TEMPLE, Texas — Cities nationwide are working to pin point exactly how many individuals are experiencing homelessness in their communities. It's called the point-in-time count.
Central Texas organizers are using this as an opportunity to get people the help they need. The main goal was to speak with and survey as many individuals who are experiencing homelessness in Bell County on Thursday.
With this information, they hope to secure money to help this community to hopefully help some of them find a place to stay.
"With these numbers, it's going to tell us how we need to address some of the funding that we can get from the federal government," organizer and Central Texas Area Agency on Aging Director, George Losoya, said.
Around 320 adults and 51 children are living on the street, according to last year's count.
Women and individuals over 55 make-up the majority of the homelessness population from Thursday's findings.
"I'm suspecting we may get close to four or 500 that we have the privilege of counting today," Board Member of Central Texas Homeless Coalition, Tanya Roper, said.
Roper says she hopes the community can be more understanding.
"They were husbands, wives, daughters, sisters and they're just individuals," Roper said. "For whatever reason they have fallen on hard times."
Nearly 100 volunteers helped with this and visited high traffic areas like streets, shelters, bridges and cabinets.
"It has been amazing," social work student and intern at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Kennedy Garland, said.
Stephanie Jones is one of these individuals who is unhoused and went to Feed My Sheep.
"A lot of the people that have homes are better, that are better off than us," Jones said. "They look down on us. There's been so many times that I've wanted to give up. I've been crying on a bench and just some stranger came by and asked me what was going on and I said, I just got put out on the streets."
On Thursday, organizers found that Jones is nowhere near alone out there.