Living in a city affords you many luxuries. Food from any region of the world is available nearby. Museums with invaluable treasures open their doors for free. A subway system lets you get around easily.

But a city also shows you the flipside. Homeless people camp in Rock Creek Park just off the bike path, in the three parks near my house, and in the doorways and bus shelter enclosures between the metro and my office. They open the door at the local CVS in hopes of getting a tip so they can buy food. They offer me blessings, even when I tell them I have no cash to give them. (Most are friendly; some are scary. But that’s true of all humanity, isn’t it?)

Estimates place the homeless rate in the D.C. metro area somewhere around 12,000. Given how many homeless people I encounter just in my daily life, I don’t doubt the number, although it saddens me.

Saturday I’m taking part in the Help the Homeless 5K Walkathon. All the money raised goes toward local agencies helping the homeless in various ways.

If you have the ability to contribute, please consider making a donation.

If you follow the link, your donation will benefit my designated charity — Martha’s Table.

Martha’s Table provides 200 low-income, at-risk children, teens, and their families with nutritious meals and supervised learning and literacy activities in a safe environment 365 days a year. McKenna’s Wagon, the seven-day-a-week mobile soup kitchen, feeds meals to the hungry and homeless daily at nine locations in the District. The Community Center for Healthy Living offers a family-centered Laundromat with an associated clothing distribution center and health education programs. Children and teens, ages 1-18 years old, are provided day care, after-school, weekend, holiday, and summer educational and recreational programs. 97% of the youth in the programs progressed to the next grade in school, and all the preschool and toddler-age children advanced to appropriate developmental levels. As part of the children and family programs, parents are educated and trained to enrich and strengthen their home environment to empower their children to thrive.

If you live in the area, please consider walking with me. Every little step matters, particularly if we take them together.