to guide you. Youdon t care where you sleep he said. I could t Trust nobody i could t Trust  who led Home at age 15, is one of an estimated 10.000 homeless youths in new York City according to covenant House an advocacy group founded 20 years to shelter and feed teen agers who ran away  abandoned by their parents Martin checked into covenant House and is going through a drug rehabilitation program to rid Nims Sll of his drug habit. He said he no longer does drugs and he will not Goback of the streets children under 18 Are the fastest growing segment. Of the homeless population according loan estimate released by the National Academy of sciences. It s the Era of the disposable  said John Keels of covenant House. For them it s a Day to Day struggle for survival it you can Call it that said Elizabeth Burnwell of covenant House. They sell their bodies to survive. They Panhandle. They Deaden themselves with drugs. Or alcohol.", each night. Covenant House founded by he Rev. Bruce filter dispatches two vans to round up homeless children and offer them Beds meals and clean clothes at a shelter.,. The Van found Martin at a rat a nested garbage strewn warehouse where the ally stockpiles Salt Lor streets in Winter. Homeless youths have built a. Shantytown of mattresses and crates or they sleep in junked garbage trucks. They re Brave kids Riller said. They re desperate to get Back Olf the streets. Most of them won t make it one who Mado it Inlo the shelter was Kenny Uledi of Brooklyn new York who lived Lor sin months on the streets with his 16-year-old brother alter they were abandoned. His parents were drug addict who were evicted from their Home and loft Wilhour a word or Trace Uledi said. We robbed cat radios. We robbed cold cuts from supermarkets. We slept on roots. Anything to get  said the 5-foot-b. 130-Pound Uledi Iho pain evident