I chose to photograph this truck and use this on my blog  because I think it shows a lot more than just kind words. As someone that is blessed to have a roof over my head and food on my plate I look at this truck and I see good deeds. I see a group of people devoting their time to make sure the needs of others are met. I am sure that if someone who is homeless and dealing with an addiction of any sort sees this truck driving around or parked somewhere it will instill hope in that person that they can get help. They could feel a sense of trust for the person that is driving that vehicle and know that they could go to that person for help. Seeing this truck could give them hope for a better life and have them know that there are people out there that actually do care about them and are putting forth effort to help others with their journey to get back on their feet.
I think that this picture shows that there are people out there that will go out of their way to make sure that everyone is living a life that they deserve.

The secondary source that I am using is The Hope Center's website. The website is http://www.hopectr.org. In 1993 the emergency shelter opened, and the shelter offers homeless people a place to sleep, food to eat, and clothes to wear. What keeps 25% of the homeless out on the streets has a lot to do with mental illness'. They have a recovery program dealing with stopping addiction of drugs and alcohol for both men and women. The mens recovery program opened in 1996, and the women's in 2002. The Hope Center has AA meetings to offer to the homeless so that they can overcome any alcohol addiction that they have in order to better their lives.
This shelter has a Hispanic program. The Hispanic program helps overcome any speaking barriers that there may be in order to have an independent lifestyle. The Hope Center really helps with drug addictions and any type of other addictions, "Decrease in percentage of adults who reported any past 30 day substance abuse: 88% decrease in illegal drug use, 84% decrease in alcohol use, and 91% decrease in heroin use."
I have learned a lot more about this organization just by scrolling through their website and I can't wait to interview someone from The Hope Center to answer even more questions that I have about this shelter.

I have chosen The Hope Center in Lexington, Kentucky.  The Hope Center is an organization that shelters and promotes career building, mental health, ending addiction and encourages skill building within the homeless community. I would like to find out how this organization is funded, what types of events they are involved in, and what the foundational history of this shelter is. I have always had an interest in the homeless community and wanting to learn more about what these type of organizations can do for them. I would like to broaden my perspective beyond all of the stereotypes that I have heard from the society around me about this specific topic. I am choosing The Hope Center because it is in my hometown, where I have seen homelessness become quite a normal occurrence. I would like to open my eyes to all the underlying issues that this community truly deals with despite all of the things that I have heard from the people who know very little if at all anything about this community as a whole. I hope that by the end of this semester I have developed an appreciation for this community and the volunteers who devote their time and energy towards it. 

I am involved in a community that a lot of people look down on. As time has progressed, though, we have become more and more accepted. I am a part of the LGBT community. I am proud daily to be able to say that I am a part of this community, while some others struggle with this. I feel as if I have been blessed with an accepting family, although when I first came out it was kind of tough for them to grasp everything but they always tried to understand things even though they were a bit blurry and new for them. Being in the LGBT community can be hard at times, especially with big nationwide changes happening and not to forget the few closed-minded people who couldn't possibly even begin to understand love beyond a traditional couple, a man and a woman.

Some of the misconceptions that people have about the LGBT community is that we as a whole do not like heterosexual people, and that is not true at all. I do believe that some of us involved in the LGBT community are somewhat hesitant when it comes to heterosexual people, because there are those few who can be very hurtful with their views towards us. I believe that if you do have views that could potentially be hurtful to some, you should keep them to yourself.