Next to the elaborate and expensive parties held for Super Bowl XL Sunday in Detroit, a quieter event was held for the city's homeless.
Sponsored by Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, the event attracted a portion of Detroit's estimated 13,000 homeless people.
The event gave people, without the means to do so on their own, the same perks most other people had — a place to eat, drink and relax during the game.
It also let them know some of the services the mission offers.
It was a great way to let people, who otherwise wouldn't go to the mission, know what services are available to them.
But still, what a convenient way to get some of the homeless people off the streets before Detroit was inundated with visitors — or potential investors, citizens and tourists.
The city has been struggling to show the world it doesn't deserve its reputation of being dangerous and poor. Having some of the city's homeless hidden from the public might have been an afterthought. Still, it just seems a little too perfect.
Poverty and homelessness are not just Detroit things — they are large-city things. People trip over homeless people in Washington, D.C. New York benches aren't comfy; it's just that some people there don't have a choice.
But beyond Super Bowl Sunday, the fact remains that 13,000 people are homeless in Detroit.
Giving them a place to go and have food for one day is nice, but what happens this week, when all of the cameras and fans have gone home?
There needs to be more of a concerted effort to help people who are homeless in Detroit. People can be helped to get off the street. In fact, one man who volunteered at the mission-sponsored event was a recovered drug addict who used to be homeless.
The situation of the homeless in Detroit isn't hopeless. With the work of the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries and other organizations, people on drugs, without homes or without jobs can find some help and support in Detroit.
Detroit has good people and is making efforts to help those in need, and the Super Bowl party is just one example of this.
The city, for the most part, is improving itself day by day.
And what will help is awareness of the situation and not pretending it doesn't exist.
And now that the cameras and the fans have gone away, there needs to be an emphasis on people who can't go back home: the Detroiters who are in the most need.
