Officially Homeless

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J-MacsMopars

J-MacsMopars

Shade Tree Vintage Auto on YouTube
Joined
Nov 27, 2007
Messages
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Location
Utah
Hey all.

Some of you know what I am doing, but most do not. For a wile now, I have wanted to experience homelessness. I feel for the people that are out there and truly live with what they have on their back, mainly the youth. I will however keep my job and therefor will have to keep fresh clothes for daily work. But for the most part, I have put everything I own into storage. I will be living in my station wagon and will park in different areas etc... I will probably spend a weekend pan handling in a different community and will donate all money earned that way to a homeless shelter.

There are several reasons that I am doing this. Mainly for self growth and understanding, and I want to bring awareness to the ever growing problem. I will write about my experiences and hope to publish them. I may not be on FABO much if at all for a wile starting tomorrow, but I will keep you all informed about my well being and tell any interesting experiences that I may have.

Also, I know some will ask. I plan to do this for 30-60 days depending on how things go. I hope this is only the beginning for me. I have a much bigger thing planned for a wile down the road depending on how this all goes. Someday, I hope to be able to donate a fair amount of money to Feeding America and maybe one day, start my own charity collecting money to help the over 1.7million homeless youth in America get an education.

Anyway, this is partly the reason I have not been around much of late and really haven't done much with cars. Hope to see you all around soon.

Jeremy
 
Wow, sounds like an adventure, I wish you the best of luck and be safe :cheers:
 
Are you planning on doing it in the Logan area?

I know Washington state has the highest rate of 'giving' to the homeless and when I did my freshman year up there there were homeless people everywhere. I have heard some can be quite unfriendly to new comers so be careful!
 
ah You'll never be trully homeless, I got a spot here at the flip flop im for ya Bro!!! sorry to wreck yur homelessness :read2:
 
I am astounded by your vision and the personal sacrifice you are making to help others. You are in my prayers.
 
:goodman: You're a good man Charlie Brown.............
 
Thanks guys.

Ya, do to work commitments, I have to stay in Logan on this journey. But the other one I have planned will be much broader. But I can't let the cat out of the bag on that one just yet. Still a lot of planning to do first. I am not to worried about other people. The only thing I really am worried about is the weather. It can get real cold here. But I think I am early enough I won't have to worry to much.
 
Well, I figure I am 27 and single. Better do something good with my life. lol. One other major cut back that I am doing is allowing myself $25 per week for food. I figured a way that I can eat decent food and a fair amount on that. It's called canned peas. lol. Maybe I will drop some pounds too. :)
 
Jeremy you know where I live if you need a place to crash. It will be getting cold soon. Keep in touch.
 
Good luck on your quest.... Be careful and don't get arrested.. I'd invest in peanut butter and saltines/bread before I would peas..
 
Having lost everything i had in 1980 and living on the street I can tell you that you will not know the futility and hunger I experienced. I had too much pride to panhandle and sat in labor pools praying for a job ticket to eat. Got hired at a large plant and saved every penny i could and slept on newspapers on the steps in front of the salvation army. Ate in the bean line every evening and managed to save 125. to eat on till i got paid in two and a half weeks.The night before I started I had someone steal my shoes while I slept and when i woke at 5 am to catch the bus i couldnt go to work. No shoes no work.I contemplated suicide for 3 days. As long as you have a job and back up plan you will not really experience the reality of despair and as so I dont see you learning anything more than a few survival skills.I have been there. This is no different than experiencing being rich by spending money. jmho
 
been there done that but cause i did not have the money for rent and that stuff but i lived i fla then and wheather was not a problem. showered at the ymca and beach changing places.good luck with your cause.
 
While I think what your doing is extremely noble and your heart is obviously in the right place, I must agree with daredevil. I haven't experienced homelessness, and only a short period of time without a job, so I can't speak at all from experience. But as I read about your project, I couldn't help but think the same things that daredevil spoke. You are sleeping in your car and living off $25 a week. Difficult by any stretch sure, but far from homeless. Considering the fact that you still have a daily job, clean clothes for work, and a warm place to go most everyday, for work. I'm sure you will learn a lot and it will be an enlightening experience, but I don't know that you'll get the full sense of what you are trying to accomplish. I think that sense can only come from not knowing where your next meal will come from, not knowing where you will lay your head, etc. I wish you the best though and hope you are able to raise money for the cause. That is certainly something that I don't think enough people do enough about. On the other hand, there are hundreds of problems that need to be fought, and each of us is giving a passion for a particular cause that we can put our energies into, and hopefully we can get to the all. Best to you.
 
I commend you for what you are doing jeremy, as some members said above you may not know the true meaning of homelessness, but it will bring you a lot closer to it than most of us could imagine. I applaude you for what you are doing. Good luck take care
 
Been there done that. I have to side with Daredevil on this one. Your brain will never reach the point of insanity that being truly homeless (and hopeless) will do for you. Being homeless is a physical problem, and a mental disaster. You cannot hope to experience this.
 
Its almost like being a little bit pregnant.......... sorry.......... good luck with your reserch......and be careful..........
 
I understand that I will not be able to experience true homelessness as I have a car and a job. But I can't just quit my job because I feel like being homeless. I am doing what I can with the situation that I am in. I am sorry for your experiences of truly being homeless and am glad that you are now on your feet. Though I may never sleep on a sidewalk, I still think that I can gain some understanding and really do want to help the cause. DD, I am also very prideful and hate to ask for help, so when I do go pan handel, it's not going to be easy for me. And if I earn $1 or a million. I am not going to keep it. It will go to a shelter in salt lake city or the food bank here in Logan.

Thanks again all.
 
I understand what you are saying but there are more constructive things to do. A blanket or shoe drive would help more people. Vollunteer work at the local mission would help. You have a job and the time to make yourself really useful.It seems to me that all that's gonna happen from this is that your heart strings will be pulled out when you see the background of some of these people and what they endure. You also stated that the youth make up the majority of homeless. Veterans make up the majority of the homeless is what I have been told. I make it a point to support united way and the salvation army.I donate clothes and blankets to the mission and sometimes leave a bag of stuff on the same steps I slept on. While I feel your heart wants to do good your method could use some work. DD
 
"allowing myself $25 per week for food"

can be done......$1.00 whopper jrs and McDoubles.

Good luck
 
A lot of friends that I grew up with [punk rock kids] all chose to be homeless and travel around the country, squatting in abandoned houses or locally known 'squats' as they r called. Most went to batton rouge, oregon, phoenix, Long beach etc...and just drank away all the free money given to them while pan handling with their dogs [most keep a dog around] and basically just 'lived off the land'

Their are over a 100's of thousands of these kids all over the world that do this by choice, probably more.
A lot of these kids end up finally settling in some city with a mediocre job and room mating with 3-6 others in a rented house. They are tat'd up head to toe, some r wet brained while others not so much. Some aren't so lucky....and end up in prison/jail over a drunken fight with a fellow squater friend that might have ended up in a stabbing or death, some for statutory rape on a local teenage punker chicks that wanna to hang out with so called 'squater legends' [short of a better term] or dead from heroine over doses like a gal named syd,rip, 1 friend pissed on 'the alamo' like ozzy ozbore-he did 2 yrs for that.

Most all come from broken homes, and never get there heads on straight.

Nothing is ever permanent, wether it car,home,girlfriends, records, money & even friends sometimes.

It's called living like an animal and running from yourself.



another side of this....

Down here in san diego, we have these 'homeless people' at the ends of the off ramps with signs held say please help,veteran, etc.... and all the goody good rich people toss 20's at them, meanwhile they buy about 2 dollars worth of food and 18 on alcohol and smack/meth.

Then there is the guy in fresno.....wow....he was actually RICH! had a big *** house in the sticks, but would throw on tattered clothing and collect 20's at the off ramp all day long......he was found out eventually, what an asshole....

I actually knew a a homeless person here in vista, his name was kenny. His dad was a high ranking officer in the military. Kenny [possibly a problem child] had one time been in the army and was singled out by drill instructors with approval of the father [higher rank] to give him hell and [fix his head]. Kenny went 'A wall' and ended up in some trouble along with eventually being shunned by his father/family and ended up homeless walking the streets collecting cans. In a weird way he still had his **** together but not. He lived in an encampment by the san louis ray bridge/hwy 76 and would pass my house going to and fro collecting cans from our dumpter...Kenny would also hold conversations with that dumpster and and get into fights with it....
I decided to confront him and find out the deal. He spoke in code, called things 'barbra' 'michigan' and would use all sorts of reference to the service saying 'they won't let u man' 'they want you to go 1015' and then mutter giberish and and just laugh....
I saw him smoking weed one day out there, so being a pot head, I kicked him a joint and began to try and analyze him a lil, cause 'hey, he's crazy hanging around the neighbor hood and I wanna know his #/deal so I know what to watch out for'.
he was a very nice guy, and sometimes snapped out of the cyco deal, but as soon as you got to feel he was mentally there, he would go right back to gibberish.


I felt bad for him and so I kicked him down here and there with drink/food/smokes AND talked with him from time to time.
He had walked the streets of vist for over 20ys with a big bag of cans and was known as 'the walker'
well.....one day he got into an argument with another not so harmless homeless man.....
the homeless man followed kenny back to his encampment and stabbed him to death, probably while he slept.

I just forgot my main message here, Im sorry.

rip kenny.
 
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