New York: home of the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Empire State Building, 9/11 Memorial and Museum, and many other great tourist attractions. But what lies behind all of the "greats" in New York City. New York's homelessness rates have gone up drastically. In the past 10 years, according to Coalition for the Homeless the number of homeless people in New York City has grown 64%.
A lot of people travel to New York for many reasons. There is a lot of history within the city and many different cultures. After traveling there, anyone is bound to take something new home with them. New York City is crowded with people from all over the world. Metro states that around 62.8 million people visited New York in 2017. Of that number, 13.1 million people aren't even from the United States. They weren't joking around when the named NYC "The City that Never Sleeps". Most of these people are traveling for pleasure or business. What they might take home is that NYC is full of different people with different backgrounds.
One of the most popular things to do in NYC is to go visit the Statue of Liberty. It has a lot of historical importance and everyone feels the need to check that off their bucket list. One of the very first things that immigrants saw when coming into America was the Statue of Liberty. It is one of the most distant American landmarks. Anyone would be lucky to experience this historical landmark.
For me, what I took home was a little bit different. My family and I didn't go to New York just to see the sights. I mean we did go see the Statue of Liberty and some other sights, but that wasn't the main reason why we went. We went to help the homeless. Around Thanksgiving time we handed out turkeys to the people that can't afford to get a nice meal for themselves and their families.
When we arrived at the locations at which we were giving out the food, there would be lines of people waiting. Just seeing how excited they were just to get a turkey made my trip worth it. Most people think of a vacation as "relaxing" or "not working". The work was worth it. Even the smallest things can make a person's day. With them knowing that someone cares about them can give them hope and I'm sure it made their day. The smile on their faces was all worth it.
Going on vacation is great, but wouldn't it mean more if you could help someone else's day better? I have always enjoyed going to different places. At first I was a bit skeptical to go to a big city. But I wouldn't change that for the world. The best part about it was looking out over Times Square and seeing all of the light and people. Going there and seeing how different NYC is compared to a little town is eye opening.