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Things happen for a reason, I have always believed. I am a teacher, yet my undergraduate training was in social work. It is no coincidence that through my teaching I have helped children become aware of the problem of homelessness. This issue was close to my heart--I don't know why--and when I found myself living in New York City for 1 year (so my son could attend a performing arts high school), I found myself face to face with homelessness as I perused the streets and parks of Manhattan.

I was still a teacher, but then I became a social worker of sorts. And after I spent a great deal of time talking to one homeless individual, I then became a writer. I wrote a book about him, Have a Great One! A Homeless Man's Story, because I wanted to tell his story and hopefully, this book would help get him off the streets. And, much to my surprise, it did just that!

When I returned to teaching, I never anticipated that I would be able to use my experience and my book in opening the hearts of my students! Yet the ripple effect of my learning impacted my fifth grade students' lives also. I integrated our study of homelessness into our curriculum and involved my class in various projects that made them realize that they could make a difference.

One of my students suggested that I develop a website. "Why?" I asked Daniel. "To tell people about your book," he said, "and to tell people how they can help the homeless." So I said I would think about it, but would he help me? And of course he said he would--in fact, the whole class was excited about helping me develop a website. The initial website can be found at:

http://hometown.aol.com/lanthony5/myhomepage/index.html)