Justin Adamson, center for the University of Notre dame’s famed Fighting Irish football team, doesn’t just work hard on the field. Like many other college students whose finances are tight, he holds an outside job — working at Whole Foods Market, demonstrating salad dressings.
While dolling out tasty dressings to shoppers one day at a store in Ohio, Howard Goldberg stopped by Adamson’s table. Goldberg works for the nonprofit Purple Heart Homes, which purchases and renovates affordable homes for veterans.
Goldberg must also be a smooth talker, because by the end of their salad dressing exchange, Adamson had agreed to help renovate a home for an injured veteran. Not only that, but he said he’d bring along some of his teammates to provide additional manpower. Adamson told Andrew Cass of the News-Herald that he and Goldberg “talk[ed] for about an hour just going on about what this project means to a lot of people and what it can do in the community.”
Adamson took the idea to his coaches, who in turn, presented it to the team. Thirty football players jumped at the chance to volunteer, but only 12 players were able to be transported to the project. On April 25, the dozen helped demolish a kitchen and renovate the basement of the Ohio home of Leo Robinson, a wounded Marine Corps vet. (The house had been purchased by Purple Heart Homes.)
Once the renovation is complete, Robinson will pay 50 percent of the mortgage’s value, as part of the nonprofit’s mission to give vets a “hand up, not a hand out.”
Sophomore wide receiver Dajuhn Graham said, “I love doing things like this. My dad, that’s what he does for a living, he builds houses, and I actually do things like this so it’s nothing new to me.”
Homeowner Robinson told Cass that seeing all the football players pitch in to fix up his house “feels great. When we get back after going through everything we go through, it’s like you think people don’t care anymore, that society’s dead…But there are still people who care and want to help the community out.”
MORE: These Veterans Rallied to Save A Fellow Vet From the Cold
Tag: Homelessness
A Little Birdie Told Us That a Tech Giant is Building a Nest to Help the Poor
As we’ve said, income inequality in America is perhaps nowhere more evident than in San Francisco, where a renewed tech boom has dropped the unemployment rate to 4.8 percent, compared to the 6.3 percent national rate. Meanwhile, median rents have skyrocketed to a 40 percent share of the median income, leaving the one in five Bay Area residents who live in poverty sometimes literally out in the cold.
The stark differences between the lives of the tech-employed-haves and the have-nots have led some frustrated people to stage protests near the shuttle buses that ferry workers to Google and other tech companies. In contrast, however, is the action from one of the giants in social media.
Twitter has announced it’s going to reach out to the homeless and low-income families in the Tenderloin, the long-impoverished neighborhood near its headquarters. The company plans to collaborate with Compass Family Services (CFS), a nonprofit serving 3,500 homeless families, to create and run a family learning center called the Twitter Neighborhood Nest, which is projected to open in the summer of 2015. Company executives have pledged to chip in more than $1 million to the project.
The center will provide low-income people with access to computers, Wi-Fi, and other resources; volunteers from Twitter will teach technology classes to homeless families. Erica Kisch, executive director of CFS told Joe Garofoli of the San Francisco Chronicle, “This will be a major breakthrough for our families. To make it in the world today, just to make it through school, you need these skills.”
Twitter’s new nest certainly has the potential of helping low-income residents of San Francisco cross the digital divide. But we have a hunch that to be successful, they might need to use more than 140 characters.
MORE: San Francisco’s Tech Talent Lends A Hand to Help the Homeless
Entrepreneurs Trying to Catch a Break Get a Leg Up in Flint
Sometimes it’s hard to make money if you don’t have serious bank already.
This goes for low-income entrepreneurs especially. Businesses can take months, if not years, to turn a profit. But what if you need that profit now, to provide a roof over your head?
Habitat for Humanity knows a thing or two about putting roofs over people’s heads. Acknowledging the conundrum of start-ups, the national institution has launched an innovative program to provide people with homes and business space at the same time.
Starting with a pilot program in Flint, Mich., Habitat for Humanity will build live/work spaces for aspiring low-income entrepreneurs. The goal is to help the recipients establish a business while stabilizing blighted neighborhoods. The effort is a collaboration among Habitat, the University of Michigan and MasterCard, which chipped in a $400,000 grant.
The first recipients: Scott Hempel, 24, and Tyler Bienlein, 22. They plan to launch Great Escape Gaming on the bottom level and live in an apartment above in the Grand Traverse District Neighborhood on Court Street, a main route that leads to downtown Flint. The store will sell board games and serve as a community space where customers can gather and play.
“By giving gamers the opportunity to come in and play the game and try it out, that prompts them to want to buy the game,” Hempel told Nicole Weddington of MLive. “Also, having people in the store, you will sell things like drinks, snacks, food.”
MORE: Meet the Landlord Whose Rents Include A Second Lease On Life
Teachers in the University of Michigan-Flint, including the school’s entrepreneur-in-residence Michael Witt, will mentor Hempel and Bienlein through the business startup process.
Sue Henderson, vice president of the U.S. and Canada for Habitat for Humanity International, told Weddington that in order to revitalize places like Flint, “First, you bring neighborhoods back. You get people living in houses, you take down blighted structures. And then the next step is, how do you bring business back?”
Or in Flint’s case, maybe you accomplish everything all at once with a single building.
Watch Why This Homeless Man Breaks Down In Tears After Walking Into His Friend’s House
If you can think back to March, you might recall a certain video of a local homeless man named Eric “winning” the lottery. The incredible clip, created by popular YouTube star Magic of Rahat, touched of millions of viewers (15.7 million and counting), making grown men and women cry.
And now that Magic of Rahat has a new video, it looks like you might want to reach for that box of tissues once again.
As we mentioned previously, the original video created so much buzz and community support for Eric that thousands of online donations poured in. A whopping $44,000 was raised in three weeks — twice the initial goal of $22,000.
MORE: Watch The Magic Trick That’s Both Heartwarming and Baffling at the Same Time
When asked what he was going to do with the large sum, Rahat told his fans to “stay tuned for a follow-up to see what this money will do for Eric.”
Well, the follow-up is here — and we think it’s the most heartwarming one yet.
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In the video, Rahat breaks down where exactly the $44,000 in donations went: $11,000 for a year of rent; $3,700 for furniture and appliances; $2,900 for utilities, cable and insurance; $5,000 for supplies, clothes and food; and $21,400 in a joint bank account between Eric and himself (Rahat mentions that he won’t be taking a single penny).
Want even more great news? Eric mentions in the video that he has a job now, so it looks like he’ll be able to support himself, too.
Talk about a happy ending…
Watch The Magic Trick That’s Both Heartwarming and Baffling at the Same Time
Using magic to solve hunger sounds completely ridiculous, but a YouTube star is certainly making it look like it’s possible.
In the video below, Magician Rob Anderson walks around the streets of Las Vegas and asks homeless people to indulge in his magic trick involving an empty paper bag. At first, they look skeptical but after they agree to place an item of food into the bag, Anderson does whatever magic voodoo he does and — presto, chango! — several more packages of the same food appear. In fact, there’s so much food coming from the bag that they can’t even catch it all.
Anderson calls himself a professional magician who also makes light-hearted pranking videos, but as he says about his aim: “I make videos that make you feel good.”
MORE: Donations Pour in After Video of Homeless Man “Winning” the Lottery Goes Viral
While solving hunger takes much more effort than a few shakes of a paper bag, it’s certainly joyous to see the faces of these people light up after seeing their stash of food multiply as if out of thin air.
Across this country, millions of people do not have money for food or a home. Solving this problem is a serious undertaking, and that’s why there’s also a need to bring joy — and yes, a little magic — to the world.
Would You Notice Your Loved Ones If They Were Living on the Street?
Maybe you’ve handed some change to a homeless person. Or perhaps you’ve given them a meal or simply stopped to say hello. But no matter how well-intentioned you are, the unfortunate reality is that many of us have become accustomed to the sight of homelessness, and we’re far likelier to ignore someone living on the streets rather than acknowledge them.
But would you ignore a homeless person if he or she were your family member?
In an eye-opening social experiment from New York Rescue Mission (NYRM), the non-profit organization arranged for hidden cameras to film unwitting participants walking past their family members, who were dressed up to look like they were without a roof over their heads.
It’s no surprise that nearly every person passed by their brother, sister, or uncle without blinking an eye. One man named Tom casually glanced down at his wife of 34 years before continuing on his way.
MORE: Why This Pastor Continues to Feed the Homeless, Even After the Police Told Him to Stop
The premise of this video asks this simple but uncomfortable question: “Have the homeless become so invisible we wouldn’t notice our own family members living on the street?”
This experiment, part of the NYRM’s “Make Them Visible” campaign, was created by ad agency Silver & Partners and directed by Jun Diaz. The director told Fast Company that the hardest part was showing the participants footage of them walking right by their loved ones on the streets, but “when they found out what it was all for, they got behind it.”
“We had to make it very clear that it could have been any of us,” Diaz added. “I’ll tell you, it would have been me.”
Hopefully this video will encourage us to take a closer look at the people we walk by everyday.
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Watch: Now You Can See Which Restaurants Help Feed the Hungry
In 2011 Ben Simon launched The Food Recovery Network at the University of Maryland. The goal was simple: intercept as much leftover food from his college campus’s cafeteria as possible and get it to those in need. Within months, the network grew to include dozens of chapters at colleges across the country. More than 320,000 pounds of recovered food later, Simon is launching his most ambitious initiative to date — Food Recovery Certified.
Any food provider in the country can apply to be Food Recovery Certified as long as they donate their leftovers at least once a month. Cara Mayo, Food Recovery Certified’s program manager, works with local nonprofits to verify the donations. She says she hopes becoming certified will become a national trend. “Consumers want there businesses to be associated with an environmental or social cause. They want the effects of it to be felt in their home and in their community.”
Editors’ note: Since the original publication of this story, Ben Simon, founder of The Food Recovery Network, has become a NationSwell Council member.
Why This Pastor Continues to Feed the Homeless, Even After the Police Told Him to Stop
Millions of people across the country (about 1 in 6) do not have enough money for a meal. But twice a month for the last six years, Rick Wood, a pastor at The Lord’s House of Prayer in Oneonta, Alabama, has made sure the stomachs in his own community did not go hungry by handing out free hot dogs and bottled water to those in need.
That is, until he was literally stopped by the food police.
As ThinkProgress reports, last month local police stopped Wood due to the city’s food truck law, which meant the pastor had to acquire a pricey permit (that can cost up to $500) in order to continue giving out food. The exact wording of the city ordinance states (per AL.com): “No person or business entity, including religious or charitable organization, shall operate a mobile food vehicle and/or pushcart upon the public rights-of-way within the city without a permit.” Reports say that the law was enacted after local restaurants complained that food trucks were affecting business.
MORE: A Man, His Van and a Mission to Help the Homeless
Wood told ABC 33/40 he wasn’t at all happy with the government’s decision. “I’m just so totally shocked that the city is turning their back on the homeless like this,” he said. “It’s like they want to chase them out of the city. And the homeless can’t help the position they’re in. They need help.”
As ThinkProgress reports, Birmingham’s homeless numbers have gone down in recent years but there are still 1,469 people in the area who do not have a roof over their heads. Wood, who has the Bible verse “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink” etched onto the side of his truck, is not giving up his mission to help feed the hungry. According to a online fundraiser, Wood has already obtained the permit to continue in his good works.
Meet the Do-Gooders on Two Wheels That Are Helping Vets
Members of the Gary Owen Motorcycle Club in Waldo County, Maine are your typical bikers: Wearing leather jackets emblazoned with club patches and sporting tattoos that tout their affiliation, they regularly gather to tune up their bikes.
But this isn’t just a gang of motorcycle ruffians. Military veterans formed the club in 2012 with the intention of coming together around their common interest (motorcycles) to help other veterans. “We’re not a 1 percent club or an outlaw club,” the group’s treasurer, Curby Biagiotti, told Christopher Cousins of the Bangor Daily News. “Our primary goal is to help veterans, and that’s it.”
How do they assist former service members? The club started raising funds for veterans by raffling off a handmade quilt and cords of firewood. And the past few cold winters, they’ve supplied propane to the family of a veteran dying of cancer and restocked a military widow’s woodshed. But this year, the club is stepping up its fundraising efforts for its most ambitious project yet: They plan to tear down an old building on seven acres of farmland in Montville, Maine, and build a 24-bed shelter for homeless vets. They hope to get the farm up and running, too, and employ the vets in farm work. Local organic farmers have offered to teach the future residents what they know, and help them sell some of the produce they grow.
“We’re tired of seeing homeless vets. There’s no reason for our veterans to be homeless and we’ve got a lot of them,” club president Alex Allmayer-Beck told Wayne Harvey of WABI TV5. He said he believes veterans “need to be in a place where they have some semblance of stability, where people can treat them like human beings and they can get back into the work force, slowly.”
Currently, the club is raising money to get the project underway, which they anticipate will cost $750,000. They are accepting donations through the Bangor Savings Bank.
When the facility opens its doors, you can bet that motorcycles and tattoos will be welcome.
MORE: All It Took To Get This Homeless Vet an Apartment Was A Poster
A Man, His Van and a Mission to Help the Homeless
Aaron Reddin will never forget the night he choose sleep over service. In addition to his full-time job, he had just launched a non-profit, The One, Inc., which delivers food and supplies to the homeless seven nights a week. That evening he was too exhausted to check up on a local homeless man, who he had regularly visited. “I went for the 15 minutes of extra sleep, and he died…that night.”
A Van That Tweets to Help the Homeless
Reddin says the incident motivates him. “It’s a reminder that fifteen minutes of sleep is not worth someone freezing to death right here in our own community.” Reddin now works full-time for The One, Inc. (Read our previous coverage here). The nonprofit, which began with a donated van and a few supplies in 2011, now serves four cities across the country. “There are heartbreaks and there are huge victories,” Reddin says. “You keep rollin’.”