Costa Mesa Homeless: My Time With Dave (Part 3)
February 5, 2013 18 Comments
It’s Thursday, January 31st, around 5 PM, and I’m running to a meeting when my wife texts me: “I need u to come home and help me”.
I step out and call her. I can’t hear a thing she’s saying, but I get the point: stressful day, I’m needed. Now.
I step back into the meeting, apologize, and run to my office. I remember that I’m ready to publish a post about the prior week’s experience with Dave, who is 41 years old and homeless (see part 1 here, part 2 here).
I wrote the post while flying home from Vegas. On the flight, I decided to try something that weighed on my heart: asking you to get involved.
I felt that asking you to help Dave get his ID, and providing him a gift of a night in a hotel would touch his heart. This is why I included an “ask” at the bottom of the post, being faithful to the prompting but unsure of what to expect. I connected the “ask” to a PayPal account, and configured it to allow donations of any size.
But my wife needs me, so I set the post to auto-publish at 5:30, and make a mad dash down the stairs.
I get home. My wife is feeling overwhelmed with work (her first week back after a 9 month maternity break). Plus, I’ve been out of town for three days. Abby’s been a handful. We talk, and things calm down a bit.
At 6:44, I remember I haven’t promoted the post, so I make a few status updates on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. I feel a little self-conscious about asking you to help, but I’ve learned this discomfort is usually a good sign.
At 7:19, a $50 donation comes in. I can’t believe my eyes.
By Saturday morning, $176 rolls in. What the…? Read more of this post