Hi,

We are very excited you are coming to DC. We are a very new nonprofit that helps the homeless, and we'd love to catch up with you when you are in DC. One of the branches of our organization focuses on education, and we've been trying to do something similar to what you're doing at invisiblepeople.tv/blog/ to educate the DC community. We would love to exchange ideas/information with you. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Shayna H Cass
Web Developer/New Media Specialist
Be the Change in DC
website: www.bethechangeindc.org
blog: btcdcblog.blogspot.com

What a wonderful way to provide exposure & education about homelessness.

I work at a small agency in Chicago, Sarah's Circle (www.sarahs-circle.org), which provides services to women who are homeless. We provide daytime shelter & phsyical needs, case managment, empowerment programming, clincial services, & assistance with permanent & stable housing. If you're looking for agencies to check out while you're in Chicago, I'd love to share more of our work with you! Please let me know if you'd be interested!

I work for The Salvation Army's Eastern Michigan Division and we would love to have you ride their Bed and Bread Truck when you are here in Detroit. The truck goes out every day to feed the people and it would be a great opportunity for you get some footage. For many people the truck is the first contact they have to getting into the rehabilitation program, but for others it is just a means of survival.

Please contact me if you think you will have time to fit this into your schedule (robbins@franco.com)

If you can make it to Orlando between Miami and Tampa, there is a great population with some amazing stories that would love to be seen and told. I am a Board Member for Rock For Hunger, an organization that is working with the homeless to provide sustainable solutions for getting people back contributing to society and enjoying life. We host a feeding on Monday nights where we offer food, entertainment, sports and a great atmosphere to learn, talk and share.

We would love to have you come by on the trip. Feel free to contact any of us to see if we can work something into your schedule. (greg@rockforhunger.org)

I will check in with @WarriorGirl on plans around the date of your planned visit Sept 16 to Detroit. The activity we started June 13-14 with the 24 hour Community Spacewalk is growing. We are being asked how frequently we can do this... problem is we've been operating without major sponsorship, grants, or involvement from existing programs. Our next step is to spread word about our accomplishments and encourage involvement.

Very often those that start an idea or concept are looked at skeptically by many. We know that the only way to prove to the skeptics is to DO IT in the face of adversity or controversy.

Saturday we served up 300 hot dogs, baked beans, chips, and drinks with clothing donations as well. I'm working on interview clips recorded, thankfully got one of my cameras working for the event. We've got some great coverage you'll be seeing soon.

Truly we are looking forward to your visit. Spacewalk.org has additional locations calling out for presence, that is why I'll have to check in with Warrior Girl on those plans.

I would like to suggest you consider a visit to The Interfaith Sanctuary in Boise, ID. http://interfaithsanctuary.wordpress.com
This 2 year old facility is open to temporarily housing all people in need, e.g., families, single men and women, gay/lesbian, all or no faiths, veterans, substance abuse victims. The facility is managed by Ms. Jayne Sorrels.

I notice your visiting all big cities. We really don't have "big" cities in SC, but we have homeless. In downtown Sumter we have a park just down from our Chamber of Commerce. Homeless gather there day and night. On weekends community groups and churches bring a meal to everyone at the park. It isn't as well organized now, but sevral years algo I was one of the people that helped with this every Sunday at 3:00 pm. It was rewarding to get to know the people by name. The woman I helped made a photobook of pictures taken at special meals. She put people's names by the photos and displayed the scrapbook every week. People would look over it like a family photo album and chat about events and people. There are at two of the individuals that I still visit with regularly. One stops by my office to chat every now and then. The other I see going and comeing as I go to work. He often hangs out by the library. When I first met him he was a practicing acoholic, now he proudly shares he has been sober for 18 months. Sometimes, one doesn't know just how much showing care and concern for people may help them. Would love to read your accounts of your travels when your done. Good lunck to you!

Hello. I am a specialist in individual and social rehabilitation. I live in the US territory of the US Virgin Islands. Paradise to most, however there is a rather significant number of people who are homeless. Sharp contrast to the wealth of the statsiders mansions, these individuals all seem to fall into one of two categories:

People who experience long and pervasive mental health disorders and who rely on a service system that has never quite worked or

People who are involved directly in prostetution. Not the pimps, the people themselves who prostitute.

It tends to be minimized here as yes, one can sleep outside during much of the year, however this does not quite cut it as being outside and unprotected impedes medical and other care, increases the risk of contraction of dengue fever (potentially fatal), and other forms of ostracism that are an affrontery to an island that has a base of so much wealth.

I am one of the lower middle class. I do have a home. I am educated and although disabled, have found ways to survive and keep this standard of living. I give, but do not yet have the capacity to serve this need. With a broken spine, I cannot attempt outreach to individuals who are angry, flagrantly in psychosis and much bigger than myself. I do provide transportation for food what the opportunity arises, as well as seeking alternatives to living more safely. Still the problem and the risk to individuals has not been arrested, just made somewhat and slightly more comfortable.

Just a suggestion: This is one of the last places that people would expect homelessness, but where there is mental illness and a lack of treatment, homelessness evolves.

All the best,

Dan G., MRC

I will be following your journey and trust that what you publish will open the eyes and the hearts of those who have stereotypical views of who homeless individuals are.

I am one of the founders and now a co-director of The Bridge in St. Louis, Missouri. We have been open since 2005, and have evolved into a during the day drop-in center where basic human needs and kindnesses are extended. We currently serve over 3000 meals each week to about 350 - 500 different individuals who come in and out of our doors. Approximately 85% of the food we serve is reclaimed, refreshened and redistributed from perishable food that would have been discarded.

I see that St. Louis is not on the schedule, but I would love to hear from those of you who work as we do each day.... to eradicate homelessness as we see it today. Each day we work to guide the way home as we help our guests towards self-sufficiency.

Walk in their Shoes.
Share their Stories.
Change the World.

God's blessings on you as you journey.... Lu

Visit the homeless under the viaducts along the way, the ones that don't live in tents or shelters. There's often city signs posted "Emergency Stops Only" where they try to lay down under the shelter of the highways.

What a wonderful project! I had been developing something along the same lines and am happy to hear you are doing it. I was the Executive Director of Nativity House in Tacoma Washington a day shelter for street and homeless people in downtown Tacoma. It was started by a Jesuit Preist over 20 years ago. It would make a wonderful sight for you as well. There is a great program food program in Sacramento California as well. Keep up the good work. Go with God.

Hello. I found you on Twitter. I attend HPC in Baton Rouge and volunteer at the Baton Rouge Dream Center. My 12 year old daughter has been involved in the homeless ministry here for over 2 years. They are her peeps :-)

I know you are coming here to visit and so I just wanted to show you a few post on my blog about the homeless ministry over the last two years.

God Bless all you do.

http://www.thewardrobeandthewhitetree.com/search/label/No%20Place%20Outreach

Chattanooga Tn is right between Nashville and Atlanta. We have a great Community Kitchen here that serves a lot of homeless. But we also had one of our larger missions close down for lack of location. Perhaps this city could be an addition to your tour.
Thank you and thank you for helping to make the 'invisible' people visible.
Alan Bradley

Hey there--

This seems like such a wonderful endeavor and I really do wish you the very best of luck traveling. I have a question, though: will there be further details provided regarding the places you'll be in each city come your ETA? I would love to get involved in Chicago, but would need to see more information.

Thanks!
celeste