Singing A Chrismas Carol All Year Round

By Paul Bennett, Volunteer Blog Writer at Mentor A Promise

Madrid, Spain - August 11, 2021: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens By Laplateresca

Among the traditions I keep during the Christmas holidays is watching what I consider the finest film adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the 1951 version starring Alistair Sim. We all know the story: a miserly, wealthy businessman who pinches pennies to an absurd degree and works his clerk, Bob Cratchit, to the bone, finds redemption. Three ghosts visit him on Christmas Eve and show him scenes from his past, present, and future lives, many of which shine a light on the harsh conditions of the poor living in London during the Victorian era. Scrooge is reborn, and turns into a benevolent, beneficent person.

Homelessness was a major problem in London during the Victorian era. Many people lived in extreme poverty and sought shelter everywhere from doorways and stairwells to makeshift accommodations in alleys and other out-of-the-way places. The homeless population rose substantially due to overcrowding, lack of affordable housing, and inadequate social support systems, leading to harsh living conditions—especially during cold winters—for those without stable homes. 

Victorian London on a moody evening with gas lights. Al generated By ArtStage

Like Dickens’ London, New York City faces a crisis of poverty and homelessness, the latter being at its highest level since the Great Depression. Lack of affordable housing is a key driver of these trends, along with eviction, people fleeing domestic violence and dealing with job loss, and hazardous housing conditions, according to the Coalition for the Homeless. The city has lost more than a million units of affordable housing, and every community district is affected.

More than 100,000 people sleep in shelters every night and more than 350,000 are without homes, according to the Coalition for the Homeless (CFTH). [1] A vast number are schoolchildren, more than 146,000 of whom experienced homelessness during the 2023-2024 school year. [2] These are the very people Mentor a Promise seeks to help with its literacy, mentorship, and social and emotional learning (SEL) programs.

Just as Scrooge at the end of the story becomes one of London’s most generous people—“as good a man as the good old city knew”—New Yorkers tend to open their wallets during the holidays, spurred on by a greater awareness of homelessness and hunger. And while it’s wonderful to see more help coming to the needy during the holidays, real change will only come when that becomes a continuing effort.

Mentor a Promise works year-round to support young people dealing with housing insecurity. Every bit of money and/or time donated to the organization helps mitigate challenges that, while more visible and perhaps more acute during this time of year when the weather is at its worst, never go away despite eventually receding from people’s attention when the holidays are over.

Young people suffer the consequences of homelessness regardless of the season. Dickens might be shocked that homelessness and hunger, issues he did so much to shed light on, continue more than a century later to afflict cities such as New York. But surely he would be heartened by the work Mentor a Promise does every day of the year to provide schoolchildren with a path to education and success. Visit us at mentorapromise.org to learn more.