RV To Be Awarded To Homeless Family...

New Home We are pleased to announce our first RV award! On Saturday, January 30, we will give Maria and her son an RV! Maria is a caregiver who has been staying at client homes trading her services for rent. Like many low income people, she doesn’t earn enough to move out and get her own place. She and her 12 year-old son have health issues which make it even more difficult for them to live without their own place. Maria...

2009 In Review...

Outside San Francisco City Hall A lot of wonderful things happened in 2009 and I am grateful for all the fantastic people who supported us in empowering homeless people in 2009. Like most people, we have faced a lot of challenges this year but we have persevered through it all. I thought it would be a good idea to get some perspective on the year, looking back to see what was accomplished. Here are some of the highlights...

Hearts Of Fire Lights Up Christmas Show...

Here we are at the One Of A Kind Christmas Show in Ventura! We had a great corner spot at this 3-day event and met a lot of great people. This was the first time for this show and they plans to make it an annual event. We sold greeting cards and art prints as well items provided by local merchants and artists. Our friend, Yudit Ecsedy displayed some of her amazing “angel” art as well hand-made leather cell...

Art Programs Flourish On Skid Row...

Lillian & Student This past week, I had the privilege of visiting with two powerful art programs on Skid Row in Los Angeles that are empowering the people from the neighborhood. The SRO Art Workshop and the Lamp Community Art Project have been working with homeless and low income folks for years, persisting and flourishing despite a lack of resources. The success of these programs is attributable to the people who...

RV Rehab Program Launch!...

Home On Wheels Look at this beautiful 27-ft, 1985 Suncrest RV! Thanks to our friend Ed from Newbury Park, CA, this RV will soon be home to a local family. We are launching the RV Rehab Program with this donated vehicle.  This baby runs great and has only 60K miles on it. However, it needs some interior systems work. It is very roomy inside and sleeps up to eight people! We are looking for volunteers to help us get this...

The Experience Of A Life Time...

We traveled from Ojai to San Francisco to participate in Homeless Connect Day at Bill Graham Auditorium on October 28. Although we knew it was a big event, we really had no idea how it would go. After a frantic week of last-minute fund raising, we were finally posed to go. On October 27 at 6AM, I chugged down to Ventura to pick up Jillian – an amazing woman and supporter who came along to lead the art workshop...

San Francisco Here We Come!...

We are heading out to San Francisco to participate in the annual Homeless Connect Day on October 28 at Bill Graham Auditorium. More than 1,500 homeless people are expected to participate. We will be holding an art workshop for as many people as we can accommodate. We have a great team in place for this event and the excitement is almost out of control! We will be leaving from our base in Ojai in our RV  on the morning...

Art Show Success...

Art Show In Progress On Saturday, August 22, we exhibited 60 pieces of art at the E.P. Foster Library in Ventura.  The art work was created by the people at the homeless shelters we have visited.  In addition, we screened the documentary film of our tour. The event was simply amazing. A small but enthusiastic crowd attended and everyone enjoyed the art work and the film. I talked about the status and my vision for the...

Success At The Ventura County Fair!...

Diane, David, Jill, Mary and Bill We had a blast at the fair and exceeded all of our expectations. During the 11 days and nights we were there, more than 306,000 people were exposed to the Hearts Of Fire Project.  Because we were positioned right next to the fair entrance, we were the first thing people saw when they arrived and the last when they left. As a result, we spread our message far and wide and spoke with many...

TV Interview, KEYT-TV Santa Barbara...

On May 1, I got a call from Beth Farnsworth at KEYT-TV in Santa Barbara. They wanted to come to my house in Ojai to do a story about the Hearts Of Fire Project. Of course, I was really excited and invited her over to my place. To prepare for the interview, I created a quick art gallery of some of the art. Although not an ideal viewing area, my office served the purpose. Enjoy the video!