Mark Horvath
InvisiblePeople.tv
Fifteen years ago I was a TV executive. Fourteen years ago I ended up homeless on Hollywood Blvd. I now am 14 years sober and am rebuilding my life but homelessness is once again a very real possibility. I lost my job in St Louis over a year ago. I took a job here in Los Angeles, moved here, and was laid off. I lost my house to foreclosure last week.
With $45, a small camera and a laptop I started http://invisiblepeople.tv, a homeless awareness vlog. I had to do something.
Every week I take a few minutes to get to know a different person without a home. I learn how they survive, how they came to find themselves homeless, and who they call friends. I ask them about their biggest wishes, their greatest hardships and their plans for the future.
Then, I introduce them to the world via social media. My video blog is a testament of the character and strength of people living on America’s streets. It gives them a voice and a chance to tell their story and become more than a coat sleeping on a park bench.
To get the word out about my vblog, I began using twitter, @hardlynormal and have more than 6,500 posts about the cause. I use it as my primary strategy of outreach, and as of April 2, I have 1,660 followers. I use it to connect to volunteers, to figure out where to buy raincoats, to get support for homeless children, to connect to resources and even to get traffic shortcuts.
I have been interviewed by John Lawlor on blogtalkradio.com, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/OnlineStrategist/2008/12/23/Mark-Horvath-SocialMedialogy-Conversations about my use of social media, and have a press release on http://pitch.pe/4732. I was also featured on a story about breaking social media rules; http://mashable.com/2009/03/10/breaking-social-media-rules/.
All of these social media tools are used in my efforts to raise the money needed to continue this important work. Right now I do not have the right equipment I need, and it is important to travel more because the homeless crisis is not isolated to Los Angeles.
UPDATE:
Currently I am in real crisis living without income trying to survive this economic nightmare. Thanks to the huge hearts of a few generous people I am making it day by day! But I am not asking for donations!
On invisiblepeople.tv you will not find a visible donation link. I simply want you to remember that the homeless people ignored today were much like the rest of us not very long ago.
Yesterday I saw a group of school kids making fun of an older chronic homeless man who was just trying to wave hello. If these kids took the time to hear his story or were exposed to the knowledge that homeless are real people I don’t think they would have acted so ignorantly.
Last night while stopped at a red light I watched people walk past a homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk. They would approach consciously ignoring the homeless person looking straight ahead. Each person as they got closer would glance down to the body and quickly look back up. No one stopped. No one paid any real attention. It could have even been a dead body or someone seriously injured. What I do know is that each person for one brief second when they looked at the homeless person felt something. But they did not act!
My hope is that when you meet the people on invisiblepeople.tv you won’t ignore your heart and you will take some kind of action to make our world better.
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” — Gandhi
