First, I apologize for the length between the last post and this one. I have been dealing with some hard to swallow news, my mother has lymphoma, and has surgery next week. So between coming to terms on that level, and working on prep stuff on my end, I have just not gotten to it. My bad, completely, and I will try not to continue the trend.
Things are working out well, I am excited and ready to go, looking forward to getting out, and making all the difference I can. There is still always the opportunity to help, continued donations will make sure that I can purchase and hand out socks, shirts, underwear to those in need, perhaps sometimes treat a lost soul to a meal, even if it is fast food, and later, help with costs to compile and publish the book itself. This is huge, and can be even more, in the long run, with the support and help of everyone, so please, follow us, keep this project in your thoughts, share it with everyone you know, and when you can, help with a dollar or two.
Community is people living together in an area, helping each other live better, happier lives.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Updates 7.21.11
It's been a little bit, and I appologize, I have been a bit ill, and dealing with some personal and family issues. Rest assured, I am still working on this, the plans are still all in place and being worked out as you read. The planned date of departure is rapidly approaching, and things are looking up. Some big, helpful contributions (thanks to you, you know who you are), but still a ways to go, to do this right.
I am really excited, and a little nervous, but things are coming along, and coming along well. I can't wait to be able to collect more stories, and be able to start making a difference in people's lives. It means so much, especially in these hard times. The idea of community, of people caring and helping those around them, is so important, it is sad it has been largely forgotten. There is still hope though, even with troubles on the horizon.
I sincerely hope we can all pull together, look inside, and make a difference. I know we can.
I am really excited, and a little nervous, but things are coming along, and coming along well. I can't wait to be able to collect more stories, and be able to start making a difference in people's lives. It means so much, especially in these hard times. The idea of community, of people caring and helping those around them, is so important, it is sad it has been largely forgotten. There is still hope though, even with troubles on the horizon.
I sincerely hope we can all pull together, look inside, and make a difference. I know we can.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Reaching out
I sit here, right this moment, in relative comfort, and think forward to where I will be. I cannot wait to get out, get this project going, to make a difference. The initial projected start date is a little over a month a way, and coming fast. Mid August, I intend to start this journey, that is the plan. I will be out there, no longer in here, and I will be making a difference. I will also be learning, learning more about the world the homeless live in, the rules and realities of their situations. It will teach me a lot as well about the world we live in as a whole, about the society that allows and causes these issues. I will learn more about myself. I will learn how to help others.
There are still needs for this to work properly, and for that I ask emphaticly for the help of each and every one of you. Those I know, and those I do not. Those who have followed from the start, and those just discovering this. I need the tools to communicate the stories, images and experiences back to you all, and the world at large. Yes, I obviously am posting from a computer now, but it is not mine, it is a friend's, in their house, I cannot take it with me. I do not seek a top line model, I mean to get an inexpensive netbook. As well, I have a source on surplus socks, shirts, and the like, but need to get them shipped to me, which also requires some money.
Yes, I am asking all of you to help support this project, to care enough about your fellow men, women and children, the ones who are less fortunate, and give to see them smile and be heard. It does not have to be much. If everyone who reads this, and everyone they share it with were to donate just $5 each to start, quickly that would add up, and goals would be reached swiftly. That's like eating one extra meal at home, and skipping the coffee shop, or fast food. Please, help see this happen, and in the long run we can make real changes, make a difference in the lives of those who want to be a part of providing for themselves, and just need help. Give a little and see that the children are heard, and all the children to come have a better chance.
Help be the change we all want to see. Help that change start now.
There are still needs for this to work properly, and for that I ask emphaticly for the help of each and every one of you. Those I know, and those I do not. Those who have followed from the start, and those just discovering this. I need the tools to communicate the stories, images and experiences back to you all, and the world at large. Yes, I obviously am posting from a computer now, but it is not mine, it is a friend's, in their house, I cannot take it with me. I do not seek a top line model, I mean to get an inexpensive netbook. As well, I have a source on surplus socks, shirts, and the like, but need to get them shipped to me, which also requires some money.
Yes, I am asking all of you to help support this project, to care enough about your fellow men, women and children, the ones who are less fortunate, and give to see them smile and be heard. It does not have to be much. If everyone who reads this, and everyone they share it with were to donate just $5 each to start, quickly that would add up, and goals would be reached swiftly. That's like eating one extra meal at home, and skipping the coffee shop, or fast food. Please, help see this happen, and in the long run we can make real changes, make a difference in the lives of those who want to be a part of providing for themselves, and just need help. Give a little and see that the children are heard, and all the children to come have a better chance.
Help be the change we all want to see. Help that change start now.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Musings on the day
It is the Fourth of July, the day America celebrates itself. The day of declaring independence from the oppression of others without the consent and representation to at least share in the responsibility. A community of communities banding together to support the rights, freedoms and future of all. So let's get back to making it that again.
Today, families, neighborhoods, towns and cities gather, to parade, to explode fireworks, to barbeque and eat. Much will be consumed, food, drink, fermented beverage. Games will be played, children will laugh, adults will smile, and talk politics and sports. Consumerism will drive on with all the dollars spent on all this languid celebration.
Meanwhile, those who have lost it all, the homeless, those on the streets scrabbling to survive, clinging to a fading hope in the system that failed them into this life, do not celebrate. Not like the rest of the country. Certainly there are small victories that rouse the spirit of celebration; finding a meal, avoiding the rain, a cool drink of water found in respite of the heat.
Around picnic tables and fires, on porches and in pavilions, stories will be shared. Of times spent serving in the military, home and abroad, of times past, of families, of triumph, of the consumerist American spirit. In the forgotten places in every city, town, and even some forests, the stories that one might hear are far different. Of lives spent in solemn dedication to the "American dream", to working long hours, mortgaging a home, perhaps even twice, of raising children, listening to the 6 o'clock news, voting for the most promising politicians, and trying to save for a time when one can no longer work. Stories about how all that fell apart in a few scant years of economic downturn and corporate downsizing. How outsourcing has left entire departments, almost entire work forces unemployed, underemployed, and increasingly, homeless on the streets, in a society which would rather look the other way.
These stories deserve to be told, and to be heard, read, seen and burned into the consciousness of the rest of America as well. The lessons of those experiences are perhaps infintely more important that what Miley Cyrus wore to the kids choice awards. Stories and lessons of struggle, of life, of survival. Of the truth of the American spirit, that people are not ready to give up on life, even if the system and the culture have given up on them. The remains of the American Dream can be found in every trade of a bag of aluminum cans for enough change to buy a meal, split with a loyal dog, or a companion too broken to pick cans or walk to the soup kitchen themselves.
Think about that, in contrast to the fun and food you experienced today. Think about what you can do to help, what you can give to bring these stories to light. What can you give up for a day, a week, a month to help fund hope and smiles for these people? Show this to everyone, you know and who you do not know, and ask them as well, what can you do to help?
Today, families, neighborhoods, towns and cities gather, to parade, to explode fireworks, to barbeque and eat. Much will be consumed, food, drink, fermented beverage. Games will be played, children will laugh, adults will smile, and talk politics and sports. Consumerism will drive on with all the dollars spent on all this languid celebration.
Meanwhile, those who have lost it all, the homeless, those on the streets scrabbling to survive, clinging to a fading hope in the system that failed them into this life, do not celebrate. Not like the rest of the country. Certainly there are small victories that rouse the spirit of celebration; finding a meal, avoiding the rain, a cool drink of water found in respite of the heat.
Around picnic tables and fires, on porches and in pavilions, stories will be shared. Of times spent serving in the military, home and abroad, of times past, of families, of triumph, of the consumerist American spirit. In the forgotten places in every city, town, and even some forests, the stories that one might hear are far different. Of lives spent in solemn dedication to the "American dream", to working long hours, mortgaging a home, perhaps even twice, of raising children, listening to the 6 o'clock news, voting for the most promising politicians, and trying to save for a time when one can no longer work. Stories about how all that fell apart in a few scant years of economic downturn and corporate downsizing. How outsourcing has left entire departments, almost entire work forces unemployed, underemployed, and increasingly, homeless on the streets, in a society which would rather look the other way.
These stories deserve to be told, and to be heard, read, seen and burned into the consciousness of the rest of America as well. The lessons of those experiences are perhaps infintely more important that what Miley Cyrus wore to the kids choice awards. Stories and lessons of struggle, of life, of survival. Of the truth of the American spirit, that people are not ready to give up on life, even if the system and the culture have given up on them. The remains of the American Dream can be found in every trade of a bag of aluminum cans for enough change to buy a meal, split with a loyal dog, or a companion too broken to pick cans or walk to the soup kitchen themselves.
Think about that, in contrast to the fun and food you experienced today. Think about what you can do to help, what you can give to bring these stories to light. What can you give up for a day, a week, a month to help fund hope and smiles for these people? Show this to everyone, you know and who you do not know, and ask them as well, what can you do to help?
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