Yes! Human beings without homes, or one paycheck away is very real in the Lakes Region of NH. The numbers are increasing from year-to-year. But let’s start this discussion with a perspective in this documentary: Homeless People Tell Their Stories (Breadline Documentary) | Real Stories. In 2025, every person in the Lakes Region is stressed without a lot of free time. That notwithstanding, these videos present compelling facts and stories … Many of which are shared by the growing number of people in the Lakes Region who do not have homes … or are one paycheck away from that condition. The last one of Brent (a law clerk) discusses “ageism” in the workplace, a circumstance this author experienced by being “displaced” in 2021 from my most recent job.

Every human being enters into a barrage … a sea of thoughts as we awake and prepare to go to work on Mondays. A few love it … perhaps more see it as a routine … and some may even dread it. All are understandable … thoughts we have in common.

At the end of August 2025, the PDFs of the “Executive Summary” (76 pages) and the “One Sheet Overview” (3 pages) for Team Connected were finalized and linked at our website. Readers are encouraged to read through both including our “Who Facilitates” page. On August 1, 2025, the local Laconia “Daily Sun” published a syndicated article by former congressman Gary Franks (5th district of Connecticut, and member of the Welfare Reform Task Force). It’s title is self-explanatory: “Mental illness is literally killing us”. And germane to the core mission of Team Connected, the congressman mentions those without homes several times or more.

In the first week of September 2025, Team Connected will be visiting the Isaiah 61 Cafein the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Readers are encouraged to go to the Isaiah 61 website and invest some quality time. Recently this author spent several hours with one staff member who has volunteered there for a number of years. Her insights were not only “eye opening” but also remarkably encouraging on the subject of people without homes in our community. That is one core mission of Team Connected.

A month ago, amid a 10 week bible study program entitled “Following the Way” (John Mark Comer) one of the brothers invited me into a separate YouVersion bible study; which I joined and completed with others. It was a great experience; so, I then initiated two others and invited many to join. This latest new one was started yesterday:

I'm reading the @YouVersion plan 'Identity in Christ - Confessions and Reflections on Who I Am'. Check it out here:

https://www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/39070

This article “Homeless defies easy answers” was published in the Laconia Daily Sun six years ago in 2019. Since then the numbers of people without homes, or those one paycheck away from that condition … have consistently increased throughout the the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. It’s a focal point in our community monthly meetings spearheaded by Joia Hughes chairing the Housing Committee of the City of Laconia (in which I continue to volunteer).