ATLANTA — There’s no exact number of how many Atlantans are out on the streets. But as so many of us shelter in place, the number willing and able to help the homeless has dropped fast.
That’s made the work of those still reaching out even more important.
Marshall Rancifer has been feeding the homeless for the last two decades. He’s never seen anything like the last two weeks.
“We’ve gone from feeding six hundred people a week to eighteen-hundred,” he said. “I think we’ve been sleeping four to six hours a day since this pandemic started, just to keep up with demand.”
Daniel Troppy has been doing the same.
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11Alive told you last year how he raises money for the homeless by taking and selling their portraits - and then turning that money into supplies he hands out multiple days a week.
Since COVID-19, he still loads up almost daily.
“If you’re homeless and you’re downtown, and there’s no one around to give you a dime or a dollar or a quarter, where do you get your money to buy food?” Troppy asked.
For that and so many reasons, this time of isolation has meant increased crisis for homeless Atlantans. Many, out of need, have banded together at a time when we’re told to stay apart.
“This is a community that, when you see them in groups, they cluster together,” Troppy told 11Alive's Matt Pearl. “Even last week, again, people asked me why I was wearing a mask. That’s alarming.”
“If an outbreak occurs among the homeless, it’s gonna spread like wildfire. And that’s my biggest concern right now," Rancifer said.
Shelters citywide are maxed out. Covenant House Georgia has a waiting list. The Atlanta Mission is housing 600 clients with half of its staff. Outside, on the streets, the options are fewer.
But because they’ve been helping for so long, Troppy and Rancifer see fit to help more.
“One of our donors donated seventy-four meal packages for me to hand out this morning,” Troppy said. “They’re not able to leave their house, but they knew I was able to and willing to, so they left all of this out on their front porch.”
“I think most folks think it’s just a few homeless folks that are suffering,” Rancifer said. “I think we’re doing a good thing here, and I want to be able to continue it.”
To learn more about Rancifer's work, check out his GoFundMe page. And for more on Troppy, check out the Facebook page for his nonprofit, YIMBY.