A Picture of Misery

This morning, while driving to our bakery, I passed the central bus station and saw this family of (at least) six camping on the ground. It is winter in Brazil, and temperatures can drop to 10º Celsius at night, which is freezing cold for our region. This year's winter has also brought lots and lots of rain.
The number of homeless people has increased dramatically over the last 12 months. People are desperate. While I was positioning myself to take this picture, the father got up and brutally spanked the little boy in diapers. He only stopped when the mother came running and stepped in. I don't know what had happened. Maybe the kid only asked for some food or said that he was cold (he wore nothing but diapers), and the father simply couldn't handle it. I don't know.
A little later I passed an old couple, a man and (probably) his wife, all wrapped up in dirty blankets on the sidewalk in front of one of the many shops that have closed in recent months. 
I really don't know how to handle this. Authorities are doing nothing. Neither are the many of the churches we have here (some are doing great work, but these few can't take handle everybody). The real tragedy is that people wouldn't be going through all this if we all contributed a little bit to help each other.