When Premier Ed Stelmach announced his intention to eliminate homelessness in 10 years, one could only react with delight.There can be no greater goal than to help the destitute and the derelict, particularly in a city in which economic performance virtually eliminated unemployment. Pretty much all of us felt the same way earlier this year when the Calgary Committee to End Homelessness was formed and vowed to present a list of its proposals, perhaps as early as January 2008.In 1996, the city estimated there to be about 650 people living on the streets. By 2004, the number stood closer to 2,500 and by 2006 (the count occurs only every second year) the number was estimated to stand at 3,400. Most people accept that here in the winter of 200712008 there are about 4,000 people living on Calgary's downtown and, more recently, even suburban streets.While we know homelessness will likely never be completely eradicated, the impossibility of the task gives it that much more value. Accepted profiles of the homeless population indicate it is comprised of three primary components – the temporarily homess in transition, the mentally ill and the drug- and alcohol-addicted. There is no reason why a prosperous city shouldn't be able to ensure that people who are temporarily without a home and want one can find shelter. The other two categories are more complex, although there are agencies already in place that have tremendous track records in this field and, if given proper funding, could do even more.Consider the dilemma faced by the Mustard Seed and Salvation Army, for instance. They and other respected institutions struggle for donations from the corporate sector in large part because in the late  20th century many public companies decided that rather than choose between faiths it was best to eliminate giving to all faith-based organizations. Another leading organization, Samaritan's Purse, is under assault by a group dedicated to eradicating it from the public square. So while businesses and schools can and do donate robustly to secular organizations, it is worth considering whether they should reconsider their position. True inclusiveness, after all, cannot and will not be achieved by excluding people on the basis that they believe there is more. Further, these people walk the talk. According to the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy, the 32 per cent of religiously active Canadians of all faiths contribute 65 per cent of the nation's charitable donations and the 14 per cent of Canadians over 15 who are religiously active provide 43 per cent of the nation's volunteers and clock 50 per cent of  Canada's volunteer hours.And to quote from CBC foreign correspondent Brian Stewart: "...There is no alliance more determined and dogged in action than church workers, ordained and lay members, when mobilized for a common good. It is these Christians who are right 'On the Front Lines' of committed humanity today and when I want to find that Front, I follow their trail. It is a vast Front stretching from the most impoverished reaches of the developing world to the hectic struggle to preserve caring values in our own towns and cities. I have never been able to reach these front lines without finding Christian volunteers already in the thick of it."Like it or not, these are the nation's Little Red Hens when it comes to battles against poverty and homelessness. And while they are motivated and sustained by their faith (we all are to one extent or another) they are also social workers, addictions counsellors, doctors, nurses and others. The Salvation Army has been managing the plight of the homeless since the 19th century and has learned a thing or two along the way about what works and what doesn't.Hopefully, somewhere among the recommendations to fight homelessness will be the idea of helping those who are already doing the helping and have been for a very long time. You don't have to agree with what they believe. Surely the only thing that matters is that you believe in what they do. And what they do works.