Invisible. Forgotten. Misunderstood. Increasingly, these words apply to a growing homeless population.

What if you could change how society views and deals with homelessness and poverty by helping someone share their story and start a conversation? What if that conversation led to an idea and a movement that would change how homelessness is addressed?

Every day Invisiblepeople.tv is starting conversations, raising awareness and changing sterotypes about homelessness. Invisiblepeople.tv lets homeless people share their stories – in their own words – about their experience. Their stories might surprise you. They might motivate you. They’ll definitely move you.

Today, you can join the conversation and make a difference. A donation to Invisiblepeople.tv – no matter how large or small – helps raise awareness and breakdown stereotypes. Our work is made possible and lives are changed thanks to the generosity of individuals like you.

Please consider supporting our work today.  Your contribution is tax deductible, but more importantly, it will change lives.

***this is part of the 12 Days of Giving Campaign

Join us for 12 Days of Giving.

For 12 days over the holidays, 12 passionate influencers will be sharing their favorite charity in a post on the site and inviting you to join in a movement of giving back and doing some good. Will you join us? More information at givingkicksass.com

I’ll be honest, it was so cold I thought my face was going to fall off. A few times even I started to scream “I can’t feel my nose” and was concerned the numbness would spread to the rest of my body. There is a reason I moved from Upstate New York  to sunny Southern California 23 years ago and that reason is I HATE COLD! But I will brave any conditions, even an Alaskan  winter, if it will in some way help our homeless friends who are out in the cold.

Anne Marie Batten, a street outreach nurse I met this summer in Toronto, joked with me that she was buying me snowshoes to come do outreach with her during a Canadian winter. Of course, I told her “HELL NO!”, yet inside I had a feeling I’d be joining her in the cold at some point. I just had no way of even dreaming it would be to launch a We Are Visible Mural and Project Winter Survival, but thanks to the serendipity of social media, and the huge heart of Jeff Pulver, I spent last Saturday in Toronto, Canada.

Even my ride along with Anchorage Police didn’t prepare me for seeing homeless friends sleeping on sidewalk heat grates in below zero weather. CBC followed me while we went out and handed out sleeping bags, and I am glad that their story showed the two men sleeping on top of steam vents. I just wished they made the story about Project Winter Survival instead of me, and that they understood Invisible People is about tangible solutions to end homelessness and not some photography project. I was glad to see Global News feature Project Winter Survival  because we need to get more people involved to support such an amazing initiative.

Lots or people prepare and distribute “survival kits” for all kinds of social crisis worldwide. I was even part of a project that gave out kits in Southern Sudan back in 2005. If the items being handed out are items that actually will help people, and the survival kits are given out with the right intentions, they can be a huge benefit for hurting people. I have to tell you Project Winter Survival was the best survival kits I had ever seen. Over 30 items that included a sleeping bag, hats, gloves, hygiene products, snacks, water, and more. And the people understand homeless people need to carry everything they own so even the sleeping bags have to have a carry strap. But maybe the coolest is that Project Winter Survival then gives the kits to homeless service providers, and that is HUGE!

They could easily hand the kits out themselves, but to have the most impact, they give the kits to organizations building relationships with people on the streets to get them off the streets. For those that have been following me know I am all about working as a team to end homelessness. Handing out ‘stuff’ to homeless friends provides a “feel good” moment, but to do more than maintaining homelessness, if you coordinate with your local homeless services providers, and work with them to distribute with the intent of getting people into housing, you will be having real, tangle impact. I am not saying don’t hand out stuff, what I am saying is work with the local people in your community to provide what people on the streets need to get out of homelessness. Project Winter Survival really impressed me and I was so very glad to be part of this year’s launch.

I LOVE 140 Conference community. Out of any event I have to say that 140 Conference has literally changed my life. Much of that is because Jeff Pulver allows for the community to grown naturally, and with Jeff’s loving guidance, it’s a community constantly being introduced to new eclectic characters.  This year in NYC I met Scott Mills, who is one crazy Toronto Police officer. Scott finds spare time to work with troubled youth, and works to help gang kids with graffiti talent find legal walls to paint. I think that is AWESOME! Well, Scott brought Jessey and Kendre to New York City where they dedicated a wall to Invisible People. I was honored and grateful. After that a wall on the “home court” had to be next.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would have something to do with such a cool event. The We Are Visible Mural was unveiled by a group of Toronto Police officers. How cool is that?!! It really was gorgeous seeing police, youth, art, homeless services, businesses, nonprofits, and social media all come together to launch a project that will help 3,000 homeless people in Toronto. I was blown away, and I hope this movement of art and philanthropy continues.

Much thanks and love to everyone who helped make this happen! Jeff Pulver you are my HERO!

What has four wheels and carries a turkey?

Unless you own a turkey farm, chances are that the bird in your oven took a spin in a shopping cart. Most of us don’t think twice about using a shopping cart (except when it has a squeaky wheel).

On the streets, a shopping cart is called a “buggy.” When I was homeless, I avoided “pushing a buggy” as long as I could. When that day finally came – when I had to get something from point A to Point B and had no other option but to use a shopping cart – I could no longer be in denial about my situation. I was homeless. As you can imagine, accepting that reality was devastating.

You would think that pushing a buggy on the street is as easy as it is in the grocery store parking lot. I assure you it’s not. I had worked a week in a temp job and was able to pay for a SRO (single room occupancy hotel) in North Hollywood. When my money ran out they rolled me up and I had to take my stuff to my storage unit a few miles away. My first challenge was finding a cart. Then, I filled it up and started the long trek, but found going over the curbs extremely difficult. I manhandled the cart over each curb for about a half a mile and I was exhausted. It was very humiliating; people drove by laughing at me.

Right when I was about to give up I saw a mother across the street with her baby carriage and she turned the thing around to go over the curbs. Wow! Was it really that simple? Sure enough, on each street curb I turned my buggy around to backup over the curb. It worked and I was well on my way to becoming a seasoned homeless person.

That day was really a low point of my life. Maybe one of the lowest. I wish I could put into words how crushing it was to my sense of worth. Accepting that I was homeless meant that I had to also accept I may never get out of homelessness. But I was one of the lucky ones.

Thanksgiving is a time when we take a moment to be grateful. Today, I am grateful for people like you who care about the issue of homelessness. It was someone just like you that supported the organization that helped me get off the streets. It was someone just like you that clothed me and fed me until I was able to fend for myself. It was someone just like you that gave me a chance to dream again and a chance to become a normal, housed person again.

Today, there are hundreds of thousands of people on the streets, pushing a buggy, homeless, and hopeless. They need someone to give them a chance.

I don’t know you, except for two things: you’re sitting at a computer and you care about homelessness (there is no other possible explanation for you to be reading a blog about homeless issues than you have a heart for people). Even if you are not a religious person please take a moment today to pray in your own way for the invisible people out there who are sleeping in the streets, in their cars, or in a state of poverty that should not exist in this great country of ours.

I hope you and your family have a happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for keeping the conversation of homelessness and poverty going. Together we can affect change and make a difference in the world.

It does not matter where you live in Los Angeles County you see people experiencing homelessness on a daily basis. It’s a very serious social crisis that affects us all, and it looks like such a massive problem, it’s a normal reaction to feel we cannot do anything about it.  But we can do something about it.

No matter if you give a panhandler money or not, you are paying for them to be on the streets.  Malcolm Gladwell  wrote an article “Million Dollar Murray” that talks about how taxpayers paid a million dollars to keep a homeless person on the streets. The bottom line is this: getting people off the streets and into housing not only saves lives, it saves YOUR money.

This coming Saturday bring your family and join Kobe Bryant and thousands of others for United  Way of Greater Los Angeles’s HomeWalk. HomeWalk 2011 is 5K run/walk to help raise awareness and finances to end homelessness in Los Angeles. The family-friendly event will be held at Exposition Park in Los Angeles on November 19.

WHAT IS HOMEWALK?
HomeWalk is United Way of Greater Los Angeles’ annual 5K Run/Walk to End Homelessness. Each year thousands join together to do their part by fundraising and spreading the word that homelessness is a solvable problem.

WHY HOMEWALK?
In Los Angeles County 51,000 people are homeless. Over the past 4 years, HomeWalk has mobilized 18,000 walkers, raised $1.7 million and funded organizations that have moved 9,000 people into permanent housing. All proceeds go directly back to the community, supporting permanent solutions to end homelessness for chronically homeless people, veterans and families. Solutions such as permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing have proven highly successful in cities such as New York and Denver. In Los Angeles County the solutions we support have over 85% success at keeping people off the streets for good with a 43% cost savings for tax-payers.

HOW CAN WE END HOMELESSNESS?
The number one reason for homelessness is loss of a job. With our region’s unemployment at the highest it’s been in a decade it’s not surprising that we are the homeless capital of the nation and that 40% of the homeless population are women and children.

For more information on UWGLA’s efforts to end homelessness in Los Angeles please visit Home For Good LA http://www.homeforgoodla.org

Maybe you’d like to create a team with your co-workers and then challenge your competitors to do the same.  To register and create teams go tohttp://www.homewalkla.org.  Then please add your team to UWGLA’s Facebook page so we can help promote you.  If you don’t know what team to join, I am walking with Zach Bonner’s “Zach Pack” team and we’d love to have you. Last year, at the age of 13, Zach walked from Tampa to Los Angeles to raise awareness for homeless youth. You’ll love this short video of Zach and his mom , and this year “Little Red Wagon”, a movie on Zach and his philanthropy efforts, is being released. Of course, you could always join Kobe’s team here.

Even if you’re not in the Los Angeles area or busy that day you can register to be a virtual walker and help by sharing about the event over social media.

If you had seen me when I was homeless you would have crossed the street. I was the worst of the worst, but now I am living proof that people not only can change when given a chance – we get better! Please help support United Way’s HomeWalk and let’s work together to end homelessness in Los Angeles.

Many of you know that this year I gave most all of my furniture to homeless families before I left on the road trip. At the time it seemed like the right thing to do. I mean, I needed a change in life, and it’s just “stuff”, and homeless families when transitioning into housing normally get a lot of very used furniture. Everything I gave away was quality and in good condition.

Being honest, even though in my heart I knew it was the right thing to do, I was starting to stress over not having any furniture, or that I would have to end up with junk furniture. I don’t have any savings and coming off the road trip back into a ‘normal’ life, outside of first and last months rent, I didn’t have the money to buy much of anything. Please know, this last few weeks humbled me like you wouldn’t believe and I am so grateful that I can afford a place to live.

Last week I was at Blog World, a conference for social media and blogging. It’s one of the few chances I get each year to see many of the great people who love and support InvisiblePeople.tv. The most important part of any conference is networking so I go out of my way to meet people I don’t know. For two days in each of my social networks there was this one girl. She seemed to be friends with everyone I am friends with, but for some reason I never got around to introducing myself. On the last night of the conference I stopped Aviva Mohilner  and asked “we know so many of the same people how is it I don’t know you?”. Well, it was Aviva who came up to me about an hour later and told me some Matt guy was going to help me with furniture and wanted to do more to help homeless people.

Sure enough, a few days after the conference I connected with Matt from Apt2B and he told me if I could get a truck he’d hook me up, and that he did! Apt2B helped me with a couch, coffee table, some kitchen stuff and things like towels. I forgot I didn’t even have towels so a shower the next morning would have been lots of fun without towels.

But here is the cool part. Donating some stuff to help me was just the start of a really cool relationship. Matt and Apt2B are going to help Ascencia, the family homeless shelter where I work, furnish apartments when we transition homeless families into housing! That is AWESOME!

Matt and Apt2B didn’t want anything in return. They genuinely have big hearts and want to give back to their community. I did this short video to say thanks and to help motivate others to do good. Because if you do good things, good things will happen.

I cannot think of a better ending to several months on the road than a hug from my hero Liz Strauss and handing out socks and food to our homeless friends on Skid Row with Hanes and The Salvation Army to launch this year’s virtual sock drive.

Here are some photos of a wonderful day on Skid Row handing out socks, food, coffee and smiles provided by the Collective Bias team that joined us:

For the last three years Hanes has helped me hand out “White Gold” as I travel all around North America. When living on the streets a fresh, clean pair of socks makes a world of difference. Just listen to Elizabeth:

or Paul:

On November 14th Hanes will be launching a virtual sock with the goal of raising 250,000 pairs of socks to give to out homeless friends via the great work of The Salvation Army. You can find more information here on Salvation Army blog here and make sure to “like” Hanes Facebook page here.

I hope to soon post a more detailed ‘thank you’ for all the wonderful people and organizations that helped make this year’s road trip the most powerful to date. InvisiblePeople.tv is not me, it’s WE! Homelessness effects us all and WE can stand up and influence real change in our communities.

I am not spooky, but sometimes I have to admit there is something that takes the madness of our lives and creates miracles. Both times meeting Paul is one of those miracle moments.

This week driving into Albuquerque in the early morning hours it really hit me. You see, if a normal, logical mind looks at how Paul and I first met that mind would say it was an accident. But was it?

I was honored to be asked by 100,000 Homes Campaign to join them on their Albuquerque Boot Camp and registry week. I love what 100,000 Homes is doing so I felt it very important that the @home documentary join us so the Kindling Group’s camera crew followed along.  The morning we were going out on the streets the team me and the camera crew were on got off to a slow start. It was one of those mornings where anything that could go wrong did. It wasn’t that anyone did anything bad. In fact, I have always been blown away at how the 100,000 Homes team pretty much thinks of everything and is very organized and well prepared. Once we got a van and headed out we were sent to another part of the city far away from downtown. Things still started to go wrong and at one point we all were separated from each other. Because the camera crew could only afford the costs of going out that one morning it was important that they capture volunteers taking surveys. Otherwise all the other 100,000 Homes footage shot over the past year would not make sense.

When all seemed lost Becky Kanis suggested we come back to downtown and walk around by the missions, which we did. That is where we met Paul and I did his survey .

See, I was never to be in the downtown area that morning, and neither was the camera crew following me. The way the morning was planned, if everything worked out as planned, I would have never met Paul. But I did meet Paul and I helped him fill out his survey. Here is Paul’s InvisiblePeople.tv video:

I really didn’t plan on visiting Albuquerque this trip, either. But Doug Chaplin, who works for the city and helped champion Albuquerque Heading Home, tweet me that Paul was in housing so I had to make ABQ a stop on my way back to Los Angeles. Here is a video I taped with Paul this week in his apartment:

Why this is a miracle is first, Paul has a serious brain injury that makes him vulnerable on the streets. In simple terms, if Paul did not get into housing his chances of surviving homeless are not so good . That is why 100,000 Homes is so unique and awesome. They survey the community to find the people who need housing the most. This saves lives, and because those most vulnerable tax the social services and medical system, housing them frees up resources that can be used to help others, AND IT SAVES MONEY!

Second, not only did Paul record a story for InvisiblePeople.tv, but the @home camera crew caught the whole thing on tape making the 100,000 Homes section of the documentary that much more powerful.

Although I would love to take credit for Paul getting into housing my part was very small. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to take Paul’s survey. The real thanks goes to the City of Albuquerque, Albuquerque Heading Home, 100,000 Homes Campaign and all the people that joined in to make it all happen.

Please support your local homeless services that are taking real actions to get people off the streets.  You can find more information on how to bring 100,000 Homes to your community on their website 100khomes.org

Click here to watch an interview I did with Albuquerque’s Mayor Richard Berry 4am the morning we went out.

This week I was visiting Northwest Arkansas for The Farm’s Harvest Festival and my friend Mike Rusch connected me with Marian Riner, Families in Transition Coordinator for the Fayetteville Public Schools.

Being honest, when we walked into Marian’s office I didn’t expect a food pantry or large clothing room. That’s not what you think of when you envision a public school. But the truth is in today’s world we are seeing more and more homeless families with school-aged children.

To put a little bit of perspective Fayetteville is a pretty affluent community. Bentonville, the neighboring community, is the home of Walmart, and there are maybe more millionaires in and around Fayetteville than any other communities in America. But there is also extreme poverty. When I first visited three years ago the homeless count was 1287. Now the homeless surveyed reaches well over 2,000. And please remember, any statistic relation to homelessness is a best a good guess. Homeless people, and especially homeless families are not raising their hands to be counted.

Last year this school district of about 9,000 students 264 of them were homeless. That is unacceptable!

Please watch this educational video on homeless children in the public schools.

I was so very honored to be included in Ketchum’s Respect the Internet one day conference in New York City. The line up of presenters was unbelievable, and the opening keynote from David Weinberger was different from anything I had heard before and still has me thinking. You can watch the keynote and other panels here. David said “the internet is not the medium, we are the medium”, which too me translates to the internet is still a human experience that just happens online. One of the many reasons I love  Jeff Pulver and Chris Brogan so much is because they make the internet human. As marketers (we are all marketers at some level) we must never forget people are human and thus, so is the internet.

Being candid, speaking at this conference had me a little intimidated. So much so that I was actually studying movements every spare moment leaded up to the conference. Normally I speak to a social media crowd, or homeless services, or a leadership, motivational type event.  Ketchum is one of the top players in the PR/marketing field and being asked to speak at this level was an amazing honor.

I had never met Marty Cooke or Kristen Engberg before, but we connected right away like we had done this several times. Right away I was impressed by Marty. When we were introduced he started to talk about Invisiblepeople.tv and how much he liked the interviews. I was blown away that he took the time to visit the site and his genuine encouragement meant the world to me. (if you didn’t pick up on the huge marketing gold nugget in the last two sentences I thought I would point it out:  It’s not about YOU) When Kirsten arrived and the three of us started talking, now this was about a 1/2 hour before the panel, we all started to passionately engage in conversation about movements that continued on right through us being being prepped for the stage. Ben Foster, VP Digital Strategy at Ketchum, noticed our chemistry and for the most part just let us go. The end result was one of the best panel experiences at a conference I have ever had. Gosh, I could talk to Marty and Kristen for hours, and hope to someday spend more time with each of them. Please watch and share this video about movements and cause marketing.

Too me, relationships are so vital to any personal and professional success. How you respect the internet is respect people – always! One huge change our all being connected has caused is that now EVERYTHING MATTERS! Everything should have always mattered, but with social media now more than ever everything matters. To help bring in this point please allow me to share a little history on how I ended up on stage at a Ketchum conference speaking with such amazing people.

A few years back I was in a very serious financial crisis. I was in the process of losing my house to foreclosure and every job seemed to last only  a very short time until I was laid off again, and again, and again. I had just started using social media to help with InvisiblePeople.tv , but at the same time I had zero income and life was very scary. I literally was eating $1 pizzas because that was all I could afford. I saw a tweet about Social Media Club LA holding an event at Universal Sheraton  for $10 and there was food. Knowing the Universal Sheraton a little I figured it would be a classy event with much better food than Ralph’s 10 for $10 cardboard pizzas. Honest, I really went to my first social media event to get better food. I have to say it was an interesting evening, some drama broke out and before I knew it I am connecting with Jessica Gottlieb. Not sure why, maybe Jessica has a fondness to Muppets, but we became friends. Jessica behind the scenes has done so much to support me in the fight against homelessness I will be forever grateful.  It was through Jessica that I first connected to Ketchum. Jessica told Nancy Martira about InvisiblePeople.tv and then Alan Danzis. Last year I was visiting New York City and I stopped by to say thanks and bring Nancy and Alan cupcakes. I honestly believe it’s so very important to say “thank you” as often as possible. As Ketchum was looking for people to present Alan introduced me to  Jonathan Kopp, and the next thing you know I am speaking at Ketchum’s event.

During 2009 & spring of 2010 over twenty two people died homeless in Anchorage, Alaska. I desperately wanted to go help our homeless friends tell their story, but I had no idea how I was going to get there. Alan and Nancy connected me to a Ketchum client, Hertz Car Rental. Hertz underwrote my whole trip to Alaska, yet they never asked me for anything in return. When you receive a gift it’s only natural to say something good about the giver, so I talk about Hertz often, and General Motors, Delta Hotels, Petro-Canada (Canada) , Murphy Oil (United States), Hanes, TubeMogul, Pitch Engine, and Virgin Mobile Canada,  All have helped me fight homelessness and have never asked me for anything, which makes me want to say great things about them even more. The end result is homeless friends like Kim, Mark and Luke helped tell the story of life in the streets of Anchorage.  A little news media helped keep the horrible situation in the public’s eye. And I was personally changed when Anchorage Police allowed me to ride along while they visited a tent city.

At the time Hertz didn’t even have a social media presence, so you may be asking what’s in it for them? Well, the immediate return on investment was and still is Hertz employees loved that Hertz was helping me fight homelessness. And the team in Anchorage, who normally may not get much attention, grabbed on to my visit and it was amazing. One thing I did forget to mention in the panel was the positive impact cause marketing has on employees. Recently I was in Pittsburgh doing a branded event with a local GMC dealer. As I was driving in the dealer started to post photos to their Facebook page of employees filling a truck with donations.

When I started InvisiblePeople.tv I had a dream that to change the story of homelessness and get people into housing we would need to partner with new people and reach new stakeholders. Part of that dream was building relationships with major brands that would not only help validate the importance of the need to fight homelessness but would also offer tangible support.

What happened in Pittsburgh is the start of a dream come true. The local GMC dealer, #1 Cochran Automotive, raffled off Pittsburgh Stealer tickets to help fill a truck with donations that went to the Pittsburgh YMCA that operates two men’s homes. Here is a video of GMC event and a slideshow, and while the Ketchum conference was still on my mind I taped this interview with the GMC dealer and local YMCA:

I really think the best way to go into any relationship is asking “how can I help you”? The best way to keep those relationships is being truthful in everything you do.

What are your thoughts about brand/cause relationships and creating movements?

Three years ago I visited Northwest Arkansas for the first time on the very first InvisiblePeople.tv American Road Trip. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would influence people to do anything but lock their doors when I walked by, but somehow my visit was the catalyst that started THE Farm.  Here is the post I did on The Farm when I visited last year. The Farm is also featured in @home documentary you can watch here.

Thanks to the generous heart of Mike Rusch I was able to visit this year and attended The Farm’s Fall Harvest Party. It’s actually hard to imagine me even being on a farm in Arkansas much less having played a part of any farm’s creation.

Mike is one of my heroes. What he has done with Cobblestone Project is amazing. The Farm is only one of their initiatives. Also started the same night I visited three years ago is the “Our Step” program that partners with local homeless services to fill in the gaps of the ‘safety net’ and get families out of homelessness. Mike told me they have now helped SEVEN families get into housing. That is AWESOME! Meet Don, the first single dad housed because of InvisiblePeople.tv and the Our Step program here.

I think what makes this farm so special is how it creates community. The Farm had over one thousand unique volunteers this year, and most love it because they can bring their children.

Tonight there was a moment where I sat on a bale of hay (Sorry, Mike did try to get a photo) and was just in awe of what God has done with my life and InvisiblePeople.tv. But more importantly, I am grateful for all of you that have loved on me and supported InvisiblePeople.tv over the last three years. It’s because of your support that miracles like The Farm even happen. THANK YOU!