What are the chances that I come across two people with broken down vehicles two days in a row? Well, apparently pretty high.
You will recall that yesterday I told you about Vincenzo and his “ghetto dealership” purchase that resulted in a $700 trip to the mechanic. Well, today I want you to meet Kathryn.
I was a few blocks from home when I passed a car with the hood up and the door wide open parked on 20th Street in front of a small park. As I walked by I scanned the surrounding area but didn’t see anyone who looked like they owned the car. Perhaps someone was unloading something and just left the door ajar. I decided to walk back and take a seat on a nearby bench and just observe the car for a few minutes. As I got to the bench I noticed a woman sitting in the park who was occasionally looking over her shoulder toward the abandoned Audi.
“Is that your car?” I asked
“Yes it is. I can’t get it to start,” Kathryn told me.
Wearing a floral sleeveless blouse and white pants, Kathryn explains that she thinks her battery is dead. “It just goes tick, tick, tick.” I offered to go get my car, which was a few blocks away, and try to give her a jump.
“Oh, that’s ok. I’ve already called my husband as well as a mechanic, so one of them should be here soon.”
The fifty-something year old DC resident is married and has two step-daughters. She explains that she often drives to the Dupont Circle Metro and leaves her car there and takes the subway to where she needs to go. “I came back and it wouldn’t start.”
About this time the mechanic called Kathryn. He was nearby but was having difficulty navigating some of the tricky streets near our location. Since I knew the area quite well, I offered to talk to him. She handed me the phone and I guided him through about a half-dozen streets until he arrived.
By that time her husband was also there.
The mechanic quickly got Kathryn's car started. (photo: Reed)
The mechanic grabbed a large yellow portable battery charger and within seconds had it connected to Kathryn’s battery and she was able to start the car.
Kathryn was reluctant to take the $10, but in the end accepted it and told me that she would pass it on to someone else. I hope that she checks the website and shares with us what she did with the ten spot.
UPDATE: 10/25/2010
I got the following email from Kathryn…
Hi Reed, It is Kathryn and I met you on a very hot Sept. 17 at Dupont circle when the battery of my car went dead.
I wanted to let you know that on Oct. 9 at Union Station I met and had a conversation with a homeless man named Fred. He hangs out on Mass. Ave 1/2 block from Union Station. I sat and spoke with him while I was waiting to pick up a friend.
He was so happy to have the $10.00 (Pay it Forward) and I told him to please buy some good food to eat. We also talked about the possibility of him learning to cook so that he might help out in a restaurant. It is a small world because when I dropped my friend at Union Station on Oct. 11 Fred was in the same spot. He was having some lunch and that made me smile. He seemed in a good way.
Thanks again for stopping to help me when I was in need. It felt so good to pass the money on to Fred. Keep him in your prayers. There are a lot like him out there.
I often tell people that it’s much more meaningful to give of your time than your money. So why am I giving away $10? Good question. I wanted to make a year-long altruistic commitment that I could quantify with relative ease. A monetary amount lends itself very well to this. Having said that, I probably give of my time almost every single day to help someone. Whether it’s giving directions to a lost tourist, watching someone’s bag while they go to the bathroom or cooking something for a friend’s birthday, I do something for someone else just about every single day.
Vincenzo and his new wheels. (photo: Reed)
Well on Day 260 I was on my way to a meeting near 11th and G Streets in DC. I was on foot and cutting through Chinatown when I saw Vincenzo stressing out in front of his blue station wagon at the corner of 7th and G.
“Do you know anything about cars?” he asked me standing in front of the open hood of the car. I made a quick call to tell the person I was meeting to inform them that I would be a few minutes late and then told him that I would try to help but that I didn’t know much about cars. I thought he probably only needed some help pushing the car out of the way of other traffic.
Another passerby, Joel, also topped to lend a hand.
None of us really knew what was wrong with it. The 22-year-old from Virginia Beach explained that it felt like the breaks were on and he couldn’t get the car to move forward. I did what I always do when I’m in this situation and the hood is up. I walked over and took a look at the engine. I don’t know why I do that, I don’t know the first thing about cars. I mean I know the difference between the alternator and the starter, but when things go wrong, I doubt I am going to be able to fix anything.
Joel and I were a little more preoccupied with getting Vincenzo’s car out of the middle of the road so that he could take his time to figure out how he wanted to proceed. I looked over at Vincenzo who now was pacing a little bit saying something about how he shouldn’t have bought this car. “I bought this car yesterday from some ghetto dealer I found on Craigslist,” he told me. Vincenzo paid $2,000 cash for the car. “It’s got 152,000 miles on it.” He beat me, my 2000 Volkswagen has 139,000 miles. Speaking of my car, I have spent over $1,000 on it in the last week, but more on that later.
Then I heard something about an interview. I peaked my head around the hood and asked, “You’re on your way to an interview?”
“Yeah, I’m supposed to be there in 20 minutes.”
Oh man, this is really turning into a bad day for Vincenzo, who is now fully stressed and sweating pretty bad in the 90+ temps. This is not how he envisioned this day going, I am sure.
Finally I ask if I can try to start the car to feel what the car is doing. He tosses me the keys and I get into the station wagon and turn the ignition. I eased off the breaks and the car crept forward. It seemed to be working fine to me. Vincenzo looks at me somewhat puzzled and I frankly don’t know what I did, but we switched places and he gave it a try. It worked! We closed the hood and I gave him my cell number just in case it started having problems again and he was close by.
Vincenzo managed to smile despite the day's misfortunes. (photo: Reed)
A few days later I got a voice mail from Vincenzo. He was at a repair shop getting his car fixed. Apparently his car died again that day on his way to the interview and he parked the car and hopped on the Metro to get to the interview. “There was something wrong with the disc brakes and the left caliper that was making the breaks stick.” It cost him $706 to get it fixed.
As for the interview, he didn’t get the job. “I kind of new that it was a long shot, but it would have been the perfect job.” Vincenzo’s background is in personal training and he is looking for a job with large organizations to build program’s that help keep their employees in good health. Many companies are hiring people like Vincenzo now because they can get cost savings from their insurance provider for offering these sort of services as well as get more efficient employees. He told me that he has personally seen how people in better shape are more productive at work. If anyone would like to contact Vincenzo for work opportunities, give me a shout.
Anyway, it was a tough day for this guy. I was kind of surprised that other people didn’t offer to stop. It was just me and Joel helping him. By the way, Joel works nearby at the Portrait Gallery and said that it was a simple decision to stop and try to help, “I stopped because he needed help, that’s it. He seemed pretty genuine.” Thanks for your help Joel! We need more Joels!
When we spoke he also told me that he donated the $10 to a charity focused on multiple sclerosis. I also learned that he has started to train for some cycling races. He recently kept up with some road racers for 11 miles on his mountain bike. This is not easy when you consider they were riding road bikes and Vincenzo was on a mountain bike. It’s a lot more work and he said he wasn’t even drafting off the other cyclists.
So, I mentioned my car had cost me $1,000 this week. I recently swapped cars with my father and had to get my new car registered and inspected here in DC. It needed some work on the emissions which ran $500. Then I had to get it registered and inspected which cost me a total of $364. Look for the upcoming story about Chad who I gave $10 to while waiting at the Department of Motor Vehicles. And then, get this, my car was broken into last night! So, chalk up another $200 in repairs not to mention over $500 in stolen items. I am seriously thinking about ditching my car and using Zipcar. Anyone done this and been happy?
"Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood" - Albert Einstein on Gandhi
In a few weeks many people throughout the world will celebrate the International Day of Nonviolence. It is celebrated on October 2nd, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi who is widely credited as the father of satyagraha – the philosophy and practice of nonviolent resistance.
I often walk by the Indian Embassy here in Washington, DC. In front there is a small triangular park with a bronze statue of Gandhi. Although it’s been 52 years since his death, his wisdom lives on. Here is a great quote:
Whenever you are in doubt or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test: Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to Swaraj for hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and yourself melting away.
Harriet next to the monument to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (photo: Reed)
I was walking by the statue the other day and saw a couple who appeared to be reading the inscription on the base of the statue. I approached the couple and explained the Year of Giving to them. The man was very skeptical of my intentions, but his wife, Harriet, was more receptive saying, “I’ve heard about you! I think I read something in the Washington Post about what you are doing.”
“So, will you accept my $10?” I asked.
The coupled discussed it briefly. Harriet’s husband continued to be a little suspicious and declined. She on the other hand seemed willing to take part. “I’ll do it!” she said with a smile.
Harriet, a 71-year-old resident of the state of Maryland, said that she was going to use the $10 for something she would not normally buy for herself. “The last time I found some money I bought a wooden sheet music holder that was carved in the shape of a g clef.”
Now retired, Harriet spends her time doing what she loves. Here in Washington she stays active by taking classes and going to her gym. Harriet also seems to enjoy visiting far away places. She spends lots of time visiting her children and seven grandchildren. She talked about visiting her son in Scotland as well as another trip to. The couple also lived in Israel for some time. “I was actually a cow girl while we were living there. I would spend eight hours a day riding but I had to stop when I got pregnant.”
“What time is it?” Harriet asked. Her husband glanced at his wrist watch and said, “I think we ought to get going.” Although I didn’t ask specifically, I believe they were attending an event at the Indian Embassy.
Photo by Reed
Before saying goodbye to the couple I asked Harriet if there was anything that she wanted me to add to the Lend a Hand section. “Well, there is one thing. I’d love to find some relatives that live in Wales. Their last name is Targovnik and they used to live in the city of Cardiff.” If anyone can find the Targovniks, leave a comment here and maybe Harriet will see it.
It was just after midnight on Sunday morning. I was on my way home when I was approached by two men as I cut through shadows of Dupont Circle. As I got near the fountain, a man approached me and said that his friend wanted to talk to me. His friend, Josh, invited me to join them in a threesome! Oh my God.
They seemed harmless, but my pulse quickened nonetheless and I kept walking toward a more lit area. The two men pursued me, cornering me at the far end. I tried to change the subject and told them about my project and offered them the $10. They weren’t interested in the ten spot so I said goodbye and quickly headed home. Never a dull moment living in Dupont!
Dupont Farmer’s Market (photo by Reed)
The next morning I got up early and headed over to the Dupont Farmers Market. I weaved in and out of the various vendor stalls, the smell of lavender and coffee hit my nose, causing me to turn my head, searching for the origin of this delightful treat. I kept my eyes open for my $10 recipient too, although nobody seemed right.
I left the market and just as I crossed the street I saw David selling the Street Sense newspaper on the corner of Q and Connecticut.
David started working for Street Sense on June 13th (photo by Reed)
Originally from Western Kenya near Lake Victoria, David came to the United States in 1997. He was working in banking at the time and thought that Delaware would be a good place to learn about corporations since most companies are incorporated in the “First State.” He later moved to DC in 2000.
At first he stayed with a professor friend here in DC while he studied at Strayer University. He hoped to eventually become a doctor. “I like medicine a lot. I even used to volunteer at George Washington Hospital,” he said with a pronounced British accent. He went on to talk about genetics. “They are the key to living longer, eliminating disease, and improving intelligence.” In five years he hopes to be a medical researcher.
Like many Street Sense vendors, David is homeless. However, unlike many of the other homeless that I have met, he chooses to sleep in shelters. He currently stays at the Mitch Snyder shelter at 2nd and D. Mitch Snyder was a homeless advocate who was the subject of a 1986 made-for-television movie starring Martin Sheen. After nine years of homelessness, David says that shelters in DC are improving. “There’s been a lot of changes that started in 2004, like installation of air conditioning, spraying for bugs, and improved services.”
More than a decade has passed since David left Kenya. He says that he misses the food. “A typical meal back home is broiled or roasted corn. We put lemon pepper on the corn and eat it with coffee or tea.”
One of six children and the only son, David has lost touch with most of his family. “The last time I saw my dad was 1985, my mom raised us.” He said he would like to know what happened to his father: Tom Nyamongo. “I know that he went to Harvard in the 1980s, but he had some type of government job and his life was quite secretive.” He hasn’t spoken to his mother in several years. Although he hasn’t been able to confirm this, a sister of his told him in 2001 that she had passed away.
David has been homeless since 2001. (photo by Reed)
In addition to learning more about his parents, David would like to find a cousin of his that was like a big brother to him. His name is Ben Bella Jaoko and he is in his mid-forties today according to David. “He moved to Poland in the 1980s to study. With the internet today, maybe somebody can find him,” he said, his voice grasping on to hope.
Before saying goodbye, David told me that he was going to use the $10 to buy him a nice meal consisting of some Italian sausages, some bread, and a beer. The rest, although I doubt he’ll have much left at this point, he said he’d put toward a pack of cigarettes.
Although I met David at Connecticut and Q, he says that he is usually at 17th and K if you would like to stop by and say hello.
UPDATE 10/04/2011: Since my initial encounter with David, the most incredible thing has happened. Someone who was going to a job interview at a company in Poland Googled the hiring manager for the job to learn a little more about him – something we all do today, right? The hiring manager’s name was Ben Bella Jaoko!
Well, would you believe this guy found my post about David and at the end of the interview asked Ben if he knew that he had a cousin in the U.S. who was looking for him. Completely shocked, Ben wasted no time contacting me and we connected by phone and I put him and David in contact.
From that moment on Ben worked tirelessly to make arrangements for David to get back to Kenya to be reunited with his family.
This morning as I sat working away at my kitchen table, I got a phone call from Ben. I didn’t immediately recognize the voice, but when I heard David’s name mentioned I connected the dots. “I’ve managed to raise enough money to purchase the airfare for David to come back to Kenya,” he shared. He explained to me the rest of the details and asked for my help to take him to the airport, help pay for luggage, and get him some clothes and other incidentals for the trip to Nairobi. If you would like to help us reunite David with his family you can donate $10 by clicking HERE or the yellow DONATE button on the top right side of this page.
We hope to have everything completed for David to depart by the end of the month. With your help, we can make that happen!
I hung up the phone and sat for a moment in silence in my apartment. All because of a simple blog post that I made a little over a year ago, David is about to leave the streets of Washington and be reunited with his family. This is what it’s all about!
UPDATE 11/15/2011: David will be flying home to Kenya on Tuesday, November 22nd. He has been away for nearly 15 years. Thanks to so many of you who have offered to help support these efforts. I have organized a going away party for David on Monday evening at One Lounge (1606 20th Street, NW – Dupont) in DC from 5:30-8:00pm. Please stop by and meet David before he embarks on this exciting new stage of his life. We will also be accepting donations if you would like to contribute to covering some of the costs associated with getting David back home. I hope to see you next Monday!!
I met up with my friend Kimon for dinner in Cleveland Park. Afterwards we went over to Nanny O’Briens to have a couple pints of Guinness.
I’ve been to this place several times…used to go there on Tuesday nights for trivia. It’s a no frills neighborhood pub that has straightforward service and live music some evenings. This night there was a pony-tailed man strumming the guitar to typical sing-along type bar songs like Brown Eyed Girl and American Pie.
In the front of the bar there are these two little secluded tables that are tucked away on each side of the door. They look like a nice romantic place to sit and have a chat with your loved one. I noticed a young couple that were looking at each other like they were the only ones in the bar. The carved out window nook lends itself to that feeling I think. Would it be rude and insensitive to go and interrupt this beautifully peaceful moment? Who knows, but I was about to find out.
A shot from outside of Jessica and Jonah enjoying a drink at Nanny O'Briens in Cleveland Park, DC. (photo: Reed)
Jessica is a 28-year-old human rights advocate. She mainly focuses on Sudan, Burma (Myanmar) and the Congo. Originally from New York City, she moved to DC about a year and a half ago.
She and her boyfriend Jonah were killing some time before heading over to the Uptown Theater to see Inception. Opened in 1936, the Uptown is a historic art deco theater featuring just one screen. Sadly I haven’t been there yet to see a movie. Shame on me!
I learned that Jessica used to live on an island in Southeast Alaska. “It was interesting. I was friends with this one guy who had dodged the Vietnam war by paying people off with homemade baked wheat bread,” she went on to say. Odd…what would make you think to do that? Hmmm…I don’t want to go to Vietnam. What can I give these people that will keep them quiet? I know, I’ll bake some bread, wheat bread no doubt, and give it them. At least they were quiet I guess while they were eating the bread right?
Jonah and Jessica (photo: Reed)
I definitely felt like I was intruding and felt bad about that. I tried to be as quick as possible and let them slip back into the moment where they were before I interrupted. His scotch and soda looked almost done and she was finishing up a gin and tonic and they were getting ready to head over to the theater.
“I think I will treat myself to a really nice coffee,” Jessica says referring to the $10 that was on the bar table. Wow…ten bucks must buy a hell of a cup of coffee!
I grabbed a few photos, thanked them for their time and told them to enjoy the movie.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 9 years since the 9/11 tragedy. I remember where I was; just under a mile from the Pentagon. I remember seeing the crash on TV at my eye doctor’s office and then walking over to my office in Rosslyn, VA and hearing the crash at the Pentagon. 2,996 lives were lost that morning. To give you an idea of how many people that is. If we were to honor one person each day, it would have taken until Nov. 26, 2009 – more than eight years – to honor all those who lost their lives.
Remember Tommy from Day 155? Well, I delivered some items from Meghan in Pennsylvania and took some video. Check it out here. By the way, he needs some items for winter, check out the Lend a Hand section.
Before I introduce you to today’s recipient, I must apologize for a mix up on my side. Yesterday I posted Day 256 with pictures of today’s recipient, Lisa, but with the story and notes that pertain to Jessica who was the recipient on Day 257. Sorry…I think I got it all cleaned up now. With 365 posts this year I was bound to mess this up at some point!
Lisa proudly displays her $10
Embarrassingly Lisa saw the mix up and wrote to me to point it out. Thankfully she was understanding and assured her that I would get it taken care of today. Thanks Lisa, I’m sorry about that.
Anyway, I met Lisa at a going away party for Sarah, the person who I replaced at the WWF. The 26-year-old owns her own graphic design business here in Washington, DC. After growing up here in the DC area, she went to Pittsburgh to study at Carnegie Mellon University. Today most of her family is split between Boston and Buffalo.
Owning your own business seems to have its advantages for this world traveler. “I try to set aside a month or two each year for travel,” she says. “My next trip is going to be the western part of South America or India. She told me about another trip where she went hang gliding over Rio de Janeiro. When I lived in Brazil I went to Rio regularly for business and often stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel. From the hotel you can see the hang gliders taking off from Sao Conrado and riding the thermals high above. Who knows, maybe Lisa was one of those hang gliders that I have seen!
We talked a little bit about why people give. “I’m pretty busy and so I often give money instead of my time.” Lisa went on to say that she does give of her time to her family and close friends. “I’m pretty artistic, so sometimes I will do a painting for friends. I’ve also done a friend’s wedding invitations.” Speaking of giving, the $10 in her hand ended up being used to buy her good friend Sarah some beers.
photo: Reed
I asked Lisa if there was anything that someone else could give to her that would be helpful. “I’d really like it if someone could donate five or six hours at a printing shop. That would be amazing!”
If anyone is in need of a graphic designer, let me know and I can connect you with Lisa!
After a woman refused to be my recipient, I spotted a father and his son riding bikes together at Dupont Circle. They seemed like perfect recipients.
Jim and Addison next to the fountain at Dupont Circle. (photo: Reed)
I approached them and asked if they had a second. “I probably won’t be able to help you though,” Jim said. I get this often because most people think that I am going to ask them for money. When I told him that I wanted to give him and his son, Addison, my ten spot of the day, his eye brows perked up.
As it turns out, Jim is a former office manager / loan officer of a brokerage firm here in DC. Unfortunately the banking crisis left him in the same boat that I was in earlier this year; out of a job. “It’s been about a year and a half,” Jim says. I told him that I was out of work for 285 days and I think he could tell that I understand some of what he is going through.
At one point, Jim laughed at something I said and he grabbed his right side of his abdomen. “Don’t make me laugh, I’ve got a hernia.” Without insurance he has put surgery on hold which is not a good thing. Left untreated they can lead to severe complications. Would some doctor in the DC help Jim out and operate on his hernia for free? Come on DC doctors, step up!
Jim and Addison toured the entire city by bike. (photo: Reed)
They said that they were probably going to use the $10 for some groceries, but I later found out Jim was at a convenience store when a woman attempted to purchase a candy bar with her credit card. She was informed that there was a minimum amount required in order to pay by credit card, so she just put the candy bar back. Jim stopped her and offered to buy it for her, which she gratefully accepted. He also told her about the Year of Giving and the ten dollars that he had received. The rest of their ten dollars was spent on some groceries and a $1 lottery ticket which I assume didn’t win, or they would have told me.
I asked both Jim and Addison if there was anything they needed or wanted for the Lend a Hand project. Jim quickly said that he would love to land a new job (see the Lend a Hand section for details on what he is looking for). “Oh, and someone to operate on my hernia,” Jim added. Addison had three requests, “I’d like to meet President Obama, Ellen Degeneres, or Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat.”
I have an idea, what if one of Addison’s idols offered to sponsor his dad’s surgery? Maybe we could kill two birds with one stone.
Jim was thinking about Addison’s “wishes” and added, “You know what I would also love to do, is have dinner and drinks with Bill Maher, he’s hilarious.” He started to laugh a little but his smile quickly gave way to a grimace of pain as he grabbed his abdomen again.
Some other little bits of trivia… Jim has become a bit of an amateur genealogist and has traced his family back some 40+ generations. Along the way he discovered that he has connections to President Bush, Frankish leader Charles Martel and Charlamagne, King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans. I know my dad would be excited about the Roman ancestry part – he is so into Roman history these days.
Anyway, I let father and son continue on their bike ride. After all, it was a gorgeous afternoon – just perfect for exploring the city on a bicycle.
Wow…I am still thinking about Bob from Day 251, aren’t you. I wish you could have been there with us for the entire conversation. He was really amazing. Today’s recipient is equally impressive. Read on!
These two guys opted to decline the $10. (photo: Reed)
Day 254 started with two refusals. First two guys who were sitting on the grass in front of an office building at the corner of 19th and O Streets said “No” because they were deep discussion. Then I wandered down 19th Street a little further where I found William, a US Post Office mail carrier. He was sitting in his truck grabbing a bite to eat and said that he was too busy.
I kept on walking down to the corner of 19th and M Street. I looke across the street to see if Anthony was there, but I didn’t see his smiling face. It was around there that I ran into Christina carrying a clear container of salad from Mixt Greens and a Netflix movie envelope. She seemed skeptical of my motives at first, but agreed to accept the $10. We walked west down M Street as we talked.
Christina poses for a picture with her pricey salad. (photo: Reed)
I find out that she works at a nearby NGO and is on her lunch break. “This salad cost more than $10,” she tells me as I hand her the $10. I asked her what she got in her salad, I mean for that price I was hoping that she at least got some truffles or Beluga caviar or a TV. I mean I once heard of a salad at the Hemel Hotel in London that had Almas golden caviar, Beluga caviar, kreel-caught langoustines, Cornish crab and lobster, plus Florette baby leaf salad tossed in some super expensive olive oil with grated truffle placed in a basket made from courgettes, red peppers and potato and decorated with gold leaf…all for the low price of US$982!
She was carrying a DVD so maybe they gave her that. Nope. Just a salad. “I think this might be my first and last salad from there,” she says.
I asked her what about her made her unique. She paused and thought for a moment and said, “Well, I am a brain cancer survivor.” I swallowed and tried to think of something to say. She told me that they removed the tumor in July and that she was currently going to chemotherapy every two weeks. “I feel good now,” she says with a smile.
“How did you find out,” I ask trying to imagine how many things most go through your head when you learn this. She says that there wasn’t a lot of time to think about anything. They operated almost immediately once they had found the malignant tumor. We arrive at her office. I continue to ask some more questions without realizing that I was now completely focused on her bout with cancer and there is a lot more about Christina and I only probably have a few minutes more before she needs to go up to her office.
Christina loves to travel – especially internationally. She has a passport full of stamps to prove it too. Croatia, Thailand and Italy as some of her favorite places. “Did you go to San Gimignano in Italy,” I ask. It’s one of my favorite places on the planet. She had in fact visited the tiny hilltop village. She fondly recalls some of her memories from her trip. The small town where there was only one phone booth with a line of people wrapping around it outside. “We also saw this woman who had this really nice flower garden. She ended up inviting us in and made us try all these different types of homemade grappa. One was made with oregano, another with thyme…” As she is telling me about her trip I can’t help but slip into the memory of my own trip there and how much I enjoyed it.
photo: Reed
She also tells me that she loves movies, hence the DVD in her hand. “Shoot,” she says looking down at the red and white Netflix envelope. “We got talking and I totally forgot to drop this off at the post office.” I had already taken a good chunk of her lunch break so I offered to go and drop it off.
We say goodbye and I start walking back toward the post office when I shout back, “What movie did you get?” “It’s True Blood,” she says referring to the hit HBO series starring Anna Paquin.
I got an email a few days later from Christina letting me know that she had donated the $10 to Mercy Corps for their Pakistan flood relief efforts.
I invited Bob to a coffee at a nearby coffee shop so Bob could sit down and rest his back. (photo: Reed)
I originally walked right by Bob who was holding himself up by leaning against a telephone pole and supporting the rest of his weight with a walker at the corner of Connecticut Avenue and R Street. I crossed the street but couldn’t stop thinking about what his story was. I turned around and went back and placed ten dollars in his hand.
“I’ve got a bad lower back which is inoperable,” Bob shared. “I fell down a flight of stairs in 1977…each year it gets worse.” There was something special about Bob, although at first I couldn’t put my finger on it. When I first walked by him I assumed that he was panhandling to get some money to buy booze. But I would soon find out that that couldn’t be further from the truth as he’s been sober for nearly 25 years.
Part of me doesn’t want to write anymore and just tell you to watch the video I shot of him. It’s one of the most moving videos I have filmed of all of the people that I have met. Bob opens up to me about being adopted, an upbringing void of love, 30 years of addiction to alcohol and a slew of drugs, family hardships, and 20 nervous breakdowns. His vulnerability and genuine candor will move you. I have watched this video probably a dozen times and forced my dad to watch it this weekend. He too was in awe.
Bob tells me that he has good days and bad days. Sometimes he spends weeks at a time in a depressed state. I definitely caught Bob on a good day. No less than six people stopped by, I kid you not, and said hello to Bob while we chatted. Two or three of them made a specific comment about how happy he looked. I’d like to think I was a part of that, but he might just have been having a good day. If you were curious how many people stopped to say hello to the guy who gives away $10 every day…that number would be zero!
Ruth is Bob’s birth mother. Ann was the mother who raised him. Bob would like to know what happened to his birth mother Ruth Lucas (photo: Reed)He goes into a lot of detail about drug induced binges he embarked on in the 60s and 70s. “I just wanted to drink, shoot dope and have a little sex occasionally,” he told one psychologist in the early days of his recovery attempts. After dozens of failed attempts at sobriety he finally succeeded with the help of others and will be celebrating 24 years of sobriety on October 16th of this year. I asked him if I could see him on that day and he said that that would probably be OK. “So what’s the secret to finally beating the addiction,” I asked. Bob looked down for a second and then looked up and said, “Well, you just have to do two simple things: stop drinking and change your whole fucking life!” He managed a smile and laughed softly despite him realizing the bitter and all too familiar truth of what he had just said.
At one point a stunningly beautiful young woman stopped by and said hello to Bob. “Are you going to play piano tonight?” she asked referring to an open mic session at an outreach ministry-based coffee-house. She had hoped that maybe he would play some music that she was going to bring but Bob said he didn’t feel comfortable doing that. “I just know a few notes,” he humbly offered. “I was hoping to play a song tonight that I wrote. It’s a love song I wrote to my daughter. I love her so much.” He went on to tell me more about his daughter and it was so clear how much he loves and cares for her. He lives in the basement of her house but their relationship is clearly strained. He says that she has an alcohol addiction. “There is always hope, look at me. It took me 30 years though.”
I spent almost two hours with Bob. I learned so much and every topic we spoke about he had something interesting to contribute. I am so impressed with his overall attitude toward life. “Desire nothing and you will have everything,” he says referencing the teachings of St. John of the Cross. “Buddha said something similar, ‘Human desires are the cause of all human sufferings.’”
I caught a rare smile. Bob will use my $10 to help pay his rent. (photo: Reed)
I hope that you take the time to watch the video above. It’s worth it and if you know anyone who is struggling with an addiction or even well into recovery, I think they will find it very insightful. One thing he says about recovery at the end of the video that I think is priceless is, “It takes time and a lot of alcoholics don’t want to wait. It takes time, it’s a process, recovery is a process. They want what they want when they want it. They want it right now. They want 15 years of recovery in a month. It doesn’t work that way. You got to be patient.”
As we said goodbye he left me with a single thought. “Tell someone today that you love them.” Invaluable advice.
Harvey, 42, suffers from mental illness and has been homeless for about a year. (photo: Reed)
On any given night some 671,000 people in the United States, of which 5,320 are located in DC, are homeless according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Harvey is one of them.
I saw him sitting on the ground next to the entrance to McDonald’s on M Street between 19th and 20th Streets in Northwest. On his lap was a sign that read, “A man in need is a man without greed. Please help.” Next to him was a styrofoam container of food and a bag of personal items.
I met Harvey while he was eating lunch. (photo: Reed)
“I’ve been homeless here in DC for about a year now,” Harvey tells me as he eats some ribs that he purchased for his lunch. Originally from Lancaster, PA, Harvey said he came down to DC with the hope of a job but his plans were shot after being robbed at Union Station upon arriving here. “I lost everything I had – some $2,600 in cash.”
He says that he feels lucky in the sense that people often help him. “I usually get about $30 a day out here.” Harvey says that gets support from people from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds and races with one exception: Asians. “I don’t know why but Orientals never help me out.” He goes on to tell me that people who appear to be lower glass give more often than those who appear to be middle and upper class.
As we talked two people stopped to help Harvey out. One was a young attractive professional who dropped some coins in his cup as she walked by. The other was a British woman who stopped and asked if she could get him some food. A few minutes later Jane returned from the McDonald’s with a bag that contained a Big-Mac, fries and a chocolate milkshake. She even gave him the change from whatever amount she had used to pay for the food. I asked her why she helped and she said that she felt very fortunate and that the least she could do is help someone else out. “He’s down on his luck and I am able to help him out, that’s it.”
Harvey says that he has noticed that people’s response varies on the sign that he uses. “One time I had a sign that said, ‘Please spare help for a worthless piece of shit.’ I made $60 that day.” Although he was happy for the money he made that day, he stopped using the sign. “I’m not a worthless piece of shit though; it’s hard to sit here behind that sign when you know that isn’t the truth.”
photo: Reed
He says that being on the streets has taught him survival skills. “You have to take care of yourself, especially in the winter. You learn how to use things like cardboard to help you stay warm.” He also told me that he often has to shower in public fountains. “I just bought some soap today, I try to stay clean.”
Harvey, who says he has five sisters and three brothers, isn’t in regular contact with most of his family. “They don’t care about others.” He also doesn’t seem to have any friends in DC. “I don’t associate with too many people.”
He goes on to say that some of his challenges are a result of his mental illness. “Most homeless suffer from sort of mental problem or physical problem. I’m bipolar.” Harvey says that he has often thought about committing suicide. He doesn’t take any medication to help with his mental illness either.
He told me that he was going to use the ten dollars to get him some food over the next couple days and also buy a couple of beers for the evening. “I don’t do any drugs or hard liquor. The hard stuff makes me suicidal,” Harvey confessed.
I shook his hand and wished him luck. He mentioned some items that he needs and I have added them to the Lend a Hand page.
If you would like to help the homeless in Washington, DC, I encourage you to support your local Street Sense vendor or make a donation through their website.
My mother and brother playing with my Uncle Jack's dog Spike in 1973. (photo courtesy of Ryan Sandridge)
Americans love dogs. The Humane Society reports that there are more than 77 million dogs in the United States. From other sources I found that this is more than twice the number of the second largest dog populated country, Brazil.
I grew up around dogs. We had a little mutt named 99 until I was about seven or eight. My grandmother on my dad’s side was a Collie breeder and my mom’s sister Sue was an Akita breeder. I even picked out a dog from the Humane Society when I was about nine. I named him Paws.
Heather with Petunia and Bear Bear (photo: Reed)
Anyway, dogs have made their way into my blog on numerous occasions. I quickly counted more than 25 posts involving man’s best friend. Although I couldn’t find a figure for how many dogs we have in DC, I did read that the Humane Society reports that four out of every ten homes have at least one dog. Today’s recipient has two dogs who you will meet.
I found Heather walking Petunia and Bear Bear along the park at 23rd and P Streets. Petunia is a rather fierce looking dog that appears to have some pit bull in her. Don’t let this little three and a half year old fool you though, she couldn’t hurt a fly. “She just wants attention,” Heather tells me as Petunia licks me to death. Bear Bear is quite large and I know that I have seen this dog in the neighborhood before. It’s the kind of dog you don’t forget easily. Now three, Heather has had Bear Bear since he was five months old.
Heather poses with Bear Bear (left) and Petunia (right) (photo: Reed)
“They are both rescues,” Heather told me as she explains how she found Petunia wandering around in Charlotte, NC. She rescued Bear Bear from a home where he was being neglected. “I got the owner’s permission.”
These two dogs are lucky that they have found a loving home. According to the ASPCA, five out of ten dogs in shelters are destroyed simply because there is no one to adopt them.
The $10 I gave her will be donated to the Humane Society of Charlotte.
Petunia is really affectionate despite her looks (photo: Reed)
Originally from Ohio, Heather recently moved to the DC area from Charlotte. She is married and in addition to these two loveable guys, is the proud mother of two cats as well. She teaches English as a Second Language (ESL) and is working on her doctoral thesis focusing on international policy and development in the Middle East. “I just got back from a trip to Syria where I was doing some research.”
We were distracted from our conversation several times as Petunia insisted on being the center of attention. Heather is using a plastic bag full of water that she drops on the ground to get Petunia’s attention when she gets excited. While I think that Petunia needs some additional training on this, it seemed to be helping.
“Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – William Shakespeare, Act II, Scene V of Twelfth Night.
I’m in a Shakespearean mood since on Day 250 I spent the day at the Sidney Harmon Hall helping out with the Free For All, a free event that the Shakespeare Theatre Company has produced every year for about the last 20 years. In addition to having two free weeks of Shakespeare’s classic Twelfth Night, on Saturday there was a wonderful all day event for families where children got to explore their creativity and knowledge of theatre and the arts.
A young boy finds just the right marker to finish his coloring (photo: Reed)
I have dabbled in theatre since my teenage years and had fun helping kids understand the world of Shakespeare as well as helping them with more tangible tasks such as coloring. While I was helping the children color their tote bags with special markers that write on fabric a very famous individual walked by: William Shakespeare. I was pretty startled, but the show must go on so I continued with my work. At one point though I realized that I might be able to steal a few minutes with the great bard and give him my $10. The rest is history.
Matt was born in Danville, Pennsylvania but grew up in Tennessee. He holds a BA in Philosophy from Columbia University and an MFA in Classical Acting from the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University. He is currently working towards a PhD in Renaissance Theatre History at the University of Maryland. He is also the Founding Artistic Director of the not for profit Theatre Company, Faction of Fools, which is managed by his wife Sarah. Around for about a year, Faction of Fools focuses on mostly Commedia dell’Arte productions. “These are plays that are very funny, very silly and very energetic,” says Matt.
Mr. Shakespeare offers some artistic direction to the young apprentices (photo: Reed)
The Commedia dell’Arte began in Italy 500 years ago and quickly spread throughout Europe and continues to live in theatres around the world today. Its emergence during the Renaissance marked the beginning of professional theatre in the West; furthermore, the comic characters, themes and devices employed by early Commedia troupes influenced artists from Shakespeare, Moliere and Goldoni to The Blues Brothers, American musical theatre and contemporary sit-coms.
Matt’s interest in the theatre started at an early. “I started telling stories when I was in the third grade. My third grade teacher was a professional story-teller – which made her the coolest teacher ever! I’ve been telling stories ever since.” He says that his favorite Shakespeare work is the distinctively modern Troilus and Cressida, which focuses on the constant questioning of intrinsic values such as hierarchy, honor and love. “It’s too everything. It’s too philosophical, too poetic, too stupid, too funny…it blurs all the lines in terms of what a play can do and does it all on top of each another.”
On this specific day, several of the children didn’t immediately recognize him as the bard from Stratford-upon-Avon. “No less than five children thought I was a pirate,” Matt told me grinning. “That’s ok, even my wife told me this morning, ‘your beard makes you kind of look like a pirate.’”
I got my picture taken with the great William Shakespeare! (photo: Reed)
I thought I would ask young Shakespeare a few things about his life. He told me that he was born in 1564 and although his exact birth date is unknown it is commonly believed that he was born on April 23rd since he was baptized on April 26th and 3 days were commonly passed before baptism. In addition to this, the fact that he died on April 23rd, 1616, many historians hold steadfast to the April 23rd date for both is birth and death.
Matt was quite busy with the activities of the day and I didn’t want to keep him too long, but I did get him to agree to do a very quick question/answer on video. Check it out:
Although Mr. Shakespeare would have preferred to receive pounds and shillings, he readily accepted the ten dollars and promised to donate it to the Faction of Fools Theatre Company.
DC residents have an opportunity to see Matt this November at the Wooly Mammoth Theatre. He stars in The Great One-Man Commedia Epic, single-handedly bringing to life 12 characters drawn from historical Commedia dell’ Arte. It’s a hilarious tale of some common Shakespearean themes that come together to bring an entire town to the brink of tragedy before love prevails, normalcy is restored, and comedy triumphs. It’s on my calendar, maybe I’ll see you there?
The Great One-Man Commedia Epic
Wooly Mammoth Theatre
Wed, Nov 3 — Sun, Nov 7
8pm Wed, Thu, Fri, & Sat / 3pm Sat & Sun
Located about 1,000 miles southeast of Florida, the Dominican Republic is home to about 10 million people, about twice the population of the Greater Washington, DC area.
Yudith sat on a wooden bench in a small park near the Dupont Metro. This is the very same area where I met Alex on Day 109, John on Day 115 and the forthcoming story of Kathryn on Day 260. Originally from the Dominican Republic’s capital city of Santo Domingo, the 34-year-old now lives in Maryland with her parents. She was waiting for her mother and agreed to take my $10 which she says she will give to a friend. “My situation is not the best, but at least I have a job, she doesn’t have a job.”
“Life here hasn’t turned out to be what I hoped for,” she tells me in Spanish. “I came here looking for a better job, but in some respects life was better back home.” Yudith, a single mom, left her three daughters with her aunt five years ago and moved to Boston in an effort to earn enough money to provide for her family. She later moved to DC where she at least has the stability of having her parents near by. “My plan is uncertain right now. I sometimes think of going back to Boston. Finding a job there was difficult before but here has even been worse,” she says adding that she currently works in a beauty salon. “I make between $300 and $600 a week here whereas back home I would only make about 4,000 pesos a month,” which was equal to about $135 at the time. She wires money home every 15 days to help support her children. What makes things even more complicated is the fact that her visa expired years ago and she is now here illegally.
She says that although things have been difficult here and she misses her daughters and many things about her life in Santo Domingo, there are many great things about the US as well. “One thing that I really like about the United States is that there is less difference in how people treat others based on their economic status. Back home there is a much bigger difference in how rich and poor people are treated.”
Yudith’s mother arrived and I introduced myself to her. She was friendly and smiled warmly at me. I said goodbye and continued on my way.
I have lived many places. In the US I have lived in California, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. Outside of the US I have lived in Mexico, Spain and Brazil. I have an idea for what it is like to live far from home; to adapt to new cultures and foreign languages. One thing that I have always taken with me from the training that I received as a Rotary Youth Exchange student is that things are neither better nor worse in another country, they are just different.
I felt that Yudith understands this and is trying to make the best of it. It must be really hard though. She has a much more challenging situation than I had in any of my experiences in other countries. I wish her lots luck.
By the way, I guess the Year of Giving was featured in a Chinese newspaper. I have received so many nice emails and comments from readers in China. Xie xie! I think that is thank you in Mandarin.
I am so excited for you to meet today’s recipient. Her name is Charlotte. The 93-year-old was born and raised in New Orleans, LA. I had the pleasure of meeting her as she and her sister enjoyed a gorgeous afternoon view of the harbor in Annapolis, MD.
People always ask me how I select the people that I give to. I wish I had some really good answer, but it’s much more of a spur of the moment decision than any type of scientific process. On this day I could have given my $10 to several other people. I could have given it to a struggling Naval Academy plebe that I had seen that day carry boxes…
At the Naval Academy, the plebes were tirelessly carrying boxes all over campus. Some looked near exhaustion. (photo: Reed)
Or these young kids that were patrolling the harbor…
It wasn’t until the boat got closer that I realized that they were kids and we were not being attacked. (photo: Reed)
I even tried to give the $10 to Alex Haley…
Me trying to give my $10 to Alex Haley, award-winning author of Roots. (photo: Reed)
Or this guy playing guitar…
A busker playing some music steps from the pier. (photo: Reed)
But in the end, I chose the right person…
I hope that I have half of Charlotte’s energy, humor, and joie de vivre when I am 93! (photo: Reed)
I saw Charlotte sitting on a bench with Jewell, the youngest of her five siblings. Her smile rarely disappeared from her face as she relaxed on the pier watching the sailboats glide by. You would have never known that she had gotten up well before sunrise and flown 1,100 miles from New Orleans earlier that day.
I introduced myself and Jewell, who lives nearby, told me that she had heard about the Year of Giving. The ladies invited me to sit down and we chatted for probably 45 minutes. The proud mother of ten children, Charlotte shared her entire family with me. There was the ordained priest, the Jesuit brother, the daughter that lives on a boat, Tommy who moved to Houston many years ago, Charlotte who they call “Suzie”, the son who lived in Pohnpei in the SE Asian Caroline Islands, her 6th, 7th and 8th children who were all boys, and the youngest two who were girls. Although her first five children didn’t have kids, the other five combined to have 12 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Jewell, Reed, Charlotte (photo: M. Legrain)
Charlotte graduated high school at 16 and went to Normal School to become a teacher and began her career in the New Orleans public school system in the mid-thirties at the age of 18. But it was one summer that she was studying at Loyola that she met the man who ended up being her husband. “My friend Charlie introduced me to him. He lived over on Bank Street.” She told me how things were different back then and they used to go out more in groups as friends rather than couples. “I had decided that I was going to start dating someone else, but then my Lewis asked me out for Saturday night. I told him I was busy, but that I was free the following Saturday – I didn’t want to come off desperate or anything. The next Saturday we went on our date. When it came to an end, he asked if I would go out with him for the remaining Saturday nights that year.” That’s a pretty good strategy. The two were happily married for 40 years until Lewis died in 1978.
The sun began to near the horizon and I could feel my neck starting to get burned. Charlotte seemed comfortable though. She came prepared with a beautiful scarf that not only protected her skin from the sun but also matched her earrings and necklace.
Travel seemed to be something that she really enjoyed. “I’ve been to France, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Belize, Thailand, Hong Kong – come to think of it, I left a bathing suit in Hong Kong,” she said making us all laugh. She also made several trips to the Pacific to visit her son who lived in the Caroline Islands. He had gone there initially as part of a mission and ended up running an agriculture school.
Mmmmm…Central Grocery’s Muffuletta
No matter where she has traveled, she always ends up back in New Orleans. “You can get just about the best food in the world in Nawlins,” she said proudly. I’ll admit, some of my favorite meals have been in The Big Easy. From the turtle soup at Commander’s Palace to fried green tomatoes from Jacques-Imo’s Café to the world’s best muffuletta sandwich at Central Grocery, it’s a food lover’s paradise. By the way, how do you spell muffuletta? I have seen it this way and also muffulatta and muffalata…but it doesn’t seem consistent. Anyway, even the coffee at Café du Monde is pretty extraordinary – or maybe it’s the side order of beignets that makes it so delicious! “Maspero’s Café also makes a good muffuletta sandwich,” according to Charlotte. I will have to add that place to my list.
About this time Charlotte looked at me and said, “You know the more I think about this I think I have heard about what you are doing on the news in New Orleans.” There was a short pause and she thought for a second, “Yep, I’ve heard about you for sure. I remember thinking, ‘that’s never gonna happen to me!’”
We laughed a lot. From L-R, Charlotte, Jewell and Jewell’s husband. (photo: Reed)
Jewell’s husband arrived and took a seat next to his wife. “I made ten dollars while you were gone,” Charlotte quipped.
I had so many other questions in my head for Charlotte. She was such a wonderful woman, but they needed to get going. She doesn’t use email so she gave me her home address. I plan to send her a letter with this blog post printed out. I told her that I was going to look her up the next time I was in New Orleans. She smiled and said that that would be nice. She’s an avid bridge player and said maybe I could sit in as her partner for a few games. I haven’t played much since my mother passed away, but I’d enjoy that.
She decided to use my $10 to get them all an ice cream. The three turned their backs to the sailboats and the glimmering water and Charlotte steadied herself behind her walker. I watched them head toward Storm Bros. Ice Cream – slipping away into the sea of tourists enjoying the late afternoon in historic Annapolis.
Who doesn’t like a good burger? Ok, maybe a vegetarian, but probably even they like a good veggie burger, right? I live dangerously close to a Five Guys burger joint. I have to exercise incredible restraint in order to not end up there too often. Well, you might find yourself wanting a burger by the end of this post.
Late in the evening of day 247, I spotted a guy crossing Connecticut Avenue carrying what looked like high chairs that restaurants have for small children. I hurried across the street to catch up with the man who was now loading them into a vehicle. It was close to midnight and I was interested in what someone does with restaurant high chairs in the middle of the night.
Julio loads some high chairs that need fixed into his car. (photo: Reed)
I called out to the man and he turned to face me. Julio is a manager for the Five Guys on Connecticut Avenue in the Dupont area. He explains to me that he noticed that the high chairs needed to be repaired so he was taking them home to fix them. I wasn’t surprised that the 34-year-old was looking out for kids when I learned that he was the father of four daughters and one son. The oldest is 16 and the youngest is ten months!
Before joining the fast growing burger chain, Julio was doing work on floors in VA. Before that he said he was living in Brooklyn, NY. I asked some more questions about what he was doing in NY and he looked at me very squarely and told me that he spent 14 years in New York State prison. I asked him what he was convicted of and he just said “violence.” Now you might think that this would make me a little nervous, not at all. He is the nicest guy. “I’ve learned a lot about life,” he says. “I got spiritual.” He was released four years ago and moved his family away from his old barrio to the DC area to start over.
Now here is the part I started to question. How was his wife having these kids while he was serving his sentence… He told me that he had kids that were 16, 11, 8, 2 and 10 months. How was he having kids while he was in prison? The answer: conjugal visits. Yep! I actually did a little research on this and according to Wikipedia conjugal visit privileges have been removed from all federal prisons and all but six state systems: California, Connecticut, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York and Washington. I am not condoning criminal behavior, but if you are going to commit a crime I recommend one of those states. I’m just saying.
All that seems left of his past are some tattoos that decorate his arms. “I was young,” he says referring to the fact that he was incarcerated at the age of 16. He says that his focus now is on work and spending time with his wife and five children. I asked him where he would like to be in 10 years and he said he hoped to own a couple of Five Guys franchises and possibly get into real estate. He could use some help getting there though. “I could use some financial planning advice,” he told me. He wants to make sure that he manages his finances in such a way that he is able to realize his goals. If any good financial planners out there are willing to do some pro-bono work, let me know and I can connect you with Julio. Speaking of money…Julio said my $10 would get spent on gas. He drives back and forth to Maryland every day for work.
Julio has been with Five Guys for two years (photo: Reed)
So now the fun part. Did you think I was going to end this without giving your stomach something to think about? Well, I couldn’t resist asking Julio what his favorite burger was. He said that was easy. “Cheeseburger, all the sauces – ketchup, A-1, Bar-B-Q and hot sauce – pickles, onions and extra cheese.” And with that he says you gotta order the Cajun fries. Or maybe a little bit of both the Five Guys style and Cajun fries.
Now as I explained on Day 238 to Paul, Five Guys is awesome (and they are even more awesome for investing in a good guy like Julio), but my favorite burger is from Ray’s Hellburger in Rosslyn, VA. He said he hadn’t heard of Ray’s so some day I am going to take Julio over there with me and get him a burger. Heck, maybe Paul will come with us too!
Knox gets his first customer of the day (photo: Reed)
Yesterday was a great day. I ran into my very first recipient for the first time since we met on December 15, 2009. I embarked on this journey 259 days ago when I placed $10 in the hands of a man named Knox who was shinning shoes on a bitter cold afternoon on the corner of 21st and P Streets. I walked by him yesterday and I wasn’t sure if it was him, so I asked. “Yeah that’s me,” he said. He remembered meeting me too. We talked and I got his phone number so that I can invite him to the year-end party. “I’m gonna be there,” he assured me. He also offered me a free shoe shine which I politely declined. It made my day to see Knox again! Here is an updated picture of him.
Knox, the Year of Giving's first recipient! (photo: Reed)
I am about two weeks behind writing up the blogs…so today’s recipient is from Day 246. I was in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, DC when I realized I was close to the restaurant Social. You might remember I visited this place on Day 84. It’s a cool place that is hard to categorize. I called it a restaurant, but it is rather chameleon like. It is a restaurant, bar, lounge, living room…it is what you are looking for. I ended up talking to some people sitting outside on their patio. I offered a woman there the $10 but she refused. Then a guy at the table suggested that I give the $10 to the next person that walked by. Well, I was thinking that it might be difficult to get someone to stop and talk to me since it was almost midnight.
About 100 yards away we spotted a guy walking and when he got close I asked him to accept my $10, but he declined. I sat back down and enjoyed one of the tasty beers they have at Social. About five minutes later we spotted someone else approaching the patio. One of the guys at my table said, “Oh my gosh, you may want to skip this guy,” because the man who was walking toward us had fluorescent blue hair, eyebrows and goatee. When I saw him, I wasn’t discouraged, in fact, I knew that he was the one.
Freakshow isn't so freaky, he's actually a really nice guy (photo: Reed)
Somehow I wasn’t surprised when the 45-year-old Altoona, PA native told me, “They call me Freakshow. I’m a DJ.” He’s been mixing high energy music for several years here in DC creating a music genre that he calls “funky junk.”
I had to ask him about his color choice for his hair. “It’s always changing; from leopard prints to zebra stripes, to an American flag mohawk.” (I’m back to using the word mohawk on my blog!) He channels his creativity in many other ways too.
Freakshow is a flower designer and a re-creation artist; someone who takes “something that is considered to have outlived its useful purpose and give it one last chance at being worthwhile.”
He told me about one of his artworks that got a considerable amount of attention from his neighbors. He decided to reuse his downspouts in a new and creative way. Check out these photos from the Prince of Petworth’s website.
Like or dislike his creation, it does get a reaction. It generated 90+ comments on the August 9th Prince of Petworth blog post. Freakshow himself even chimed in to explain himself. I personally don’t care much for the result of his new arrangement of the downspouts, but I get what he was doing and what I like even more about it was what he said about how his experiment triggered social interaction within his community. “I in the past two weeks have had the opportunity to meet more of my neighbors than in the two years I have lived at this residence. I have made friend and foe but I have lived an experience that allowed me to see and grow, to realize how people can be so utterly judgmental of another person’s vision. I never claimed beauty or functionality I only took a moment to look at life from a different perspective and my god it was a journey.”
"It's always changing." Freakshow commenting on his hairstyle (photo: Reed)
By the way, Freakshow told me the whole creation was held in place by three screws and some duct tape. I may be wrong, but I believe that he has since removed the downspout. He wrote in the blog post comment that he envisioned replacing it with a brick patio, flower-cart and bench that hopefully won’t offend his neighbors.
So I bet you are wondering what this guy did with my ten bucks right? More duct tape perhaps? Nope, he joins previous recipients Matt and Isaac in using my $10 to purchase cigarettes.
Those who have followed my blog for a while know that I give to all kinds of people. Well, today’s post is proof of that. It was an evening full of interesting characters.
I saw tall lanky African American man wearing a hat, sweatshirt, jacket and suit trousers who was randomly walking up to people and saying things to them and then walking away. His unpredictable behavior and use of a sweatshirt and jacket in near 90+ degree temperatures peaked my interest. As I walked up to him I was greeted by him saying, “Did the good old boys send you from Texas or Tennessee?” I tried to make sense of his question but couldn’t and responded, “My name is Reed and I was wondering if you would like to be part of my project…” He put his hand on my shoulder, something he most have done twenty or thirty times throughout our conversation, and said, “I bet you don’t know where to find you some Japanese ninjas do you?” Before I could tell him that he was right about that he continued, “I trust the Japanese more than I trust my own people, and that’s the end of that now.”
A homeless man rests his head on a briefcase on the streets of DC (photo: Reed)
This was the beginning of a 30 minute bizarre conversation that was impossible to follow. It was like taking a Quentin Tarantino flick, translating into another language and then watching it backwards. I don’t have any pictures or video of Frederick because he was completely paranoid about his image being captured. I did however manage to rather stealthily turn on my audio recorder that was in my backpack at one point and captured some of the tirades. If anyone knows a simple way to upload an audio file on WordPress, let me know, I tried and it only seems to accept video. I know there are some conversion products, but I have not had good luck with some of them.
Few pieces of Frederick’s discourse were coherent. He rarely answered my questions, preferring to jump to a completely different subject. Here are a sample of items that I did manage to comprehend. He claims to:
– be a direct descendent of our 14th president, Franklin Pierce
– have served in the 18th Military Police Criminal Investigation Division for six years
– have worked for the US Postal Service
– be protected by ninjas
– know about secret German laboratories located through a system of tunnels under NYC
– be homeless and live near the Russian embassy (for security reasons)
Surprisingly I did manage to get a clear answer about what he would do with the $10. “I’m going to buy lottery tickets. It’s a tax write-off,” he explains. Hmmm, not sure I agree with him on the tax write-off, but by this time I was not surprised at all by anything he said.
The rest of my time with Frederick was spent tangentially jumping from subject to subject. It was difficult to make any sense of it, but I did start writing down topics that he spoke about. Here is a sample of the items (in order as he mentioned them) that he talked about: Manuel Noriega, Marion Barry, Vietnam war, drugs, race, Philippines, Spanish, Obama, Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Christmas cards, South Carolina, Castro, KGB, Charlie Rangel, plagiarism, Mozambique, Florida, Turkestan, Jews and Alexander Pushkin. On top of all this he fist bumped me at least two dozen times throughout his ramblings. If you can make a coherent statement weaving all of these items together in that order, please send it to me!
He stopped at one point and I decided this was my time to make an exit. I thanked him for his time and got my things together. “So, when are you going to deploy?” he asked. I assured him that I wasn’t deploying anywhere, shook his hand and went on my way…but my interesting evening wasn’t over yet. As I said goodbye I heard someone imitating the sound of a cat. They were meowing really loud. I spotted a twenty or thirty-something white guy with really unkempt hair slowly making his way along the sidewalk. He was about 15 feet away from me screaming his lungs out. People began changing their path just to avoid getting close to him. If this wasn’t weird enough, another white guy, about sixty years old, ran past both me and the crazy cat man shooting at us with a water gun. I looked up at the moon, but it wasn’t full.
Nonetheless, it was really late and walking home was probably not a good idea so I found a cab, jumped in the back and breathed a sigh of relief.
Abraham sits in the background near his flower stand (photo: Reed)
I wandered over to the benches near the Dupont Circle North entrance/exit…hoping to maybe find Johnnie, but he wasn’t there. Near the benches I saw some guys selling flowers, I walked over and met Abraham and Moses. Nice guys, but they both refused the $10.
Larry shows his $10 at the north entrance of Dupont Circle's Metro stop (photo: Reed)
Then I spotted Larry back over on the bench where I had met Johnnie. I walked over and handed him one of my cards and asked him to be recipient number 244. After a little discussion he said, “I will accept the $10 but I will not keep it, I will find someone else to give it to who needs it more than I do.”
Larry, a 55-year-old resident of DC, was enjoying a Starbucks coffee before catching the Metro home. He has worked in housekeeping at a nearby hotel for the past 17 years. “It’s a very good place to work,” he says. But as you can imagine, as someone who goes into guests rooms, he has seen some crazy things over the years. “I’ve seen grown men fist-fighting. I have seen rooms completely destroyed. I’ve probably seen it all.”
One of twelve children, Larry has grown up in this city. All twelve of the children and his parents still live here. He is married and has a daughter.
Larry was very committed to giving the $10 away. He tried several times while I was there with him, but was not successful. Some teenagers walked by and he tried to give it to them but they kept walking. A father walked by with his child and Larry jumped up to try to give it to them, but they didn’t even stop to talk to Larry…they just kept walking. Here he explains his rationale about his decision to pass the $10 along to someone else.
Finally I thought Larry was going to find someone. He found a student, Mike, who was sitting nearby on a bench. Mike said that as a student he didn’t have much money himself but that he was sure there were people more deserving than him, so he politely refused. Larry was struggling and becoming very anxious to give it to someone. When we parted ways, he said, “Call me tomorrow and I will tell you what happened to the money because I guarantee you that I am going to find someone to give it to today, I ain’t going to keep it.”
(photo: Reed)
The next day I called Larry and said that he found a guy and took him to Subway and bought him a sandwich. “I still have $5 left though.” I am going to give Larry a call this week and meet him for coffee and see if he did something with the other $5.
By the way, I was able to deliver some clothes and other items to Garrett that Deb from Illinois sent. You can see the video of him receiving the items here.
After leaving the Black Cat on Day 242, we got some pizza on U Street and I offered to walk a friend of mine home. On the way we noticed some bright lights in the CVS parking lot. At first I thought maybe they were filming something. As we got closer we noticed that there were five cloth backdrops with scenes painted on them, some portrait studio type lighting and two color printers.
You can find Carlton every weekend until October at the CVS parking lot near Florida and 7th (photo: Reed)
Carlton was holding a Canon Rebel camera. I asked what was going on and he explained that during the warm months he and his brothers set up in the parking lot there at the CVS and take people’s photos in front of the backdrops. “It’s ten dollars for a picture,” the 31-year-old tells me. I looked at my watch, it was about 12:30am…it’s a new day. Game on! I reached in and grabbed $10 and gave it to Carlton. “I’ll take your guys picture for you if you want,” he offers but I explain that I can’t receive anything in return for the $10.
Carlton’s uncle negotiated a deal with the CVS people to use their parking lot from 11pm to around 3am on the weekends. Then he and his brother’s got a friend named GQ to design all the back drops. There were five backdrops lined up: one that said “Wasted” and had some alcohol bottles on it, another with a Cuervo 1800 bottle, a third with a Mercedes, the fourth one had a Cadillac truck and the last one showed a beach with waves crashing under the moon. “My favorite is one that is not up tonight, but it’s one with two bottles of Moet champagne,” Carlton says.
Carlton at work (photo: Reed)
As we are chatting a group of nine presumably inebriated young people show up to get their picture taken in front of the “Wasted” backdrop. He takes their photo about four times until they are happy with it and then pulls the memory stick out of the camera and slips it into the printer and hits print. About 90 seconds later, their picture was ready.
“We print about 70 pictures a night,” Carlton says. “We got a lot of regulars too.” No sooner did he mention that he had regulars than a guy shows up who must have taken 30 photos of himself. He was wearing sunglasses and had his car stereo system pumping hard. He took photos in front of several of the backdrops but then he took some of him in his car too. Carlton printed what looked to be about two dozen photos and handed them to the customer. “He’s a regular,” Carlton says nodding toward the man as he pulled out of the parking lot. I hope he didn’t pay $10 per picture!
Carlton poses for a picture (photo: Reed)
Carlton and his brothers, DC natives who attended Roosevelt High School, have been doing this for four years. Sometimes they also set up in clubs and other places, especially in the winter when they are not out at this location. Things get a little out of control from time to time too. “Sometimes ladies get naked, it’s crazy,” Carlton admits.
Some ladies strike a pose for Carlton (photo: Reed)
Two young ladies approach us and ask to get their picture taken. I now had my camera out and I guess they thought I was working there…reasonable assumption. I directed them to Carlton and they struck a pose in front of the Cuervo bottle. I captured Carlton taking their photo.
“I’m going use the $10 to put gas in my car,” he says as he slides the ladies’ photo into a sleeve.
Before leaving, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to get my photo taken as well. I chose the beach scene. You can find the photo on the Facebook Page.
If you want to get your photo taken by Carlton, you’ll find him or one of his brothers in the CVS parking lot at Florida and 7th Street, NW any weekend from 11pm to around 3am until October.
On Day 242 I made my way over to the Black Cat to see my friend Melanie’s band, the NRIs. You might recall that Melanie is also in a band called Machines on Vacation (see Day 80 and 128). I had not seen the NRIs before so I was excited to check them out and they didn’t disappoint. My friend Melanie, who plays the violin, is a great addition to the band giving some of the songs a very genuine sound.
Before going in to see the show, I spotted some people having a cigarette outside. I thought I would see if one of them would be my 242nd recipient. After a brief discussion they agreed that Gabrielle should be one.
Chris and Gabrielle outside the Black Cat (photo: Reed)
“Today I live in Virginia…I guess,” she tells me as I collect some basic information from her. It turns out this 28-year-old left Seattle a week earlier and drove 2,800 miles with her boyfriend Chris to Washington, DC. “It was a long drive. It was a hot drive,” she told me.
Gabrielle moved her for a job in the video gaming field as an environmental graphic designer. She’s the one that puts the trees and landscapes in your favorite games! You’re welcome! She likes working on next generation games and wants to make cool monsters (I think that is what my notes say…my writing is particularly bad this day.) She recently completed some work on the racing simulator Forza Motorsport 3.
As I recall she initially was staying outside of DC in Virginia as a house-sitter for some people who her father met in Idaho! Totally random I know.
“Wow, that’s cool,” she says as I hand her the $10. “I need it, I’m pretty much out of money.” She thought for a while about what she was going to do with it and finally said that it would probably get spent on two beers that evening: one for her and one for Chris.
Here is a short video of Gabrielle talking about the highs and lows of her trip back east as well as her initial impressions of Washington, DC. Take a look:
On Day 241 I met up with the Russian Channel One team again. They came to my apartment and filmed a little and then we headed over to Dupont Circle to find a recipient. The first person I stopped was a young guy named Oliver. He said “no” originally and then he said something that was very interesting. After we spoke for a few minutes he made me an offer. “I’ll take your ten-dollar bill if you take my twenty-dollar bill.” I thought that was a really cool idea. He was pushing my concept to the next level. Unfortunately as you may know, I can not receive anything in return for my $10 so I couldn’t do that. That was his condition on taking my money and unfortunately things didn’t work out, but I loved his creativity. I didn’t get his information, but hopefully he will check this out and drop me a line! I liked his style!
I then approached another person who said they were running late and didn’t have time.
Eric at Dupont Circle (photo: Reed)
They say that the third time is a charm. Well, Eric helped make that statement come to fruition. He looks to be a twenty-something who works for an IT company where you can dress how you want and the hours are flexible. Well, I was pretty much right-on. He works as a software developer for a non-profit that uses the power of the Internet to catalyze greater government openness and transparency, and provides new tools and resources for media and citizens, alike. Basically it seems like they try to improve transparency and help the public connect with the government. And since it was close to 10am, I think I am right about the flexible hours too.
Eric is originally from the Catskills of New York but has also lived in Boston and NYC before coming to DC. “I really like it here,” he says. That might be largely as a result of his job as it turns out. Either he really likes it or hopes that his boss reads this because he told me, “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been working where I am now. There’s just 35 of us, it’s pretty cool.”
Eric talking to Andrey from Russian Channel One (photo: Reed)
He keeps himself busy outside of the office as well. “I like to do improv comedy and ride my unicycle.” That’s right, Eric rides a unicycle. He told me that one day when he was in Boston he saw a guy riding to work on a unicycle and he asked him if he could borrow it some time and the guy agreed. Apparently it’s a small trusting community. I mean, it would be easy to spot them if they don’t bring it back, right! I assume he has his own now and didn’t keep the other guy’s unicycle and flee to Washington. Hmmm…anyone missing a unicycle up in Boston?
Eric has “a few brothers” and is the proud father of a cat. He also has a girlfriend – sorry ladies. Speaking of which, he said that my $10 would help him take his girlfriend to dinner.
I finished and then the guys from Channel One had a chat with Eric for a while and we parted ways. Cool guy.
Every time I approach someone there is a crucial couple of seconds or minutes where I have to establish credibility and a rapport with the person that I speak with. Here in Washington, we have lots of people who come up to strangers asking for things whether it be money or their support on a petition, etc. So, many people get conditioned to just saying “no” to everyone who approaches them.
A critical element of my success in getting so many people to hear me out is the fact that I have a business card that I give them. It somehow gives me credibility and the impression that what I am doing is legitimate. Well, I recently ran out of cards and thankfully the same company that helped me out with the original batch of cards came to my rescue again! You may recall that when Zazzle.com heard about my project back in January they were so excited about it that they let me design my own card and then donated 500 of them to me to help me out. It’s great to see companies that step up and help others out.
I designed these cards and then Zazzle.com gave them to me for free! (photo: Reed)
If you like to design things (anything, from business cards to mugs to t-shirts) go online and you can design your products and then put your design in the public domain so that others can see your work. Then if someone wants to purchase your design you get paid! How cool is that?! They are called “Skinny Cards” because of their smaller (3” x 1”) than normal size. Here’s a link to my template. People constantly comment on how much the love my cards. Thanks Zazzle!!!
Today’s giving story is a bit enigmatic. I met Johnnie as he sat on a bench near the Dupont Metro North entrance/exit. At first he said that he couldn’t accept the $10. He liked the idea and said that he wouldn’t keep the money but he thought that I would probably do a better job of finding a person who “deserved it.” Johnnie, who works for Metro, encouraged me to find someone else, but after I explained to him that if everyone did that my “reach” would only be as far as the area which I travel each day. But since he and others live in different communities and travel to other parts of the city and world that he could broaden the pool of potential people that my project touches.
We went back and forth on this for a while, maybe 20 minutes. I figured I wasn’t going to convince the 46-year-old DC resident but finally he said, “You know what, give me that $10, I think I know what I am going to do with it.” He said he had to go catch his bus and I didn’t have time to get a picture or anything of Johnnie. I did get his phone number quickly as he left and have tried calling it the last two days but I get a message saying that the person is “not accepting phone calls at this time.” Maybe he needs to use the $10 to pay his phone bill!
Hopefully I can reach him and then update this post.
I have been contacted by some interesting news organizations about my year-long commitment. From local news here in Washington, DC to morning shows to CNN. Even a handful of international news organizations have reached out for interviews. Recently I was contacted by Russia Channel 1, the leading broadcasting network in Russia. They asked if they could interview me and follow me around for a couple of days. Today is the first of two days that they joined me finding my daily recipient.
Carolyn in front of Union Station in DC (photo: Reed)
We met at Union Station and talked for a little while and then set out looking for someone to give my $10 to. The first person I asked said that they were in a hurry, but the second person I approached agreed to receive my ten bucks. Carolyn is in DC visiting her daughter who lives here and is a DC school principal.
Although originally from Little Rock, AR, she now lives in Los Angeles. In addition to raising five children, this 75-year-old found time to lead a career as a police officer, a nurse and later a pastor.
Giving is nothing foreign to Carolyn. She shared with me that she went to Haiti on missionary tour and fed 2,000 people per day. “It was such a site to see,” she said describing countless children as old as six that didn’t have clothes. Back stateside she helped at men’s shelter for many years. Just then she takes out a piece of paper in her bag that has contact information for free legal services for those living below the poverty line. “Right now I was planning on going over to this McDonald’s and see if there is anyone who might need this information,” she explains to me motioning toward Union Station. I’ll probably use your $10 to get me something to drink there too. Here is a video of her explaining how she shares the legal information.
Carolyn says that she tries to help at least one person every day. She credits her faith with fueling her service to others. “I grew up in a Christian home,” she told me. “I know that Jesus Christ is my personal savior and he has always opened doors for me.”
I asked her if there was anything that anyone reading her story could do to help her. She reluctantly told me about a hospital bill that has gotten out of hand. “I still owe about $1,300,” she says. She tries to make monthly payments of $100, but the interest keeps building up. She said that she could use some help getting that paid off. “If anyone would be so kind as to help I can give them the payment information and they can directly pay the hospital.” So many of my readers are very generous themselves, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone offered to help this kind woman.
After I was done speaking with her, Andrey from Russia Channel 1 interviewed her some as well. You can see that here:
This made me laugh today. Apparently I have made the top 10 list of weirdest hobbies! My daily gifting landed me in third place behind a guy who takes photos of himself pretending to be dead and another guy who tries to get in the background of various newscasts. Here’s the part that shocked me though, I managed to beat the 84-year-old English woman who knits woolen boobs. Now that is really something!
Paul holding Kiko who turns one year old next Wednesday! (photo: Reed)
Anyway, after four days of dog sitting you would think that I had my fill of dogs, but it seems that was not the case as I gave my $10 to a guy with a dog on Day 238.
I walked by the Cosi on the corner of Connecticut Avenue and R Street in DC and saw Paul sitting at a table outside with Kiko, a black mixed lab. It turns out that he was just waiting there for his girlfriend, Kristen, who had gone into Five Guys to get their dinner. “Their burgers are good, not as good as Ray’s Hellburger over in Rosslyn, but they’re good.” He also said he likes the Vietnamese Pho 75 that is next to Ray’s. I have to agree, I like both of those spots too.
Kiko, whose name was inspired by the Kikkoman brand of soy sauce, is a rambunctious young pup. They found her abandoned on the side of the road in Fayette County, West Virginia. Although they don’t know exactly how old Kiko is, they guess that she is about a year. In fact they have made September 1 her birthday so she will be celebrating her first birthday next week! As she was a rescue dog Paul said that she came with some challenging habits to break. “She’s a cross between a piranha and a beaver – I mean other than a Kevlar vest, she will chew up just about anything.”
Paul picked Kiko up and posed for some photos. The 35 pound dog hammed it up pretty good and even later showed off some things she has learned to do. Unfortunately my camera kind of spooked her so I didn’t get to see the complete repertoire of tricks.
Speaking of tricks, Paul had a trick of his own that he showed me. He has the unique ability to snap his fingers with his pinky fingers. I have never seen anyone do that. “Neither have I,” said the 29-year-old Dupont resident, “I even listed it on my application for Georgetown where they asked about special talents.” Paul ended up getting accepted to Georgetown so for any of you prospective college students, start practicing now so that you can add this to your admission application. It apparently works!
I asked him if there was anything he could think of that I could list on the Lend a Hand section of the website. He light-heartedly said, “A healthy supply of Belgian beers would be nice.” All you Belgian and Belgian style brewers out there, please send Paul a six pack of you best beer.
Paul said that his ten dollars would somehow go to Kiko. “Maybe a toy or some treats,” he told me. I later got this in an email from him:
Instead of being put toward a new toy or a bag of treats for her, your “donation” covered 5/8 of the $16 fee charged by our dogwalker for her 30 minute session with Kiko today. Not cheap, right? If you want to reap windfall profits, dogwalking is where it’s at…”
Thanks for the update Paul!
So before I left, I got to meet his girlfriend Kristen. She was very nice and we chatted for a while. I felt bad though as their delicious burgers were getting cold so I said goodbye and walked home.
Jon gets a fresh delicious pretzel for a customer (photo: Reed)
On Sunday I said goodbye to Sweetie and Manassas and headed back to DC. On the way home I stopped at the Tyson’s Corner Mall. I got to admit that I have almost no willpower when it comes to Auntie Anne’s Pretzels. I succumbed to the cravings and walked over and got a pretzel. My favorite one is the jalapeno, but they didn’t have that at this one so I just got the original. Mmmm…it was devoured in about two minutes.
As I was eating I thought that maybe I could give my $10 to the guy who sold me the pretzel. I walked back over and introduced myself to Jon and explained what I was doing. He said he would accept my $10 and I chatted with him while he prepared the place for closing, after all the mall was closing in about 10 minutes.
Jon (photo: Reed)
After four months working for the pretzel gods, Jon says that the original pretzel is the most common. “We also sell a lot of almond pretzels,” he says. I never knew they sold almond pretzels but he says that they are quite popular with Asian Americans. Which is interesting, because when I used to live in Brazil they had pretzel shops there too, but they never sold salted pretzels, mostly sweet pretzels. Brazilians like salty snacks; I’ve always thought that the original pretzel would be very popular there. Maybe they would like the almond pretzel! Anyway.
Jon comes across as a professional, charismatic guy. I was a little surprised that he was working in retail at the mall. He shared with me that he had been convicted of felony drug charges in the past and it was hard to find work. “I was sentenced to 15 months in Arlington County jail,” he tells me although he later explains that the majority of the sentence he served in a rehabilitation center. “That’s in the past now. I’m clean now. I was at a point in my life when I needed change,” Jon said.
Now he is focused on other things. He realized he had to exchange his old lifestyle and friends for a new lifestyle that would allow him to live a productive life. When he is not working he says that he enjoys going to the gym, playing sports and rooting for the Redskins. He has also invested time and money into getting his A+ Certification for computer systems. He has done all the coursework he needs he just needs to take the final exam. He got interested in computers at an early age and has been building his own computers for the past four to five years.
Jon attends to some customers (photo: Reed)
A family walked up and ordered three pretzels. “We have a special that if you buy two you get the third one free,” he told her. That made them so happy.
I learned that three nights a week they give their leftover food to a shelter program. Very nice. I am not sure why they don’t do it every night but I suspect it might present some logistical challenges.
“So what do you think you will use the $10 for?” I asked him. He didn’t waste any time to blurt out, “Bus fare!” He sometimes uses a scooter, but relies heavily on the bus system. “Right now my scooter is in the shop actually,” he said. “It was supposed be ready the other day but now it wont be ready until tomorrow at the earliest – that’s the kind of stuff that used to set me off when I was using, but now it doesn’t really bother me.”
One of his colleagues showed up from the other location that Auntie Anne’s has in the mall. I told him that I would let him go and packed up my stuff and tried to figure out how I was going to get out of the mall because some of the exits were now closed. Jon told me how to get out and thanked me and I wished him a good night. He smiled and said, “Thanks, I will. I’m actually meeting my mother for dinner!”
Chilean president Sebastián Piñera holds up a message from the trapped miners. (photo: Hector Retamal/AP)
Have you been following the 33 miners trapped in a mine in Chile. Well, yesterday after 17 days trapped 4.5 miles inside the winding mine, rescuers received a note written in red paint that all 33 were alive! VIVA CHILE! That is awesome. Now the challenge. It will take up to four months to get them out…but they are able to send some supplies down to them. Read more about this here.
This is the same shot I took the yesterday but at night (photo: Reed)
Back here in the US, I was on my third day in Manassas when I decided to go to the historic downtown and find my recipient of the day. I had gone to dinner down in Springfield with some old work colleagues and then drove back and stopped downtown. It’s a charming quaint looking place where you see the same police car driving around the town a couple of times during the same evening (either that or they were suspicious of the “guy from out of town walking around giving money away and taking pictures.”) The flag lined streets are nestled with small shops, restaurants, bars, a hotel and even a barber shop. It’s in front of the Royal Cuts Barber Shop on Center Street that I found Alex and Breanna sitting on a bench.
I am not sure how well they knew each other. At first I figured they were a couple, but then it turned out that they were just friends, or maybe even acquaintances, who had attended the same high school.
Alex and Breanna chilling in front of Royal Cuts Barber Shop (photo: Reed)
I asked them what someone should see or do in Manassas and they said that they really didn’t have a good answer. “There’s not much to do here except go around town and look at the plaques,” they said referring to the historical markers that are peppered around the city center. Alex said to check out a place called Tommy’s. “It’s pretty good and they got some pool tables,” he added. I looked them up later on the internet and it seems to be an interesting place. They describe the atmosphere as a “sports bar” that is also “family friendly” and welcomes cowboy hats!
I asked them what they liked to do and they both said they enjoyed writing. “I have a freakish imagination,” Alex says. “I write short stories, sci-fi and fantasy but it’s not very good.” Breanna says she also likes to write and is equally self-deprecating of her talent. Alex also admitted to a severe music addiction saying that he likes all kinds of music, “80s, 90s up to today.”
We chat some more and before too long before a friend of Breanna’s who just got off work stopped by. I’m going to take the liberty to change his name and call him Mike…I think you will understand once I explain more. Anyway, I had asked Alex and Breanna to share with me something interesting or funny about them so when Mike arrived I thought better yet, I’ll ask Mike to give me some funny story about the two. Mike thinks for a second and then says, “Ok, well, I guess I could share this with you but it’s pretty embarrassing.” Mike proceeds to tell me a story that had nothing to do with Alex and Breanna at all. It was story about him that had to do with masturbation!
I was looking at Breanna and Alex and they were looking at me and none of us knew quite what to say. “I don’t think he understood your question,” Breanna said. Yeah, I’d say that was a safe assumption.
Anyway, it was a bit awkward for a minute or two and then Breanna left with Mike and I stayed behind with Alex.
Intersection of Main and Center Streets at night (photo: Reed)
I’m glad I decided to hang out a little longer and chat with Alex because he shared his own personal struggle getting a job. That meant a lot to me given my own 285 day search for employment that I had gone through since being laid off last year. Alex didn’t graduate when he should have because he failed a civics class. It started off ok but then the teacher had a stroke and they had a slew of substitute teachers in and out of the classroom and he just didn’t do well and ended up failing. Until he finished the class and got his diploma it was really hard to find a job that would pay anything decent.
Alex found himself graduating as the country slipped into a depression. The job market turned south and he was left knocking on doors, literally. “I walked door to door at one point looking for a job,” he told me. I asked him if he could share the story on video and he agreed. His heartfelt story shows how determination on a rainy day can lead to opportunity. Anyone who has thought about giving up on finding a job should watch this!
So, what the heck happened to the $10, right! Well, I asked Alex what he was going to do with the money and we realized that Breanna had ended up with the money! Somehow I must have missed that when she left. Perhaps I was distracted by the masturbation story. Anyway, I have emailed Breanna and hope to get an update on the $10 soon.
We said goodbye and I walked through the streets of Manassas passed dozens of dark storefronts until I arrived at my car. I went back and took Sweetie for a walk before going to bed.
Railroad tracks run through picturesque downtown Manassas (photo: Reed)
I’ve enjoyed taking care of my friends’ dog Sweetie. She really likes going for walks.
While in Manassas I thought I would go and relax a little at a local coffee shop so I looked online for a good place and found some good reviews for a place called Jess Presso. It was over off of Liberia Ave. and I looked all over for it but couldn’t find it. I double checked the address and found that there was another business operating where it used to be. There was a Starbucks in the same plaza so I thought that I would head over there and maybe do a little writing or see who I would find there to give my $10 to.
Starbucks on Liberia Ave. where I met Joshua (photo: Reed)
As I waited for my dopio espresso, the perky cashier explained to me that the place I was looking for had closed. “It wasn’t that good actually in my opinion – my friend worked there,” she said. Well, at least I didn’t miss anything. I got my espresso, added a packet of Splenda and stirred the murky water while I scanned the shop. There was a guy sitting in a comfy chair working on his computer who caught my eye.
Originally from Oklahoma, Joshua moved here two weeks ago after spending the last three years living with his wife at the home of his in-laws in Hawaii.
Joshua spent nine years in the navy as a submarine sonar technician before leaving the military back in May. Then he spent two months combing the internet for a job. Being out of work for an extended time will “make your eyes bleed,” Joshua states shaking his head. He is thankful for the job opportunity he received despite having to leave his wife in Hawaii for a while. Pregnant with their first child, they decided that she would stay back in Hawaii with her family until after the arrival of the baby in January.
Joshua doesn't have internet access at his apartment yet, so he often visits Starbucks to connect. (photo: Reed)
From politics to foreign cultures to immigration laws to the economy; we talked for nearly two hours. He told me that before joining the navy he worked for a small lending company in Oklahoma. He used to go in person to do the collections and had so many sad stories of people getting into situations that they were unable to easily get themselves out of. He says that he felt bad for many of the people that he had to go and pressure to make payments. He says that they weren’t like the aggressive maniacs you see on TV, but their goal was to recover the borrowed money. “I definitely learned one thing; never co-sign anything unless you’re prepared to be solely responsible for it.”
Despite being submerged for up to 45 days at a time sometimes, he said that he really enjoyed his time in the navy. “A difficult part that a lot of guys don’t know before they enlist is that even when they are at port they have to “stand duty” one out of every four nights.” That means staying aboard the ship away from family and standing guard. As he and his wife start their own family they felt that a civilian life would allow them to spend more time together.
Joshua is living in an apartment for the time being but hopes to purchase a house. On this clip he talks to me a little bit about the importance of home ownership in the US and how cultural backgrounds play a big role in shaping our views of what type of living arrangements we choose.
When I asked him what he was going to do with the $10 he replied that he was going to “get some stuff for the apartment.” He smiled and said, “Today I bought a microwave, but that is about all I got, well that and an inflatable bed and two camping chairs, but that’s it.”
After almost two hours of talking I realized I completely hijacked his time there and we both packed up and left – I think Starbucks was closing anyway. As we got to our cars, I thanked him for his service to our country and for the enjoyable conversation that evening and said “Goodbye.”
UPDATE Aug. 23, 2010: I got an email from Joshua today letting me know that the $10 went toward a futon which is already being used by a friend from his Navy training days who is visiting!
If you are in Washington, DC, join me today at the Shakespeare Theatre Family Fun Fair from 10:00-2:00 downtown near the Verizon Center. It should be a fun event for the whole family.
photo: Reed
I was recently dog-sitting in Manassas, VA for my friends Tressa and Tom. It was nice to have a new community for a few days to share the Year of Giving with. On my first day there I headed over to Costco to get some items that I needed. As I was leaving I saw a man sitting with his child. I asked him to be my 234th recipient but he preferred not to participate. His name was Jeremy.
I then headed over to the Giant grocery store on Sudley Rd and picked up another couple items to have on hand for my weekend “getaway” in Manassas. I was still looking for someone else but just didn’t seem to see the right person. About a block away from the Giant there was a Family Dollar store. I drove over there and saw a woman coming out of the store.
I parked quickly and ran over to Angela who was now loading her purchases into the car. She was very friendly and open to talking with me. We talked for about thirty minutes and I have thought about her and her story every day since.
Angela has overcome many challenges in life (photo: Reed)
Angela is a 35-year-old single mother of five kids! The oldest is 17 and the youngest is seven. Unfortunately she doesn’t have custody of the children right now because the father (they are separated) had nearby family that would be able to help raise the children. Angela’s closest family members are in West Virginia. She works two full-time jobs right now as a certified nursing assistant in order to be able to support herself and make payments to help with childcare of her children. “I have been working as a CNA for 14 years now,” She says. “I like what I do; it’s like taking care of family.”
As we talked more I discovered that just how difficult of a time it was for Angela when she and her husband separated. It set off a series of events. She got depressed and ended up losing her job and later her home. “I slept in my car for a total of six months to get back to living in an apartment,” she told me.
Angela shared this very emotional moment with me in this video clip. It’s heartbreaking to see and hear her describe such a difficult time in her life.
Angela has her own apartment now and wants to go back to school to get her nursing degree. She also wants custody of her children. “It’s really hard,” she admits. I think it’s important that Angela pursue her nursing degree so that she can have a more stable financial situation, work fewer hours and have a more active role in the lives of her children. The challenge with that is to be able to juggle nursing school while still working enough to make ends meet. If you or anyone you know is a career counselor at a school that might be able to speak with Angela and give her some guidance on how to successfully manage all that, please contact me so that I can put you in touch with her.
As I said earlier I think about my conversation with Angela every day. Meeting her and learning about her story really touched my heart. It’s people like Angela that I meet that make going out and giving my $10 away every day worth it.
Angela in front of the car that she lived in for six months (photo: Reed)
She was tired and had worked all week. Angela told me that she was going to run in to the Aldi supermarket and get some groceries with my $10. I gave her a hug and walked back to my car and just sat there for a while thinking about how difficult it must have been to lose her husband, her children, her job, her house and live in her car.
Her determination and perseverance remind me of a quote by Harriet Beecher Stowe, “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
Ishmael sits with his boots that someone gave him during the snow storm this winter. (photo: Reed)
People always say that homeless people are lazy and don’t want to work. Meet Ishmael. He’s 49 and was born and raised here in Washington, DC. Now homeless, he wants more than anything an opportunity to be gainfully employed.
It is kind of a vicious circle though. We all know that it’s easier to find a job when you already have a job. Prospective employers often think that you have something to offer simply by the fact that another organization hired you. I know that when I was working I would get recruiters calling me regularly about other jobs. When I was out of work for 285 days, my phone didn’t ring near as often. And if you are homeless, there is a good chance you don’t even have a phone so it’s that much more difficult. You don’t have a computer or even a safe place to keep your clothes and belongings.
I found Ishmael as he escaped the sun’s hot rays beneath a tree in the small triangular park that is surrounded by noisy streets of New Hampshire, 21st and M. I sat down next to him and gave him the $10. He was very grateful for the act of kindness and said he was going to use it to buy some food this week. I think he knows that many people probably think that someone in his situation would use it for drugs or alcohol. He looked me in the eye and assured me that he didn’t have any substance abuse problems.
“I got to this situation because I didn’t get myself together,” Ishmael explains. “However, when you lose your job or your house for four or five years, you come back and work so much harder for an organization.” Ishmael also said that he understands that he needs to be patient. “My time will come.” He recorded this short message that talks specifically about what kind of job he would like to find and the commitment he will make to that organization.
Ishmael’s last job was cleaning mail bags at a large building. Just by talking with him I could tell that he understood what was important in his work: quality, efficiency, attitude and following established procedures.
He turns 50 this next February 12th and hopes to be in a different situation by then. Can you help him? Let me know. I am going to reach out to Robert from Day 225 and his DC Central Kitchen to see if there might be something he could do there as he said he had experience in the food service industry.
photo: Reed
By the way, if you don’t have job leads for him, you can also help him out with gift cards to Safeway. You can send them to me and I will get them to Ishmael.
As we said he goodbye, he said, “You aren’t like most people. You are progressive and open-minded. All I need is someone like you who is willing to take a chance on me.”
I met a friend for lunch over near Union Station and then decided to walk back home. It’s about 30 blocks so I knew I would find somebody! I stopped by So Others Might Eat (SOME) and picked up some information and then kept on snaking my way over to Dupont Circle. I came across a nice guy who was originally from Mexico out walking a couple of dogs. He took my card but said he preferred that I find someone else…so on I went.
Tent City DC at Parcel 42 (photo: Reed)
I decided to stop by Tent City DC. When I arrived at the abandoned lot at 7th and R Streets I didn’t find anyone there. I walked around, yelled “hello, anybody home” but no voices came from any of the tents. Just then two young girls yelled over to me from outside the fenced in area where I was standing. “Hey, why are you guys staying in these tents?” I walked over and explained to them that I was not one of the people staying in the tents, but that they were protesting the fact that Parcel 42 was being earmarked for development into luxury condos instead of affordable housing like what was promised by the mayor’s office a few years ago.
I told them about my project and asked if I could give them my $10 for the day.
Shaquan and Cierra next to Tent City DC in the Shaw neighborhood (photo: Reed)
Cierra is 17 and Shaquan is almost 16. They are high school students who are working this summer at a youth camp. They are also two of the 463,000 children living in foster care in the US.
Shaquan has been in the system since she was three and has been in and out of group homes and families all of her life. “The system has got a lot of problems,” Shaquan says. “Every time you go to a new place you got to go through the whole screening process again.” Cierra has only been in foster care for about five years but even in that relatively short amount of time she has been shuffled between 6-8 families. Right now they are both living with Cierra’s sister for the summer, but soon they will go back to a foster family or group house.
They say that some foster families are only in it for the money. “They get a lot of money from the government and we don’t see any of it,” according to Shaquan. I played devil’s advocate a little and reminded them that the families also have a lot of costs that they may not see directly. The agreed that that was probably true, but they still felt like there were some inequities there.
I was deeply sadden as I talked to these smart, articulate young women. They have been forced to grow up much faster than others. They have felt unloved and unwanted at times and suffered through the pain that accompanies those emotions. “It’s hard,” Shaquan starts to say, “I used to blame other people for my actions, but I can’t blame nobody but myself. You got to keep your head up!” She went on to say that she was adopted by a family years ago and she “messed it all up.” She was referring to a woman named Ms. Theresa. I learned that in addition to adopting Shaquan, Ms. Theresa had also opened her home to Cierra. “Man, I wish I was back there now. I didn’t know how good I had it, but I messed up again,” Shaquan says.
I asked them what they were going to do with the $5 that each of them had in their hand. “Probably give it to someone else,” they said. “If I see a homeless person and I got money in my pocket, I give something,” Shaquan says.
photo: Reed
This was one of those days that I couldn’t stop thinking about the people who I had met for a long time after the goodbyes. Both of these girls have so much to offer the world. They are smart. They are charismatic. They are strong yet sensitive and thoughtful at the same time. They are beautiful young women who have not had the easiest path to get to where they are today and admitted to having made some poor choices themselves. What impressed me most was their attitude. They could have said “poor me, why me?” But they didn’t. They accepted responsibility for their actions and their lives and were living in the present making the best out of the cards that they have been dealt. Keep your head up!
I gave $10 every day for a year. Would you make a $10 donation (that's less than 3 cents a day!) today to help those in need that I have met through the Year of Giving. You will get updates on how your donation is used.
“Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – William Shakespeare, Act II, Scene V of Twelfth Night. 
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