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Redwood City — Susan Takalo arrived a few minutes before 5 a.m., as the moon, a waxing gibbous, appeared to slip into the Pacific Ocean.
In the Ted Adcock Community Center in Half Moon Bay, she was greeted with her assignment: where to look for individuals experiencing homelessness during Thursday’s One Day Count, a once-every-two-years survey to locate and record people without stable housing. Sunrise was still two hours away.
“They are our neighbors,” Takalo said. “Lots of them work. Lots of them have children. So many people are just a paycheck away from homelessness.”
Takalo, recently retired from Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, was one of hundreds of volunteers who fanned out from Daly City to Menlo Park, from coastal beaches to San Francisco Bay, assigned in teams to specific routes to walk or drive.
The goal was simple but challenging: locate, record and count people who often don’t want to be seen, whether sleeping outdoors or in a vehicle.
 Karen Moore pauses at an RV during the One Day Count.
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