Homeless but Steemit Welcomed Me

in #homeless8 years ago (edited)

The Basics

@creationlayer here. I thank you for the support of Brook. I wasn't expecting such amazing contributions. I am going to get Brook a laptop and spend a bit of time showing him Steemit.com but if it's phone calls or emails I'll try to support his stories. He wants to learn but he has not used computers much at all. I think it's important we set a high bar for helping people in these situations. We should demand transparency, pro-activeness and help managing money. I'm happy Brook is rational, and wants to save for the future after handling the basics. Since there was so much support, I decided to front money from my Bitcoin account to get started. I will start the process of moving funds, which I explained can take 7-10 days if we wants to do cash. I also re-explained Steem power and ultimately we'll need to assess the best way to handle that.


Original Thread: https://steemit.com/homeless/@brookdemar/i-m-homeless-but-not-forgotten
Since the image link failed in the original thread here's the image when I first met Brook yesterday morning.


I purchased 3 nights for Brook in a local decent but affordable hotel, so he could shower and get some rest.

I met up with him quite early in the morning. First we filled up the car he lives in with some gas.


I told him we'd head out and pick up some basics. As he got in the car he screamed, it was loud so I was quite confused. He explained his back pain is so bad lifting his leg that way is tough, and my car is small.

We headed over to the grocery store. He really didn't want too much, but I let him decide. He got some butter top bread, ham and bologna, dipping cheese because his wife likes that, a gallon of milk, some cheddar cheese and a roasted chicken. To him I think it was a feast.



We then went over to Old Navy. He really liked the Olympic Rings shirt, because he said he loved sports growing up.  We had to speak with a retail worker to get his size. After about 5 minutes she appeared, and he said, "alright cool..." with a grin. He's a large guy, and we talked about a possible gym membership at least for regular showers. Old Navy didn't have his size in pants size so we went to target which is cheaper anyways.

We got to Target. They had his pants size, and we got him a belt, boxer briefs (he specifically said white but they only had mixed color :(), socks, a new pair of sneakers (champion, he said champions the best shoe), deodorant, a razer and shaving cream.





I wanted to take him over to a barber and get him a clean shave but he said it was hot and he could shave at the hotel.

We ended up at the same spot I met him yesterday. He decided to try on some of his new clothes. A fresh pair of underwear and socks, new shoes, which he said were cushy, his new slacks and belt, and the Olympic Ring shirt he was rather overly attached to.





I don't know if he was a top soccer player but I've contacted the college ;).

I hope to pick up a laptop for him and help further, to help him contribute directly.

If there is anyone in the Bay Area that wants to tutor Brook, help him with housing, dental work, or anything else please reach out to brookdemar@tuta.io.

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This better be legit!

better be legit? how more legit can I get. I'm happy to provide anything people request via slack.

Pics of receipts would be helpful... with both of you in the same photo. Pic with all the receipts spent from each store. With the money that was generated from the previous post, it shouldn't be hard to buy a laptop. Not trying to be harsh, just pointing out the most obvious ways to prove he's getting what this community sent in votes. A video documentary would be top notch!!

I used my Bitcoin credit card this morning to help him with this, with my own funds. No SBD has been moved yet. I didn't see the post pass the period. I didn't have the balance at the time to go grab a laptop but once I move funds around this will be taken care of.

Why was he bought a tablet instead of a laptop? Your post seems to indicate you intend to buy him an Apple iPad.

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This is very cool. Take my Upvote!

I'm happy to see such things around, the crowdfundings financed by votes are awesome :).

This is awesome. So much more deserving then the pretty girl #introduceyourself trend thats been going on.

good that you are helping! god bless you

Thank you for continuing commenting on Brook's history and for the transparency that you demonstrate.
It makes me happy to see that everything goes ahead.

Regards!

yes, I don't want people to get scammed. I'm putting in my time 2+ hours today to help him. Money is only one thing. We talk, we've become sort of friends, not yet, but I'll do what I can. We're going to pay off his small debt at the bank and get him back on track. If you just throw money at people it's a waste, and he told me that, I didn't say it haha. I personally had some rough times in my own life, so we relate, and beyond giving him money this has given me a new friend, and a bigger heart.

It is true, besides the help that you contribute with the money that you have obtained, you are giving him your time and your friendship, insurance that it for is more valuable than the money.

You are a great man, have all my respect.

no, great man? I just got frustrated when I saw a man who wanted to tell stories and didn't know steemit or bitcoin. So I did something, It's the technology and all of you that ultimately made this possible.

A great man is the one that helps without waiting anything, which sees an injustice and does something for changing it, yes friend, your you are a great man.

You're a good guy, dont let criticism get you down just hold steady!

Thanks for updates. I hope you will make a lot of money to keep doing things like this.

yea if I can find a way to help him and make him self sufficient I'll do more.

This is amazing. Good luck to Brook. Good job @brookdemar.