Tag Archives: homeless

Help Mark Horvath Help Homeless Veterans

Update: Thank you. By the time Mark crossed the finish line, we raised $2,170 for homeless veterans. And that money will be tripled. Thank you!

My friend Mark Horvath is doing a 5K walk to help end veteran homelessness and he needs our help. He’s got a $5,000 match—so every dollar you donate gets doubled, up to $5,000 [plus another foundation match triples your donation]—yet he’s only raised $100 $645 so far. And the 5K is on Saturday.

So help me help Mark help veterans who are homeless. Donate now.

InvisiblePeople.tv's Mark Horvath on CNN.com
InvisiblePeople.tv’s Mark Horvath on CNN.com

Who Is Mark?

Mark Horvath is the founder of InvisiblePeople.tv, an nonprofit that gives people who are homeless a voice by telling their stories. Mark has worked tirelessly to end homelessness because he was once homeless himself.

I’ve supported Mark every chance I get, including a book project, a half-marathon fundraiser, interviews, articles and more. I love the guy, I love what he’s doing. Mark is the real deal.

Please donate to support Mark.

Mark Horvath Ready for Action

What’s the Charity?

Mark is participating in the United Way Home Walk, supporting the United Way of Greater Los Angeles. I think that’s a name we can trust.

Plus, Mark lived in Los Angeles. He knows what’s what and I trust that Mark would only raise money for organizations that are truly doing good.

Please donate to support the United Way.

Homeless Veterans?

Yeah. Like Dawn. She served in the Navy for seven years, came home to a difficult situation and found herself homeless. She lived out of her car for two years.

Our veterans deserve better. And thanks to the United Way, she now has a place to call home. Watch Dawn’s story.

Please donate to support Dawn and other veterans just like her.

Refugees vs. Veterans?

I don’t want to get too political on you, but lately all the garbage going back and forth on Facebook is making me twitchy. Seriously, I want to stab myself with a spork.

The one that makes me feel the most stabby is the meme pitting Syrian refugees against homeless veterans. It argues that we’re not taking care of our U.S. veterans, so how can we take care of Syrian refugees.

Let’s forget that the meme assumes we can’t do both. Let’s forget all the politics that so deeply divides us. I think we’re supposed to help people in need. It’s that simple.

Well, here’s an opportunity to help homeless veterans. So let’s help them.

Please donate to support a less stabby Internet.

Did You Say Matching?

Yes. Every dollar donated is matched. You donate $10, it becomes $20. You donate $50, it becomes $100. It’s magic!

Up to $5,000 will be matched. So if we can raise $5,000, that’ll be $10,000 to help homeless veterans. That’s a win.

Please donate to support magic doubling money for a good cause.

UPDATE: So Mark has a donor personally matching the $5,000 he raises, as I mentioned above. But also, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is offering the Hilton Challenge. For every team that raises $5,000, they’ll match it. So your contribution will not just be doubled, it will be tripled. Like money, money, money. It’s like exponential giving!

How Soon?

Now! The United Way HomeWalk is Saturday, Nov. 21. That’s like 36 hours from now. Time’s a wastin’! We need to raise that money today. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Now.

Please donate right now.

Thank you.

Most People Believe the Homeless Have No Redeeming Value: Help Mark Horvath Change That

My friend Mark Horvath runs one of the only homelessness advocacy organizations in the country, InvisiblePeople.tv. He’s giving a voice to people most of us choose to ignore. Mark is the ideal person for this work, because he was once homeless himself. Mark’s birthday is this week and he needs your help.

Every year Mark does a single big fundraiser around his birthday that provides a big chunk of his donations for the year. In reality, Mark is supporting much of the work of InvisiblePeople.tv himself, through consulting and speaking fees. About 80% of InvisiblePeople.tv’s funding comes from Mark. The other 20% comes from donations, mostly in this big fundraiser.

That’s incredible.

First, it’s incredible that Mark gives so much of himself to this cause.

Second, it’s incredible that donations only bring in about 20%. Mark shouldn’t have to hustle so hard to keep InvisiblePeople.tv going. And right now, his campaign has two days left and he still needs $3,700 to hit his goal. That 20% is kind of pathetic. And we’re barely making it right now.

So please donate.

Mark is doing some incredible and much needed awareness work with InvisiblePeople.tv. He captures the stories of homeless people in honest, brutal videos. They’re hard to watch. Because people want to ignore them. We want to write off homeless people, come up with excuses for why we shouldn’t help them (and in the worst cases, take selfies instead of help them). But if we understood what homeless people have gone through, what they’re up against, we’d change our tune (like Dennis, who admits, “I used to make fun of the homeless until I became one.”). Most people believe homeless people have no redeeming value. That’s horrible. And it needs to change. Mark is making it change.

I’ve been supporting Mark and his work since the beginning. I helped publish the Open Our Eyes: Seeing the Invisible People of Homelessness book that supports Mark’s work. I’ve interviewed him for Church Marketing Sucks and Foursquare, sharing his story of being homeless and nearly becoming homeless again in 2008, when he launched InvisiblePeople.tv after being laid off. Earlier this year I ran a half-marathon to support Mark, ultimately raising more than $700 and barely managing to finish (13 miles is tough and I needed all the support I could get).

So I’m asking you to support Mark’s work, give to his birthday campaign. Let’s raise that 20% and then some.

Thank you.

Running 13 Miles for the Homeless

On Saturday, Jan. 25, I’m running a half-marathon.

That’s 13.1 miles.

It’s a little crazy. I’ve never run that far before (12 miles is my record). But this is where my running is taking me and I’m giving it a shot.

I’m a little lacking in motivation, so I decided to use Mark Horvath and his work with InvisiblePeople.tv to help the homeless as inspiration. I’m trying to raise $500 for InvisiblePeople.tv with this half-marathon.

So please, cheer me on by making a donation.

I’m feeling pretty good about it today as I write this, but come Saturday I’ll need all the inspiration I can get. I felt pretty bleh when I ran 12 miles a few weeks ago, and I don’t want to feel that way on Saturday. I’d rather think about Mark Horvath and how running those miles is helping him and the homeless people he serves.

I’d appreciate your support. And InvisiblePeople.tv does incredible work telling the stories of the homeless and being an advocate for a people who have no voice.

You can make a donation here.

Thank you.

Support Homeless Documentary & Game

I’ve been a big support of Mark Horvath and his work with InvisiblePeople.tv for a while. His passion and resolve to fight homelessness is inspirational.

Mark always has cool stuff up his sleeve. Now there’s an Indiegogo project to fund a documentary about Mark’s work and a social game to help fight homelessness. It’s a cool concept and more than just a movie about Mark, there’s a smartphone game that can get people involved and push them towards real activism.

They’re trying to raise $100,000 in 37 days, which seems like a tall order. They’ll need to raise $2,700 a day. Yesterday they raised $396. So they need your help.

It’s also backed by a nonprofit, so it’s tax deductible.

Check it out and consider supporting the @home campaign:

Open Our Eyes: Sales Report

Open Our Eyes: Seeing the Invisible People of HomelessnessThis fall I released the book Open Our Eyes: Seeing the Invisible People of Homelessness. The little book tells the stories of homeless people—families, kids, grandparents—and supports the work of homeless advocate Mark Horvath and his site, InvisiblePeople.tv.

All profit from the book goes to Mark. All of it. Here’s a quick report on book sales so we can be an open book:

  • October sales: 2 copies, $7.68 profit (we didn’t launch until November, so you folks were ahead of the curve)
  • November sales: 57 copies, $218.88
  • December sales: 30 copies, $77.59

These are only numbers for print copies and we earn roughly $3.84 per copy from Amazon sales (the numbers don’t add up because sales through other channels have a lower royalty rate).

Ironically, payments for digital versions come later, and I received the first one today:

  • November sales: 30 copies, $99.20 profit.

So far I’ve sent Mark two payments. The first was for $226.56 at the end of the year (October & November physical sales) and the second was for $176.79 that I sent this morning (December physical sales & November digital sales).

So to date Open Our Eyes has earned $403.35 to support InvisiblePeople.tv. We’ve also sold 119 copies, which puts us in the top 21% of books published. It’s not vast riches to solve all Mark’s problems, but it’s something. And hopefully it will grow.

Thanks for your support and thanks to everyone who made this book happen. I’d love to keep these payments going for a long time, so please buy a copy if you haven’t already and spread the word.

Go Buy Open Our Eyes

Help the homeless: I wrote a chapter. You can buy a copy.Back in January I pulled the trigger on yet another book idea. I loved the work Mark Horvath was doing to help the homeless. I hated that Mark was nearly homeless himself (again), living in a cockroach apartment with nothing in his fridge but a discounted vegetable tray and a bottle of water. He was eating his meals at the homeless shelter.

It was stupid (and it still is). Somebody should be supporting Mark and making sure he can do this work without working himself to death. But nobody had stepped up. So I did. I couldn’t do much, but I figured I could put together a project that produces something people might be willing to buy, and we could give the money to Mark. So that’s what we did.

I got a whole bunch of Mark’s friends to contribute—people like Trust Agent author Chris Brogan, mom blogger Jessica Gottlieb and Ford’s social media guru Scott Monty (and 21 others). We wrote up stories of homeless people from Mark’s travels across the country, telling the stories of moms and their kids, people who had been homeless for days and 0thers for decades, people from Seattle and Florida. The result is a manual to motivate action. It drips with Mark’s attitude and passion, the way he used what little resources he had, plugged them into social media and turned this thing into a real movement.

I hope you’ll check it out. It would mean a lot to me and it would support Mark.

Today’s the day, folks. Open Our Eyes: Seeing the Invisible People of Homelessness launches today. Please go buy it:

Then tell your friends to buy it, review it on Amazon, like it on Facebook, whatever you can do. I need your help. Mark needs your help. The homeless out there need your help. Thanks.

Remember that all profits go to homeless advocate Mark Horvath and his nonprofit InvisiblePeople.tv.

InvisiblePeople.tv Book Launches November 9

Open Our Eyes: Seeing the Invisible People of HomelessnessMy third book project of 2010, Open Our Eyes: Seeing the Invisible People of Homelessness, will officially launch on Nov. 9. The book will support homeless advocate Mark Horvath and his work with the nonprofit InvisiblePeople.tv.

The book gives voice to homeless people, retelling their stories from videos on InvisiblePeople.tv. It also features the contributions from some 25 tech, nonprofit and social media experts reflecting on homelessness and the power of technology that Mark has harnessed. The book also tackles misconceptions about homelessness and gives suggestions for how you can help.

It officially launches on Nov. 9 and will be available for $9.99 on Amazon (details on digital formats are forthcoming). All profits will go to InvisiblePeople.tv. That works out to $3.84 per copy from Amazon, 100% of the royalty. I’m not making any money on this project.

Since Mark first supported one of my initial efforts to help the homeless (while he was facing homelessness himself), I’ve been a huge fan of him and his work. I’ve always thought Mark should have more support than he does and I’ve been appalled when I hear how he’s barely making it. Someone with his heart doing the work he’s doing shouldn’t have to worry about health insurance or what he’s going to eat. That’s why I so strongly supported his efforts to win the $50,000 Pepsi Challenge grant at SXSW (which he did win, and he reinvested into WeAreVisible.com, among other efforts).

And so I’ve always wanted to do something big to support Mark. Sure I could send him a check, but that’s not going to go very far (especially a check from my bank account). I always thought someone needed to rally behind Mark and create something to raise money for him.

I had the idea of creating a book with all the proceeds going to Mark. He has such a good story and has inspired so many and there’s such a need for a more in-depth resource like that. It was a brilliant idea (if I do say so myself), but no one was doing it.

So I decided it was time to do it.

Last January the process started and I actually thought we could have the book out in March. Silly me. Ten months later we’re finally getting the book out with the support of so many people (check out all those names at the bottom of the page—those are the ones who made this happen).

And we’re going to need more help. This is a self-published project and that means it won’t go anywhere unless we get it there. And to be honest, I’ve put so much time into this project that I really can’t afford to give it the time it now needs. My only hope is that the many contributors, the many friends and supporters of Mark, and folks like you will pick up the torch and carry this project home.

So please check it out. Buy a copy. Tell your friends.

It’s time we opened our eyes and saw the invisible homeless people in our midst. They’re not just the stereotypical man on the corner with a cardboard sign. They’re families—just like mine. People—just like you—who were just one tragedy away from the street. Let’s open our eyes, open our hearts and help.

Pregnant & Homeless in St. Paul

Mark Horvath Talking to Ka'e k'eA couple weeks ago homeless advocate Mark Horvath (aka @hardlynormal) came to town on his national InvisiblePeople.tv road trip. Last year when he came to town I accompanied him to downtown St. Paul as he handed out socks and talked to homeless people, capturing their stories in poignant, uncut videos.

This year we made a shorter trip and talked to fewer people, but it was even more impacting. Because we talked to Ka’e k’e, a 20-year-old homeless pregnant woman. As Mark would say (and did say), I’m wrecked.

Her story is hard to watch because she’s so painfully honest. She’s pregnant because for a while she was couch surfing, and at times that meant survival sex was the only thing keeping a roof over her head. That’s right, men would tell her to take her clothes off or get out, and in the middle of a Minnesota winter walking out the door doesn’t seem like a good choice. As a result, she doesn’t know who the father of her child is.

She says she doesn’t believe in abortion, so here she is, pregnant and homeless at the Dorothy Day Center in downtown St. Paul. That says something about what pro-life advocates need to be doing.

She also admits to doing drugs, even though she knows it isn’t good for the baby. When Mark confronts her, she says it’s hard not to turn to something when you’re under such stress. I don’t condone what she’s doing, but I understand it. A hard day with the kids and I turn to food and drink as comfort. Others turn to alcohol and in worse conditions I can imagine turning to drugs seeming like a good idea. It’s obviously a horrible idea, but you try living on the street and not wanting a little escapism.

Ka’e k’e also has a 5-year-old son out there. I don’t know the story there, but I can imagine. She also has a family out there somewhere—some kind of family.

This is the reality of homelessness in America.

When I told Yeshumnesh about meeting Ka’e k’e, she said her heart was worried. I had to explain Mark’s concept of being wrecked. Because that’s what this story is.

Homelessness is real. Ka’e k’e is someone’s daughter. She’s someone’s mother. And her and millions of others like her need help.

Watch her story, open your eyes and do something.

We Are Visible: Connecting Homeless People

Mark Horvath is at it again. The founder of InvisiblePeople.tv has put that Pepsi money to good use and launched WeAreVisible.com, a site that connects homeless people to social media.

I can see folks scoffing already—why do homeless people need Facebook?!—but those are the folks who don’t get the power of social media. Those are the folks who don’t realize that Mark Horvath has been doing this since 2008 and funded two cross-country trips with the power of social media. These are the folks who don’t realize the power of having a voice.

Homeless people are often powerless, voiceless and invisible. But they’re not helpless. WeAreVisible.com educates them about tools that can make them visible again.

And it works. The site includes stories of homeless people who have been empowered by social media.

I love seeing Mark in action. I just wish my InvisiblePeople.tv book was out and raising support for efforts like this. Soon. The book is so close.

Spending the Night at Church with Homeless Families

One month a year my church hosts the county’s overflow shelter for homeless families. It’s called Project Home and it’s something I’ve supported for a while now. It’s the organization we were raising money for when we spent a night homeless.

This week I finally volunteered for the organization, sleeping over at my church on Monday night as an overnight volunteer and spending Tuesday evening there as well. There were four families spending the night at our church, five adults and 11 kids. They spend the day at family shelters, finding services they need, working or whatever they need to do, and come to our church for around 12 hours, from after supper until the morning. We offer snacks and breakfast, and then provide whatever they may need. Usually that means keeping the kids entertained while the adults relax.

It’s an eye-opening experience. These are families being chewed up by poverty and the economy. You can see how out of sorts the kids are, in a strange place with new volunteers every night and parents who are pushed to the edge. And I said we’re the overflow shelter—we’re actually the overflow for the overflow shelter. Some months there’s even a third overflow shelter. The need is tremendous.

I’ve been wanting to volunteer with Project Home for a long time, and this year it got to the point where I don’t think I could face my good friend Mark Horvath if I hadn’t volunteered with Project Home. Mark is good at kicking my butt that way.

While I’m glad I finally volunteered, and I’m up for doing it again, I felt completely inadequate. I’m not the outgoing, talkative person who strikes up conversations with ease. I did my job, but I never felt like I did it very well. I guess I felt like these families deserved something more. And they do.