Author: Shay Kelley
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Project 50/50: Vegas Underground
After using GPS to find a tunnel entrance that was accessible without having to navigate over a chain link fence and a foot of barbed wire, we snuck past a No Trespassing sign and climbed down a ladder to the concrete floor below. I had read that there are over 200 miles of tunnels, and…
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Project 50/50: Streets of Savannah Part 3
We stood proudly on the tailgate and surveyed the pile of food. 126 items was a new record for me. It had taken the two of us more than six hours, and I could see that Michael was genuinely excited to give it away. He had been asking me where we were going to donate…
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Project 50/50: Streets of Savannah Part II
The Alamo is only 2 blocks up from the Quick Stop, but it looks like it should be abandoned. We pulled into the space in front of door 201, and I told myself not to be nervous about parking the truck there. Michael’s brother cracked the door so he could see us before he opened…
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Project 50/50: Savannah Streets
“Do you smoke crack?” he asked me as he lifted himself onto his toes to inspect the inside of my truck from the other side of the passenger door. I was shocked by the assertive tone he used when asking the question. I looked around and then at Michael, hoping that someone would explain. Michael…
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Project 50/50: Donald
I went to the library to connect to the internet and work on my website. I’ve never designed a website before, but I’m learning. There is a paranoia that comes with having everything that you own inside one small and vulnerable space, so I needed to keep an eye on Bubba while I was inside…
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Project 50/50: The Beginning
On the first day of the New Year in 2010, I climbed up into an old pickup truck that I named Bubba, with my dog Zuzu in the passenger seat. I began a mission to spend one week in every US state helping the poor and hungry who live on our American streets. I was…
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Begin With The End In Mind
A guy named Vince gave me his old skateboard when I showed him that I knew how to use it. I had learned back in college, when it was how I got from the dorm to my classes. Almost two years after graduating, I found myself at 23 years old with a new reason to…
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Connecting the Dots: Social Media Delivers Food Pantry to Homeless Family
It was a Tuesday night in Reno NV, on the 13th week of this project, when I first met Elaine and Paul. They run a food pantry for veterans called Hands of Hope. I had looked at their website early that afternoon, and I was curious about the program. I noticed that their motto was…
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Project 50/50: Honesty
We’ll begin with a dose of honesty I believe it to be important to qualify the right people before taking advice. This means that before I ask someone what they would do in a given situation, I take a good hard look at their life. Do they have the experience necessary to make this decision?…
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Project 50/50: Labels
People gave me a label. And the label puts me in a box. And I can’t live in a box. People say that I am ‘an advocate for the homeless’. They say that this is a ‘road trip to raise awareness about homelessness’. They call me the ‘homeless adventurer’. Someone once called me an activist,…