"I've gotten to look at life from both sides: having money and not having money," Sal says. "People should be happy with what they have, you can reach for it all and never attain it, you'll be frustrated."

"The most important fundamental principles in life are being able to take care of yourself and love."

Charity Capital of America

Homeless people and local officials are careful to note that in Cambridge, both the government and the citizenry look out for them.

"Massachusetts has the highest number of charities per capita in the nation and Cambridge has the largest number of charities in the state," says Sudholz, the business association director. "You're talking about a community that's extremely socially conscientious."

Harvard students play a large part in the community tradition of generosity extended to homeless people. A group of Harvard students run the 23bed homeless shelter at the University Lutheran Church on Winthrop Street.

Student volunteers provide a friendly environment for homeless people, says Patrick S. Yachimski '96, administrative director of the shelter. "Guests like the shelter because of student volunteers," he says. "You tend to get a lot of the same guests coming back so you get to know them very well."

Yachimaki says homeless people give students fresh insights on life. "One woman who was at the shelter for several winters died," he says. "Whenever anything like that happens, there's a chance to pause and reflect how we knew the woman, how we tried to help her and how she helped us."

Harvard is also trying to end discrimination against homeless people on University property. Several years ago, the University signed an agreement with homeless activates ensuring equal access to facilities, said Beth A. Wald, a vice president at the Harvard Real Estate office.

Susan E. Mintz, director of the Cambridge Multiservice Center For Homeless People, says such an agreement guarantees homeless people equal rights.

"If a homeless person comes [into a restaurant] and buys a cup of coffee and gets asked to leave, then if a Harvard graduate student comes in and buys a cup of coffee then [the restaurant] has to ask that person to leave also," Mintz says.

Mintz says the homeless population increased significantly after the 1970s, when many people were deinstitutionalized.

"At the time people thought it was humane to take people out of hospital settings and put them in community settings," she says. "There weren't enough community settings and there was nowhere else for people to go."

The homeless population has shifted towards younger people, Mintz says. "We're seeing more people in their late teens and early 20's," she says.

According to Mintz, most homeless people are not a threat to the public. "I think people confuse different social problems," she says. "Mental illness, alcoholism and other diseases homeless people suffer from aren't diseases that make them violent or lead them to crime."