NEWPORT-A training session on officially counting the homeless population in Cocke County later this month was held recently.

The so-called "2013 Point in Time Count" will be held Jan. 24, when trained volunteers fan out across Cocke County in search of homeless people.

Organizers hope to document as many homeless people as possible in order to receive funding from the federal government for services to help them.

"We know you have a very large homeless population in your county," said Melanie Cordell, executive director of the Tennessee Valley Coalition to End Homelessness, at the training session on Jan. 7, held in Newport at the Emergency Operations Center. She added, "Congress does not know we have a need ... We have to prove it through data."

The Coalition is based in Knoxville, and assists 12 counties in East Tennessee to help homeless people in need of services.

For more details, please see the weekend edition of the Newport Plain Talk.