Overbooked: Homeless in a World of Hurt

HOUSTON - Just 6 years old, a little girl has found a way to get joy out of the mats she's been sleeping on for the past week.

"She kinda understands," says her mother, Susan Maracoe. "She knows we don't have money to work with right now and that's why we're here."

The Maracoe family is staying at the Star of Hope's Women and Family Center.

Their two children aren't the only little ones here.

The youngest come tucked in strollers, tiny babies too young to understand they don't even have a home.

On the playground outside, slightly older children have access to a slide, but no bed to call their own.

And inside, an older girl is probably well aware this is not a salon.

She too is homeless.

"When you hear homeless, it's not the guy holding the sign on the streets," says Melissa Cardenas, manager of guest services at the shelter. "It's children."

There are 256 beds at this shelter, and every single one is taken.

For the first time ever, another 100 women and children are camping out on pallets inside the shelters lobby and atrium.

It's not a good milestone, especially when the center is experiencing a major shortfall.

"They're $700,000 behind in funding this year," says Lori Freese, a Star of Hope volunteer. "They're about to be out of money. They're not going to be able to keep those people on pallets. They're not going to be able to feed them. They're in a really big ugly world of hurt."

To keep up with demand, Star of Hope is launching a new "Summer of Hope" campaign, boasting a new giving feature- texting.

It is now possible to donate $10 to Star of Hope by texting SOH to 20222.

The money will be used to buy towels, blankets, diapers, water and toiletries.

"This is the highest numbers that we've ever had in the history of Star of Hope," says Cardenas. "Not even when we had Katrina, (did) we had this high numbers. So we are packed. People are coming due to the weather. It's so hot out there. They can't pay their bills."

As her children played, Maracoe talked about her husband's struggle to find a job.

It's been six months.

This is the family's second stay here.

But as her parents worry about the future, a little girl finds a reason to smile.

"She enjoys being around the kids here, " says Maracoe. "She's a very talkative and social person."

To donate $10 dollars to The Star of Hope: Text SOH to 20222