On Portland Oregon's Hayden Island, one man leads the fight against homelessness. The homeless call him the answer man, or big brother, because they know the man holding a Mattress World sign on the street corner with the orange safety vest, will do all that he can to keep them safe. "You don't go to the Answer man if you want drugs of alcohol." One man said. "You go to the answer man, if you want to change your life."
Armed with a camera and his laptop, this middle aged man documents every thing that he sees happening on the island. "What are you hoping to accomplish through all of this?" A reporter asked him. So the Answer man told the reporter, "the homeless are only a foreshadowing of what is to come in America, if we don't turn things around: therefore, I am turning things around with one voice at a time." People are helping the Answer man, through his blog this is found at liv-n-on-the-streets.com and he welcomes the help.
Buy selling T-shirts with the pictures of his homeless friends on them, the Answer man raises money to support his friends. "The one thing people need to understand is these shirts are about empowering the homeless and not give them a hand out. When you buy one of these shirts you invest in a person's future." The quiet unassuming man said in a soft voice. We try to provide as much as we can with out taking a persons dignity. As is stated in our mission statement.
Mission Statement:
We hope to put a human face on homeless
America. With a kind word and supportive manner, no one in need is ever
turned away. For if someone is ready to help himself, a change is only
around the corner.
“Living On The Street Incorporated” is a
Non-Profit organisation whose goal is to fight the root causes of
Homelessness. This Blog is meant to show the human side of the Homeless
in America. Each of these stories are real and any help that has been
rendered to the people in these stories is made possible by the
donations of our readers and out of the personal finances of the
individual spoken of in the story.
From where do we get our funding?:
Because “Living On The Street Incorporated” is an organisation whose
goal is to teach independence, We do not ask for any financial
assistance from any government entity: however, we do hold a 501-c3 tax
rating. This means that any donation made to us is tax-deductible.
However, the advantage to not accepting government assistance is the
freedom to do what is needed in the community, with no strings attached.
Our funding comes from our Sponsorship Affiliates, individual donations
and out-of-pocket from our members. We survive by keeping our expense
low. For this reason we use Word Press’s frees service.
Our only expenses as the organisation called Living On The Streets
Inc. has other than the Domain Name is to support our clients. These
expenses are will documented in the Blog. Although we use Facebook,
Twitter, and other social media to sell our products, this website is
not a social website. The contributors are all local to the Portland
Metro Aria and have been hand selected, by the Administration. The
contributor will never be asked to do anything that could compromise his
or her ethical position at work or otherwise.