the poor are always with us?
The Other Side of Charity's Coin: "An estimated 15,000 homeless people live in the Washington region, a number that has been growing by about 6 percent a year, said Terry Lynch, executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations. Major increases in housing and rental costs have come when funding for anti-poverty programs is tighter than ever, he said. 'We are not that dissimilar from a New Orleans in terms of having that entrenched poverty,' he said."
"We're all a paycheck away from disaster, and I feel for those Katrina people," said Andrew Davis, 41, a homeless man who was sitting in a folding chair at the site. "But the homeless people in this city are treated like second-class citizens. What does that say about our nation's capital? Something's wrong with this picture."

Some of the same people reaching into their pockets to donate Katrina relief no doubt also contribute to poverty-fighting programs year in and year out. It is the degree to which people are reacting to the disaster that sets this giving apart. Thousands have signed up on Web sites to offer a spare bed, an empty basement to Katrina families; millions of dollars are pouring into relief funds.

"It's even kind of a fad -- so many people are giving, you want to feel you are giving as well," Marullo said. "It's interesting: Wehave a generalized fear of strangers, and this whole phenomenon of the gated community, and here they are saying, 'Hey, strangers, come on in and share my space with me.'"

Joe Johnson, an Alexandria resident who owns an air-conditioning business, said he was moved by the desperation he saw on TV. "I see all these families, and I just think, what are they going to do?" he said. He has offered to rent a three-bedroom apartment for a displaced family at the complex where he lives, at a cost of $1,400 a month.

"I thought I was going to be inundated with people who needed places to stay," he said, "But once I got signed up to a few of these housing Web sites, I came to realize tons of people were doing the same thing."

Jan Kennemer, an Arlington real estate agent, said an e-mail she recently received from a real estate agents association urging donations "was a turning point" for her in terms of involvement. The e-mail said that every real estate agent in New Orleans is out of business. "It wasn't just that they've lost their homes, it's that all the businesses are gone, too, and there's no means of support," she said.

Through housing Web sites, Kennemer has offered the finished basement of her home to a displaced family. She has received one response, from a family of four. Just giving money "seemed so impersonal," she said. "Something like opening up your home, although scary in some respects, was something personal I could do."