Things are starting to really heat up, literally and figuratively. While temps hover around 105 degrees here in Ojai, I am working with lots of great people from LA to Seattle creating the World Homeless Day Tour.

Nine shelters confirmed so far and will be adding a few more. I also found a “home” for our RV in or near each city we are visiting and are grateful to the wonderful friends who are hosting us along the way.

The media is beginning to express interest in the tour. I have already been interviewed by Street Roots, an independent newspaper from Portland and others are inquiring. I will be sending out press releases soon and am planning some radio interviews as well.

Several artists and film makers have expressed interest in traveling with us and volunteers are ready in each city to help us empower people. If YOU want to come, be sure to contact me right away at heartsoffire@ureach.com. The excitement is building!

There are a lot of things we need to do to get ready for the tour, including fixing up the RV. I have been talking with people about painting it and hope that we can get that done before we leave. I also need to go through all our art supplies so that we have enough for the 250 + people we expect at the art workshops.

Other Cool Stuff

Newsletter

I will be starting up a monthly electronic newsletter soon. We used to have one and it was quite popular but was too expensive. Thanks to my friend Lee’s suggestion, we found a new way to do it that will work better for us.

If you have any ideas about what you would like to see in the newsletter or would be interested in submitting an article, please shoot me an email at heartsoffire@ureach.com.

12 Year-Old’s Trek Across America For Homeless Kids

Twelve-year old Zach Bonner will finish his cross-country trek from Tampa, FL to Los Angeles, CA around Sept. 14. Zach is helping homeless kids by working with them and bringing attention to their situation. I am looking for people who want to go with me to walk with Zach on his last mile. I promise it will be an incredibly inspiring event. If that is you, please contact me at heartsoffire@ureach.com. I am also working with Zach to do an art workshop with homeless kids. Stay tuned for this one!

Another Amazing Kid

I am also in touch with another amazing kid, Tae Tae, and her mom about creating some joint art workshops and events. Tae Tae created a non-profit called The Traveling Canvas to bring art teachers and supplies to Florida schools. Since it began last year, Tae Tae has expanded her mission to support and inspire kids everywhere. I can’t wait to work with them. I’m inspired, how about you?

Public Service Announcement

Andrea, our great film student supporter, has completed the first “draft” of the PSA, and it looks awesome. We are going to add a short segment at the end and it will be complete. I can’t wait to share it with everyone.

How You Can Help

We need you to help us empower people. A few people have supported this project for a long time, but most people have not. There are many ways you can contribute, some of which cost nothing, zero, nada. Pick the one that works best for you:

Free, No Cost Donations

• Yahoo search tool, pays us for each search you do. If enough people use this, it could totally fund the tour.
• Enter “Hearts Of Fire Project” when you sign up at eScrip. Participating merchants like Von’s and Safeway pay us for your normal purchases.

Donate Cash

• Here on our web site
• Purchase art work at our on line gallery
• Purchase merchandise at our on line store.

Donate Goods

• Donate your old vehicles here. Our service provider will contact you directly and arrange to pick up your car, truck, RV or boat at no cost to you.
• Sell items on eBay and donate some or all of your proceeds to us. When you list an item on eBay, select the Hearts Of Fire Project from the charity drop-down menu.

Of course, you can always send an old-fashioned check to:

Hearts Of Fire Project

323 E. Matilija Street, Ste. 110-251

Ojai, CA 93023

Thank you for helpings us empower homeless people!

World Homeless Day Tour 2010

Wow! Homeless service organizations are signing up quickly for the tour. We have a total of nine confirmed so far in Seattle, Portland and Medford, Oregon and in Sacramento and San Francisco, California.

We are also working on a launch event in the LA area in conjunction with other organizations. We are getting closer to our fund raising goal too. Please keep those contributions coming.

We are looking for volunteers on the tour to help with the art workshops and filming. If you or someone you know would be interested in empowering people, please email me at heartsoffire@ureach.com.

How You Can Help

There are many ways you can contribute, some of which cost you nothing. Pick the ones that works best for you:

Free, No Cost Donations

• Yahoo search tool, pays us for each search you do. If enough people use this, it could totally fund the tour.
• Enter “Hearts Of Fire Project” when you sign up at eScrip. Participating merchants like Von’s and Safeway pay us for your normal purchases.

Donate Cash

• Here on our web site
• Purchase art work at our on line gallery
• Purchase merchandise at our on line store.

Donate Goods

• Donate your old vehicles here. Our service provider will contact you directly and arrange to pick up your car, truck, RV or boat at no cost to you.
• Sell items on eBay and donate some or all of your proceeds to us. When you list an item on eBay, select the Hearts Of Fire Project from the charity drop-down menu.

Of course, you can always send an old-fashioned check to:

Hearts Of Fire Project

323 E. Matilija Street, Ste. 110-251

Ojai, CA 93023

Thank you for helpings us empower homeless people!

We have been hard at work raising funds for the tour. Right now we are about half way to our $5,000 goal. We are 5 weeks away from our tour launch on September 15. So far, 6 shelters have signed up for the tour: two in Portland, two in Sacramento and two in San Francisco. They are excited about our visit and are looking forward to seeing us. More shelters are in the wings.

In addition to funding, we are searching for art supply companies that would like donate art supplies for the workshops and RV dealers/manufacturers who can lend us an vehicle for the tour. My wife and I are living in our Hearts Of Fire Project RV full time, so it would be easier for us to use another vehicle for the tour.

We are also looking for an art teacher/therapist and a film maker who would like to accompany us on the tour. It will be an amazing experience, I guarantee that! We may never pass this way again.

We are working with the homeless service provider community in Santa Barbara to create an art workshop to celebrate World Homeless Day on October 10 at the end of our tour. If you would like to help with that or anything else, please email me at heartsoffire@ureach.com

Ventura County Fair

We are having a blast at the fair! We are meeting lots of people and spreading the good news about the power of homeless people. Thanks to our sponsor, Regalo Extra Virgin Olive Oil Company, we have been taking donations for bottled water and gourmet olive oil. People love our art work too, especially the greeting cards. Although the pace of donations has been slower than last year, we had a good weekend and expect contributions to pick up this week. If you are in the area, stop and say hello! And thanks to all the great people who have volunteered to help us (like Lydia Golden in the picture with me.)

Speaking Engagements

I was the featured speaker at the Ojai Rotary Club West meeting last week. It was really great to share my vision for homeless people with a receptive and supportive audience. My thanks to all. If you have an event and need an inspired speaker, please call or send me an email at heartsoffire@ureach.com.

How You Can Help

There are many ways you can contribute, some of which cost you nothing. Pick the ones that works best for you:

Donate Cash

• Here on our web site
• Purchase art work at our on line gallery
• Purchase merchandise at our on line store.

Donate Goods

• Donate your old vehicles here. Our service provider will contact you directly and arrange to pick up your car, truck, RV or boat at no cost to you.
• Sell items on eBay and donate some or all of your proceeds to us. When you list an item on eBay, select the Hearts Of Fire Project from the charity drop-down menu.

Free, No Cost Donations

• Yahoo search tool, pays us for each search you do. If enough people use this, it could totally fund the tour.
• Enter “Hearts Of Fire Project” when you sign up at eScrip. Participating merchants like Von’s and Safeway pay us for your normal purchases.

Of course, you can always send an old-fashioned check to:

Hearts Of Fire Project

323 E. Matilija Street, Ste. 110-251

Ojai, CA 93023

Thank you for helpings us empower homeless people!

Shelters are lining up from Seattle to San Francisco and are excited about our visit. We are busy looking for sponsors for the tour who can provide art supplies, food, gas and of course, money.

Ventura County Fair

We will be at the Ventura County Fair from August 4 to 15 at our table just inside the main gates. Last year, we raised more than $1,000 and are hoping to top that this year. We are looking for volunteers to help staff our table. We will be there from 11AM - 7PM Monday - Thursday and 10AM - 8PM Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If you would like to have a blast with us, email me at
heartsoffire@ureach.com

Public Service Announcement

We are working on a Public Service Announcement with Andrea Adelman, a brilliant documentary film student from Brooks Institute. We have been interviewing people on the streets of Skid Row and Santa Barbara and met some amazing people. Yesterday, we met a courageous couple, Heather and Marcus who despite a terminal illness, continue to write music and share their love with everyone they meet. We plan to return to record their music and more interviews. However, we need to find a guitar for Marcus, he hasn’t had one for months. Anybody have a decent guitar he can have?

Of course, the big news is the World Homeless Day Tour 2010. We are looking for sponsors to provide art supplies, gas, food and even an RV for the tour. We are contacting companies that may be able to help us. If you or someone you know can assist in any way, please contact me at
heartsoffire@ureach.com.

World Homeless Day Tour 2010

We are working with the shelters to arrange the details of our visit and everyone is excited about our visit. We are also working with friends and supporters who are helping us find places to park our RV, hold events and simply enjoy the trip.

There are many avenues for you to support us on the tour. We are looking for an Audio/Video person and an Art Teacher/Therapist to accompany us on the tour. In each city (Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco and Santa Barbara), we need people to assist with the art workshops and recording sessions at the shelters and people to plan and assist at our art show events.

We also need money to pay the tour expenses, which we estimate will be about $5,000, most of which is for food and gas for the RV. There are many ways you can contribute, some of which cost you nothing. Pick the ones that works best for you:

Donate Cash

• Here on our web site
• at our Kickstarter Campaign
• Purchase art work at our on line gallery
• Purchase merchandise at our on line store.

Donate Goods

• Donate your old vehicles here. Our service provider will contact you directly and arrange to pick up your car, truck, RV or boat at no cost to you.
• Sell items on eBay and donate some or all of your proceeds to us. When you list an item on eBay, select the Hearts Of Fire Project from the charity drop-down menu.

Free, No Cost Donations

• Yahoo search tool, pays us for each search you do. If enough people use this, it could totally fund the tour.
• Enter “Hearts Of Fire Project” when you sign up at eScrip. Participating merchants like Von’s and Safeway pay us for your normal purchases.

Of course, you can always send an old-fashioned check to:

Hearts Of Fire Project

323 E. Matilija Street, Ste. 110-251

Ojai, CA 93023

Thank you for your support!

Click on the player to listen to my interview with Leilani Interview With Leilani

We were attending a screening of “Humble Beauty” at the Crafts museum on Wilshire Blvd. in LA. The film is about the amazing art community that is blossoming in Skid Row. In the film and the discussions that followed, I could see the emergence of a real community, people inspired by their art and who they are. Now THAT is super inspiring to me and is the essence of the Hearts Of Fire Project.

Check out our special tour site!

The Hearts Of Fire Project team will travel to Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Santa Barbara and other cities along the way, stopping at homeless shelters where we will conduct an art empowerment workshop. At each shelter, we develop a context that empowers people to envision, create and contribute who they are and what they want to say to the world. Men, women and children freely express themselves in their art and in a powerful and often profound group discussion which follows. We also record the original music of participants and film the entire trip.

We plan to travel September 15 through October 9 culminating in a collaborative, community event in Santa Barbara on October 10, World Homeless Day, a global celebration that will take place in major cities around the world. At this event, and others along the way, we will display the art work we collected at each site and show a video of our tour, including interviews with the people we meet at the shelters.

Our teams have logged more than 6,000 miles visiting shelters over the last three years. We have a strong track record and have inspired many to open their hearts and connect with people who don’t have homes. Likewise, the people we meet at the shelters are inspired, many for the first time in their lives, about their ability to make a contribution that is valued by others. We believe that any real “solution” to homelessness must begin with a basic shift in our understanding of and connection with our fellow human beings. The first step in breaking through negative attitudes and social anxiety about homelessness is to create a bridge between people and encourage them to communicate directly. The arts have served this function for centuries and it works. People are consistently touched, moved and inspired at our art shows and film screenings. You can see some of the art here and videos here.

We are looking for volunteers who want to help with the tour. We need people to help us plan events to raise funds for the tour, local teams in the cities we are visiting to help us at the shelters and art shows, and people to help publicize the tour and related events. If any of this sounds like you or someone you know, please email us at heartsoffire@ureach.com. We will be posting updates about the tour on this web site and keep you updated on our progress.

The funding we raise will be used to pay travel expenses for a 3 person team, purchase art and other supplies, rent event venues and pay a stipend to people who provide technical and/or professional services (e.g., art therapy, audio/video editing, etc.). We travel in a donated RV which helps us save money on lodging and food. We live in the RV and cook our meals there as well. Most of the time, we park the RV at a shelter and stay there over night. This allows us to interact with everyone and really get to know people. Unfortunately, the RV uses a lot of gas (8 MPG) so a substantial portion of our funding goes for fuel. Whenever possible, we obtain goods and services via donation, but this does not always work when on the road.

We have done a lot with very little. With your help, we can create a greater understanding and acceptance of the huge contribution that homeless people hold for the world. When they are empowered, everyone will be empowered and a new and inspiring vision of what is possible for human beings will begin to unfold. We need everyone to create a world that works for everyone.

Check out this video, Zach Bonner, Homeless Youth Advocate

We are hoping to work with Zach to create some events when he gets to California. The best way to reach him is via his Twitter account, @Zach_Bonner.

Go Zach!!

Roger Houston

We all had a fabulous night at the Talking Stick in Venice on Friday night! The juices were flowing and excitement was palpable (love that word). Several great performers lent their time to help us empower people without homes.

To the best of our knowledge, this was the first ever concert by homeless or formerly homeless musicians for the benefit of other homeless people. Empowered people create their own solutions and connections. We need only provide a way for them to do it.

Roger Houston started off the evening and really warmed up the crowd (even he was sweating).  With his double-necked guitar and Oscar Silvas playing the congas, it sounded great.

Carol McArthur

Next up was Carol McArthur, and she blew us away. She only did three tunes, but they were masterpieces as was her picking of that wonderful 12-string guitar.

Kent Klineman and his sidekick Gary from their band Blind Pony came up and really cooked. Kent’s original material is really great and the licks Gary served up were really tasty.

Blind Pony

Amy Ultch

After showing our short documentary film, I played my songs about homelessness and then Amy Ultch soothed our tired souls with her wonderful voice and guitar. Amy’s songs are amazing and we were blessed to have her.  Bruce took the stage and just smoked that Roland keyboard, I think the keys melted! He did some great jazz versions of Stevie Wonder and a few other tunes as well.

Bruce

It was an exciting evening and we were very happy to have the Ventura County Star covering the event. Marjorie Hernandez was just amazing. She filmed the entire event and interviewed several people, sometimes simultaneously. Now that is talent. Karen Quincy Loberg, the photographer was also incredle talking with people are shooting pictures everywhere it seemed.

You can read Ventura County Star story here

We plan to create more of these events in Southern California and elsewhere in the near future.  If you would like to help, please Contact Us.

Hearts Of Fire Project On The Air

Catch me on the radio! I’m was on the Dr. Bunny Vreeland show on AM 1400 in Ventura, CA on Friday, February 19 at 3PM PST. Listen to the show on Dr. Vreeland’s web site here.

Unique Live Music Event, Friday March 5

A unique performance featuring homeless and formerly homeless singer/songwriters. Several talented artists will take the stage with their original music at The Talking Stick, 1411 Lincoln Avenue in Venice, CA. The bill includes: Sunny War, Ishmael, Blind Pony, Javelyn, Bob Ballard and direct from Europe, Peter Kasen!

Show starts at 7PM. Art work and a short documentary film about the Hearts Of Fire Project will also be featured. You don’t miss this one-of-a-kind event! Donation/admission $3 to support the Hearts Of Fire Project.

Art Show, February 2010

Now through February 28 at Oxnard Community College Library. In the lobby you will see art created by the homeless people of Ventura County.

L-R Ed, Mikey, Bob, Maria, Victoria & Connor

Wow! What an amazing day we had at the launch of our new Motor Home Housing Program. This past Saturday, January 30 we awarded a motor home to Maria Pollack and her son Mikey at a ceremony hosted by Regalo Virgin Olive Oil. Representatives from three local newspapers covered the event as well as the local access TV station. (See links to stories below)

Maria and her son were overjoyed when they saw the motor home; tears rolled down her face as she expressed her gratitude to everyone involved. Ed and Connie Bermudez donated the RV a few weeks ago. Ed wanted it to go to a homeless family. It was his generosity that started the program.

Victoria Stratton is Maria’s friend and sponsor. Victoria volunteers with Casa Esperanza homeless shelter in Santa Barbara where she heard about our program. She contacted me and told me about Maria and her son Mikey. Like many homeless people, Maria is employed but doesn’t earn enough money to rent an apartment or even buy a car. Maria met Victoria at church a year or so ago and they became friends. In addition to connecting Maria with our program, Victoria is providing a private parking place for the motor home on her property.

More families have contacted us who want to participate in this program. We are looking for more late model motor homes in good shape and people to help us give them a second life.  We are also need places to store the RV’s temporarily while we get them ready to distribute to homeless families. If you can help, please call our toll free message line at 877-827-2012 or email us at heartsoffire@ureach.com.

Media Links

Ventura County Star

Ventura County Reporter

Video (courtesy of Barrett Productions)