Michelle Obama poses for a cell phone pic at a food pantry in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
 

Homeless people who, for many reasons, have lost traditional brick and mortar homes, try to establish their identities and their personal space on Earth. Those homeless people have possessions, identities, often jobs, just like you and me. Cell phones, according to a report in the Washington Post are rapidly becoming lifelines for those folk.

The Post report tells of a man who juggles on-call jobs to survive, though he can't yet manage a real home. Without his cell phone, just like you and me these days, he would be out of range of his employers or family or friends.

Let's not turn up our noses or judge homeless people with cell phones. They get them from friends, from family or from community programs. They come by these often prepaid phones ligitimately. Cell phones may lead to a way back home for homeless people. Would you consider helping?

"We are facing tough times in this country,'' Chicago's own First Lady Michelle Obama said, and it is important to help those who have no place to live. Michelle Obama sets, with her family,  "..example(s) of what we can do, as a country and as a community, to help folks when they're down... We're all going to need one another in these times. We're going to need to keep lifting each other up, in prayer and in hope."

To help - do some spring cleaning. Clear out the drawer full of cell phones you don't use anymore. I had 12 of them, with charges and other gadgets. Erase your personal data from the mobile phones and donate them to any of the agencies listed below. It's FREE to do. The phones may help homeless people, women in dire circumstances, or challenged families. You can drop the phones off, or sometimes you can print a mailing label online. Give it a shot. One person's trash is another's lifeline. See the box below for cell phone drop offs.