Welcome to Basic Needs Foundation, Inc.
Basic Needs Foundation, Inc. (B.N.F. ) is a nonprofit organization.
We provide food for working homeless people, who live in their vehicles with their children. We also provide pet food for homeless people’s pets. Their vehicles are their homes!
We find homes for pets, when their working homeless owners can no longer take care of them. Pets of the homeless are spayed and neutered.
Homeless
The Census Bureau reports about 100 million Americans—one in three—live in or perilously close to poverty. Many are working but rely on food stamps, government agencies and charity to feed, clothe and provide medical care to their children.
According to the USDA in September 2011, 46,268,257 Americans and 21,938,827 households use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as food stamps.
Hardly all marginalized Americans are recent immigrants with poor English proficiency. Many are high school graduates or have been to college but can’t land a decent, permanent job.
Food and hunger are a lens through which we see what America has become: a country indifferent to the basic needs of its citizens, one that forces millions of them to rely on private charity that is inadequate, inefficient and frequently unavailable.
Current Crisis
Driven by home foreclosures, evictions and loss of jobs, many homeless families are seeking help. Rescue missions and shelters in Los Angeles County are overwhelmed, as they don’t have enough space for homeless
people. These people live in their vehicles with children and pets since they have no other alternative.
Pets Of The Homeless
An estimated 5-10% of homeless people have pets.
Dogs belonging to homeless people are some of the most well-adjusted. Pets hinder homeless, but also help them. Their dogs keep them warm, protect them at night and give homeless people a reason to keep going.
The bonds formed between homeless people and their pets are often very strong. Many homeless people take better care of the animal than they do themselves.