Year of Giving

Mark your calendars.  June 15^th is the Worldwide Day of Giving.  I know what you are thinking.  You’ve never heard about this day.  Well, that is because I just made it up.  It’s going to be an amazing day though.  Let’s see how many people throughout the world we can get to give $10 (or the local currency equivalent) to a stranger on that day and then share their stories here on the Year of Giving.  More details to come…but start telling people now.  This is your chance to experience the exhilaration that I have been feeling every day for the last 3 months!

On Day 87 I met Rick.  He was sitting in front of a hair salon on Connecticut Avenue.  I remember seeing Rick about a month and a half ago when I was giving my $10 to Ron.  Ron asked if I knew Rick…he said, “Everybody out here knows Rick.” 

Rick says he has been homeless for 7 months…but that doesn’t seem to add up with the fact that everybody seems to know him.  Even Rick himself told me that everybody knows him.  Maybe he has been panhandling longer…but just lost his housing 7 months ago.

He says he doesn’t like to stay in shelters.  “They’re full of drug users in there” he says.  Most nights he sleeps on the streets.

He keeps one eye always on the foot traffic…especially the ladies.  He is quick to shoot a smile their way.  A couple people fill his cup with dollar bills as we talk and a few regulars say hello.

Rick is a little too smooth.  I wasn’t sure what to believe or not to believe. Sometimes he seemed to lose his train of thought…maybe it was the booze.  His breath was soaked in alcohol…although he wasn’t sloppy. 

Check him out for yourself and find out what he thinks of his family, where he sleeps, and what he says he is going to do with the $10!