See a Homeless Person in Yakima? Call the Outreach Team

The Yakima Union Gospel Mission continues to reach out to homeless people to help them find housing and tackle the problems they're having that keep them homeless. Mission Executive Director Mike Johnson tells KIT news homelessness in Yakima grew by 49% over the last year putting a lot more people on city streets. That means more people are looking for services and ways to panhandle in areas of the city they haven't been seen in before like many parts of west valley where no services are provided.

The outreach team is out every night on Yakima city streets

The mission created an outreach team several years ago and the team has been busy this year says Johnson. The team travels city streets speaking with homeless and helping them with needs. The goal of the team is to convince homeless people to accept an invitation to the mission to help them change their life.

Johnson says don't give your cash to people on the street

Johnson says more people are panhandling this summer and he warns about the mistake of giving homeless people money. He says handing money over to a homeless person from the window or your car only keeps them in homelessness. Johnson says you could help by purchasing food but giving cash won't help.

If you see someone who is asking for help call the outreach team to help

Johnson is hoping you'll contact the Yakima Union Gospel Mission outreach team when you see a homeless person asking for help. The team can be reached at 509-304-4779.
The mission relies on donations to help homeless. If you'd like to donate you'll find information at the Yakima Union Gospel Mission website at yugm.org. You can help today by donating canned goods and nonperishable food to the Yakima Union Gospel Mission located at 1300 North 1st Street.

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Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

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Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

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