If there's been one benefit to the economic downturn, it's that the stereotype of the traditional homeless person is blown out of the water.

"When I started working with the homeless population everyone believed they were aging men with drug and alcohol addictions, but we just got a call from a woman with seven kids whose husband had just lost his job. She couldn't leave her phone number because she wasn't sure if the phone would be turned off," said Janeen Baker, the resource assistance program director for YWCA Salem.

On Jan. 27, Baker and volunteers throughout Oregon plan to canvas streets and homeless camps to gauge the level of the problem. Oregon was recently ranked first in the nation for homelessness per capita. Children and families are among the fastest growing subsets of the homeless population.

Volunteers are needed to help conduct surveys of the homeless population. The data gathered during the one-night count help create an updated picture of homelessness in Oregon.

Those willing to pitch in are guaranteed an experience that won't soon be forgotten, said Mary Lou Chavez, a YWCA case manager and homeless count volunteer for the past several years.

"It's humbling," Chavez said. "It's experiencing homelessness, human being to human being, not through a picture or a television screen."

Chavez has encountered families in a makeshift two-story home with melted rubber tires for a roof and huddled in bushes behind local shelters on previous counts.

"We choose not to see homelessness in our community," Chavez said.

Volunteer in the homeless count travel in teams and are assigned specific areas to canvas.

The information gathered during the homeless count is used by area resource centers to tap into state and federal assistance programs. The YWCA's slate of intensive case management provides screening, community referrals, follow-up advocacy, translation and transportation services in hopes of locating and sustaining affordable housing and employment for homeless individuals.

YWCA also operates the Salem Outreach Shelter, which serves an average of 60 families and 140 children each year.

The annual homeless count is an opportunity to reach out to individuals who are afraid, ashamed or both, said Maria Lopez, another YWCA case manager.

"The only thing that many of them have left is pride. I recently met a woman who was choosing to live in her car rather than a shelter because she figured other people would need the space more," Lopez said.

To volunteer in the homeless count, contact Janeen Baker at 503-581-9922, ext. 310. For more information about the YWCA, visit www.ywcasalem.org.