Rural America has homeless people too. But they’re hard to find.

CARLISLE, Pa. — As freezing rain came and went, Beth Kempf drove across a segment of the vast expanse of Cumberland County and trudged through convenience store parking lots, tiny alleys between rowhouses, and fields behind closed businesses, asking those she met variations of the same question: Are you homeless?

Jan. 25 was a bitter night for people enduring homelessness, and not a good night to get an accurate count of them. Some probably sought better shelter until the storm passed. But Kempf ventured out to count them anyway.