Outside-the-Box Solution to Homelessness
Posted: March 5, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentI just love this story! It’s one man’s creative solution, using his talent, to help the homeless. Do you have creative skills that could be used to help the homeless? Think outside the box. Don’t wait around for the government to act. Get creative!
To read the story and see photos, visit Tiny Houses: California Homelessness Gets New $40 Solution
Image from seenimages.com/homelesshomesproject
Charity Should Never Be Outlawed
Posted: January 29, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentIt should never be illegal to help another human being with their basic needs for food and shelter. http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/National_News_2/article_102071.shtml
The Homeless in Indianapolis
Posted: January 22, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentThis past Tuesday, I had the privilege of tagging along with some new friends from Hazelwood Christian Church (in Clayton, Indiana) on their weekly route to feed the homeless in downtown Indianapolis. It was heartwarming to see the resilience and resourcefulness of the human spirit to overcome adversities of life, and at the same time, I felt so overwhelmed as I was reminded of the enormity of the task to end homelessness. So many needs gone unmet, and so many rules and regulations, or lack of planning of the city officials, that hinder these needs from being met.
Here are some of the people I’ve met. Being the first time I’ve gone there, I’ve barely been able to get to know some of their names. I hope to continue to visit and develop a friendship with them, learn more about them, and share their stories with you in future posts.
Bobby
Rick
Melanie
Tony
Bernard, Gerald, Daniel
I have posted more pictures in an album on my Facebook page, with more details. It is a public album, so you can see it even if you do not have a Facebook account. But if you want to comment on the photos, you will need to have a FB account. I look forward to hearing your comments and interacting with you on my Facebook page, if you wish to do so.
The Edge Photo Exhibit
Posted: January 7, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment
Photo Exhibition at Greenwood Public Library, January 2015.
It all still seems unreal to me. When I started this blog in July of 2013, I never thought my photographs would be shown anywhere else other than on this blog. But in the last three months, I crossed paths with some amazing individuals who also feel the same compassion toward the homeless. Some of these folks are also photographers like me, and one in particular, James Eikman, has been putting together a photo exhibition to raise awareness of the problems that homeless people face. He’s invited me and other photographers to join him, which I gladly did. So, here is a picture of my images in print, with stories of the people on accompanying cards. The images are now on display along with the works of 5 other photographers at the Greenwood Public Library through the month of January 2015. For those of you who are close enough to get to it, the address for GPL is 310 South Meridian Street, Greenwood, IN 46142. The library is open on Monday through Thursday, from 9 AM to 8 PM; Friday and Saturday, from 1 PM to 5 PM; and it is closed on Sundays.
I now have contact information for a church that is interested in hosting an exhibition and learning how they can be a help to the homeless. So it looks like I will be collaborating with my new found photographer friends and advocates of the homeless community again in the near future. I’m so excited to see where else this path will lead! Thank you all for the encouragement and feedback you’ve given me. Together, we can change things!
If you’d like to see more photos from this exhibit, please view the album on my FB page.
I’m A Human Being
Posted: January 5, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentToday I want to share with you a video that gives you a glimpse into the daily frustration and humiliation that a homeless man lives with everyday. Just imagine how much a friendly smile or a chat would mean to you if your day is like his.
The Edge Exhibit
Posted: January 5, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 4 CommentsThe Edge Project is a collaboration of artists, started by my friend James Eikman, to bring awareness to the reality of homelessness. Some of my photos I’ve been sharing at this website will be shown at The Edge Photo Exhibit, at Greenwood Public Library, all through January 2015, along with the work of other photographers. I never thought I’d be showing any of these photos in print, but here we are. I don’t know where this road will lead, but I’m excited to see the message spread, that homeless people have faces and names, that they are people with hopes and dreams like you and me.
An Act of Kindness
Posted: July 30, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentThis is a video showing three German students making a day better for a homeless man. The most touching thing to me is the man’s face. You can see on his face that he isn’t used to anyone talking to him, and much less being kind like this. Can you think of an act of kindness you can do for a homeless person you see the next time you walk along the street?
Sharing A Meal
Posted: June 25, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Sharing a meal, having a conversation, listening to their stories. What better way to acknowledge the humanity and equality of a homeless person?
Credit for this image goes to Jack Palin at The Mankind Project USA.
Will you recognize your own family?
Posted: May 2, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: homeless people, homelessness 1 CommentI haven’t posted here in a while. I live out in the suburb, and my daily life doesn’t take me downtown where I would come across the homeless. And if I do go, it is by car, not by foot, so I haven’t had a chance to meet any homeless person face to face and talk with them in a while. I think about them all the time though, and at every opportunity, I would encourage people to see the homeless as people and treat them with dignity. I came across this video today that powerfully illustrates how homeless people are overlooked on a daily basis, and how important it is to acknowledge them. I am sharing the video here to help spread that message. Please, please, take the time to at least acknowledge their existence. Offer a smile, say hello, see them as human beings. Don’t just walk by them like you would the lamp post or brick on a wall. They are people, just like you and me.
Robert (Bobby) Hardesty
Posted: September 6, 2013 Filed under: People I Met 2 Comments
Bobby Hardesty
I was with my son in Knoxville, TN, taking pictures in Krutch Park, when my son got interested in some birds. He found that the place where they would stay still long enough for him to get their picture was around the feet of this man sitting on the park bench, who was feeding them pieces of bread. Naturally, we started a conversation with the man, and that’s how I came to know Bobby. Bobby has been in Knoxville all his life except for a couple of years when he worked in Louisville, KY. He’s raised 3 boys who are now adults. He became homeless through a series of unfortunate events which he admitted were his own doing. His wife kicked him out of the house, and he’s been living in a shelter near the park. About a year and a half ago he was in an accident as a result of driving drunk. He now has a metal plate in his skull, and lost some movement in his limbs that then rendered him disabled. He admitted that he’s not completely sober and still gets a couple of drinks a week, but he doesn’t drink till he’s drunk anymore (said he’s learned his lesson). He lost his driver’s license and currently doesn’t plan to get his license back. He wishes rent wasn’t so high so he could have a place of his own. He would like to work again, but being 61, disabled, and not having a driver’s license or car, make that a difficult goal to achieve. He has been living on a budget that he’s set for himself and saving up the rest of his monthly disability benefit to get himself out of homelessness. He said he doesn’t like where he’s at, but he has hope of a better future. I enjoyed hearing Bobby telling me of his childhood, the way things were when he was young, and how things have changed in Knoxville in the years that he’s been living there. His biggest problem, he said, is loneliness, because most of his friends are gone now. Overall, he said he’s content and thankful to have food and shelter for each day. In a way, he likes the simplicity of where he’s at, because it keeps him focused on what’s really important in life, unlike the time when he used to have a home and many material things that distracted him. He misses his boys, and wishes he has brought their pictures with him when he left his wife.
My son said it was sad how people just passed Bobby by without even looking at him, much less smiling or saying hello to him.
Faces Of The Homeless 
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