According to the Montana Council on Homelessness, a January survey identified 316 homeless people living in Helena, up significantly from 171 a year before.

They included veterans, men and women, children and seniors.

Of course, as MCH officials pointed out, it's difficult to know exactly how many homeless there are living in a given city at a given time.

Especially since the survey was conducted during the winter.

Still, some of the statistics may be surprising.

n 48 percent are women.

n 61 homeless women are pregnant.

n 21 percent are Native Americans. Native Americans make up just three percent of the population.

n 22 percent work a full or part time job.

n 33 percent say they are fighting mental illness.

n 47 percent say they have a disability.

n 14 percent report an alcohol or drug problem.

Homelessness is a problem that's sometimes hard to see and sometimes as in-your-face as an indigent man with a cardboard sign standing by an offramp.

We may give the man some money, or we may not.

But the frustration of the situation is always the same, because regardless of how good our intentions may be, we as individuals can't even change that one person's life, let alone make a difference in the larger problem he represents.

But the good news is we don't have to act alone.

On Saturday, representatives from MCH and more than 20 agencies and community groups that aid the homeless and nearly homeless gathered at St. Paul's United Methodist Church to try to do just that.

It was a "one-stop" way to help the homeless find assistance.

The rest of us can help by supporing the good people who put on Saturday's event and others in the community who do such work all year long.

The United Way of Lewis and Clark County begins its annual fund-raising drive on Wednesday.

Montana Shares and the Lewis and Clark Community Foundation also raise money that can help in a more effective way than we can on our own.

They're good places to start, and we'd urge everyone who can to take part.