I Am Here - Nikki Lorenzini

Over the next month or so, I will be doing a four part series about homelessness in America.

I know that there are many faces and stories to the homelessness that is prevalent throughout our country. Often, these faces are ignored and just brushed away as drug addicts and alcoholics. However, I know that there is more to it than just that. I am sure if we just dig a little bit deeper that we can find more stories behind the faces that we so often just brush away. Here is just one.

Homelessness: the condition of a person who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence.

• According to a study of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, between 2.3 and 3.5 million people experience homelessness.
• According to a 2008 US Department of Housing and Urban Development report, about 671,888 were homeless one night in January 2007.
• The areas that had the highest rates of homelessness in 2007 were: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington state, and Washington, D.C.

I am sure if you go into any major city, you will find someone sitting on the sidewalk and panhandling. They rarely ever get paid any type of attention. They get ignored -- brushed off as drug addicts, alcoholics, losers, or lazy. Rarely do people invest in their lives.

Who can blame us for not wanting to invest in them? We do not know who we are giving out money to; we do not know how they got there. More often than not, we assume that if we give them money, the homeless will use it to get alcohol or drugs. However, there is an organization in Austin that is seeking to change how homeless people are helped.

The T3 agency and Mobile Leaves and Fishes have come together to form the “I am here” project. It focuses on one homeless man, Danny, by taking him literally off the streets. He was placed on a billboard catwalk, which is 50 feet above I-35, for 48 hours.

Danny and his wife Maggie’s story started when they moved to Austin because Danny got a job as an ironworker. That job eventually ended and they were low on money and decided to move into the Salvation Army. While their stay there, they were robbed, losing all their possessions, including their ID and what money they had left. They ended up living on the streets.

With no money, they couldn’t replace the IDs they had lost, and without ID, they couldn’t get any jobs. Without any family to reach out to for help, they were forced onto the streets. Things got worse five years ago when Maggie suffered a stroke. She has been wheelchair-bound since. They ended up living in a tent in North Austin, and their sole means of a living was panhandling.

Then Danny was temporarily located to a billboard, which was donated by the Reagan Outdoor, by the T3 agency, and by Mobile Loaves and Fishes Foundation. The billboards featured the declaration: “I am Danny. I am homeless. I am here,” along with a number to which drivers could text $10 to donate. Each text would contribute toward a home for Danny and his wife.

The house would be a park model that is offered as a part MLF’s “Habitat on Wheels” program. This billboard campaign also directs people to visit www.iamheremlf.org, in order to help other men and woman living on the streets to move into homes.

For every 1,200 texts, one mobile home can be purchased. Currently, both Danny and Maggie are both off of the streets and staying in a hotel until their home is ready for them to move into it.

Websites of interest:

http://www.mlfnow.org/site/PageServer

http://t-3.com/news/press_releases/i-am-here

http://www.good.is/post/i-am-here-billboards-against-homelessness/