Nearly 600 homeless get help

A total of 575 people -- nearly 200 more than last year -- visited the second Project Homeless Connect today, a clearinghouse of services and information for the area's homeless.

Project Homeless Connect included medical and dental screenings, haircuts, flu shots and HIV testing. Experts were on hand to help with applications for jobs, food stamps and Medicaid, information about Social Security benefits; and birth certificates.

On any given day, there are nearly 1,000 homeless men, women and children in the Richmond area, said Kelly King-Horne, executive director of Homeward, a homeless services planning and coordinating agency that sponsors the event.

The daylong program was designed to match homeless clients with one of about 500 area volunteers to move through more than three dozen services being offered.

One of the most popular stops was the station for free haircuts. "Last year we only had two barbers," said Tiffany Taylor-Minor, Homeward's director of community and corporate relations. "We tripled it this year."

Organizers said the troubled economy didn't directly affect most of those seen yesterday. But officials said many area service providers are seeing additional requests for aid.

For details, see tomorrow's Richmond Times-Dispatch.