Ending Poverty, Homeless and Skid Row… New Year’s Resolutions

This post is about how to give soaps to a charity can end poverty. Its that time of year to reflect, to make choices and to make decisions! As I look back on the previous year, I want to thank the people who were there for me– who helped me in my journey’s to be smarter, think faster and be a better person — to be all I can be as a person, a colleague and a friend! Part of what I am looking at in 2012 is to help end poverty, homelessness and skid row. How about you?

Short Note to Say THANK U!

Happy New Year to you all! Thanks for being part of my life and this, wonderful journey!

Thanks also for being an inspiration by just being you! Here’s to www.changelives.org and www.invisiblepeople.tv for giving back, for helping America and Los Angeles and everywhere (http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18736424) aid in the job search and end the situation with skid row!

How are you giving back this year in 2012? One way I decided to give back- its a small start… is to collect all the soaps I don’t use from the hundreds of miles I traveled speaking and give them to my local Chrysalis Center -www.changelives.org- they put people back to work!

And here’s to a year of making the world a better place!

Here’s where I’ve been:

Oh the Places You Will Go! Dr. Suess Couldn't Have Been More Right! Speaking Badges From Around the World!

Here’s where I am going…  donating time and energy to the Chrysalis Center… It’s a small thing, but as I travel the world, I want to help to change it by being my “best” me, but also by remembering those who are in the process of making their life all it can be and remembering that they need help… and remembering to give back!

Soap, Shampoo, Lotions... Helping to Clean Up America's Jobless Situation!

Thanks to all the hotels I stayed at for their soaps and lotions! They are going to a great cause!

I want to remember and acknowledge the great work that people like Mark Horvath @hardlynormal are doing via www.invisiblepeople.tv He is using social media to make a difference in people’s lives! http://invisiblepeople.tv/

Be all you can be and make a new years resolution that will be remembered and have an impact!
@drnatalie Learn. Share. Grow!

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More information at Chrysalis:

Mission: Chrysalis is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a pathway to self-sufficiency for homeless and low-income individuals by providing the resources and support needed to find and retain employment.

History: In 1984, at 22 years old, John Dillon arrived in Los Angeles to work on Skid Row, assisting the area’s homeless population. What he saw was an emerging crisis and an urgent need to help the homeless. He founded Chrysalis as a food and clothing distribution center, serving men and women living on the streets of Los Angeles’ Skid Row.

As the agency grew, it became clear that long-term solutions were needed in order to eradicate poverty and homelessness. Chrysalis developed an effective and nationally recognized program to help homeless and low-income individuals become job ready so that they may find and retain employment.

Learn about our first 25 years of fighting poverty & homelessness through our digital timeline. Click here to view the PDF.

Philosophy: Chrysalis’ philosophy is that a steady job is the single most important step in a person’s transition out of poverty and onto a pathway to long-term self-sufficiency. Offering a hand up, rather than a hand out, Chrysalis empowers its clients to complete a self-directed job search.

Transitional Jobs Program: Since 1991, Chrysalis Enterprises has provided transitional jobs for our clients with the greatest barriers to employment. By providing valuable work experience, Chrysalis Enterprises helps clients gain the necessary skills needed to re-enter the job market. In 2010 alone, Chrysalis Enterprises created over 218,000 hours of employment and generated $2.5 million in wages.

Centers: Chrysalis operates three centers that are located where homelessness and poverty are most pervasive: on Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and in the Pacoima area of the San Fernando Valley.

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More Information About Invisible People http://invisiblepeople.tv/blog/about/

Mark Horvath Interviewing a Homeless Person In Chicago at Sobcon Conference 2011

A Story from Mark:

I once heard a story about a homeless man on Hollywood Blvd who really thought he was invisible. But one day a kid handed the man a Christian pamphlet. The homeless guy was shocked and amazed, “what! You can see me? How can you see me? I’m invisible!”

It isn’t hard to comprehend this man’s slow spiral into invisibility. Once on the street, people started to walk past him, ignoring him as if he didn’t exist… much like they do a piece of trash on the sidewalk. It’s not that people are bad, but if we make eye contact, or engage in conversation, then we have to admit they exist and that we might have a basic human need to care. But it’s so much easier to simply close our eyes and shield our hearts to their existence.

I not only feel their pain, I truly know their pain. I lived their pain. You’d never know it now but I was a homeless person. Fourteen years ago, I lived on Hollywood Blvd. But today, I find myself looking away, ignoring the faces, avoiding their eyes — and I’m ashamed when I realize I’m doing it. But I really can feel their pain, and it is almost unbearable, but it’s just under the surface of my professional exterior.

For years I’ve used the lens of a television camera to tell the stories of homelessness and the organizations trying to help. That was part of my job. The reports were produced well and told a story, but the stories you see on this site are much different. These are the real people, telling their own, very real stories… unedited, uncensored and raw.

The purpose of this vlog is to make the invisible visible. I hope these people and their stories connect with you and don’t let go. I hope their conversations with me will start a conversation in your circle of friends.

After you get to know someone by watching their story, please pause for a few moments and write your thoughts in the comments section, or maybe email them to a friend and link back to this vlog. By keeping this dialog open we can help a forgotten people.

The invisible guy didn’t intend to become homeless. I didn’t plan on living on the street. Everyone on the streets has their own story, some made bad decisions, others were victims, but none of them deserve what they have been left with, and it is a reflection of our own society that we just leave them there. Please always remember, the homeless people.”

Here’s to GMC for donating a Truck To Mark’s cause as part of Sobcon 2011- Via Liz Strauss’s amazing leadership for her small business conference, Sobcon!! And to Murphy Gas for donating gas to power the Truck! Yeah to Liz, Marla Schulman, Connie at GMC and all the people at GMC and Sobcon who made this possible!

Liz Strauss Paying tribute to InvisiblePeople.tv and Mark Horvath's Work to End Homelessness

Mark Horvath and the Dontation from GMC for his Mission to Help The Homeless at Sobcon 2011

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