I'm Concerned for Your Future, Not Your Past

When I conduct the interviews for project Five-Star, I'm likely to get a wide variety of backgrounds. Some of them have spent time in prison, some have done drugs, drank alcohol to excess or wasted money gambling.

I've wasted my share of my life. I have never taken drugs, drank much alcohol (I hate the taste, to be honest) never spent time in prison (though a few of you might think I belong there).

I have gambled in my past. Even now I avoid casinos because if I go in, all my money goes out. So I have had somewhat of a tendency for addictive behavior.

But when I choose the participants, I'll be looking past their past (yes, pun intended). I don't care if they used to take drugs, if they used to drink until they passed out, if they used to blow a paycheck on a single night of binge drinking and whoring. I don't care what their sexual persuasion is (just don't come on to me, please).

I care about the here and now. Don't come into my classroom drunk, high or filled with amorous thoughts. Come prepared to learn. Come prepared to take what happened in the past and leave it behind. Come prepared to change. Even if you've already changed, I'll change you more.

Leave your prison mentality at the door. Leave your gangsta raps in the gutter. Leave your pants that are sagging - well, pull them up. Come dressed for success. If you don't have the clothes, just maybe I'll have the funds to donate the clothes to you. Maybe I can reach an agreement with a clothing store to give you a suit or two at no cost to you and a lower cost to Project Five-Star.

Come with a clean shirt and a tie. I know the shelter has a laundry, use it.

Don't try to lie to me. I've told a few lies and heard a lot more. If you don't want to tell me the whole truth during our interview, that's okay. But I can't help you if you hide things from me. If I accept you, and it turns out you did 10-20 for burglary, I can't help you get a job. If you're honest, though, and do the work I ask you to, and prove to me that you've changed, then I'll stand behind you and put my reputation on the line.

I'm concerned about your future. I want you to get that great job doing something you like with decent pay and a chance for advancement. I want to see you get an apartment or even a house to call your own, in a decent neighborhood. I'd like to see you get a car. We all want the best life we can get. We all want to do things we enjoy rather than be stuck somewhere for minimum wage just waiting for the shift to end so we can go back to a dingy apartment in a rough neighborhood, filled with the temptations that got us into this mess in the first place.

We'd all like to be as far from that as possible. Me included. So come prepared.

And you! The one reading this article who has all that stuff that we homeless only dream about! You, with the fancy car, the six-figure income and the large bank account, who tells people like us to get a job. Put your hand in your pocket, pull out your wallet and GIVE until it hurts, because all it takes is one bad stock, one bad investment, and you're in the same boat as tens of thousands of us who struggle to survive.

And if that happens, I'll reach my hand out to you and give you the same opportunity I give everyone else.

How Do We Know It's Working?

This is part of a continuing series of posts regarding Project Five-Star. In this post I will discuss how I intend to prove to donors or potential donors that I'm doing what I say I'm doing.

Back when I first wrote the Project Five-Star Book, all I had to work with was a cheap laptop computer and a web cam. Today, I have a better quality laptop, several web cams, and a full-fledged High Definition Sony HandiCam. I've taken a number of videos with it, and someday I might even make some money from them.

The idea for proving I'm doing what I say I'm doing, is to make everything above board. I intend to record every action I can and either live stream it, and/or post the video to youtube. Am I spending money on an attorney? I'll show as much of the transactions as the attorney will let me. Am I renting an office space? I'll show you which ones I look at. Am I interviewing potential participants? You guessed it. Everyone will sign a waiver (which is another good reason for having an attorney) which will allow me to put their stories on video.

Why? Because hearing that things are bad for the homeless from other sources is far different than seeing it and hearing it from their own mouths. The videos themselves might generate some income for the project, but really, I'm hoping to generate Donations. Period.

Once we've started to hold classes, I intend to live stream those classes on the project web site, which does not exist yet, but when it does, that's a little bit of proof that we've spent some of your money on the project. So you get to see how exactly I spend my time and your money, whether it's for materials such as computer parts, or lunch for me and my students.

The bottom line should be that the money that goes into the project should go as much as possible to helping the students. Even if I spend money on a used van, I intend for that van to have at least one camera in it at all times.

Because every donor deserves to know where their money is going.

Thank you for reading.

Michael Fox, Founder, Project Five-Star

Don't Do Anything Halfway

This is another in a string of posts of what I hope to accomplish with Project Five-Star. In this post, I'll examine the ethic I hope to instill into the project, as well as its participants.

The idea is: Five Stars. Not Four, not Three, certainly not Two or One. The goal is everything about the project will be the very best it can be.

That starts with me, I suppose. My past has been spotty at times, but I've never given anything but my best effort into whatever project I'm working on, whether it's writing, customer service, or any other aspect of my life.

Mind you, my best might not be as good as someone else's best. Or it might be better than most. If I have a task to do, though, I'll give 100% while others might say 'That's good enough.' Sorry, that won't work for Project Five-Star.

That's not to say I'm a perfectionist, far from it, but there's a difference between shoddy workmanship and something that functions, even if it's somewhat limited.

Say I'm looking for office space. Will I accept a dingy, small office just to get a better price? No. The groups I'll be leading need space and air.

Say I'm looking to feed my participants. Will stale donuts and a few 2-liter bottles of soda suffice? No. We've all been through bad, stale food. We want the best. Caviar? No. Fresh made sandwiches? Sure! A gallon of O.J.? Yeah, baby! Who wouldn't want that?

Now that I've got a clean, airy place to hold meetings, and fresh, healthy food to feed my 'peeps,' what next? Do I lecture them while they snooze?

Well, I hope to make the classes interesting enough so that no one feels the need for sleep. No one sleeps in my class and stays with the program. But that's as much my fault as theirs. So I intend to get them involved, play musical chairs often enough to keep them awake and take frequent 'stretch' breaks.

Let's say that we somehow raise enough money to go to phase 2, which involves training homeless men and women to build an administrative building and the first of 4 dorms. Do we use inferior tools? Do we use inferior materials? Do we use inferior and dangerous tactics to cut corners and raise the buildings? No. I intend to hire someone who can teach them how to build and use the tools we provide. I intend that no corners will be cut to save a little bit of money. It's your money, after all, that I'm using. Would you want it used improperly? Neither do I.

In the end, the higher standards we hold ourselves to will show in the work we do. I have to teach every participant to take pride in the work; to dress professionally; to act professionally. This is the only way that we - all of us - can drag ourselves out of the gutter, get to our feet, and stay there.

Project Five-Star is no place for those who want to just get by.

Thank you for reading!

Michael Fox, Founder, Project Five-Star

It Starts in Raleigh

It starts small. One man (me) teaching 20 people how to build and repair computers.

It starts with the first $5,000 in donations earmarked to go toward hiring a lawyer to help Project Five-Star become a Non-Profit 501 c3 Corporation. It starts with me finding volunteers to serve on the Board of Directors.

It starts with finding an office or better yet, a storefront where I can set up a conference table and then interview homeless men and women about their experiences and then see who, out of what will likely be hundreds of applications, stands the best chance of getting certified and getting a job outside of Project Five-Star.

It starts with your donation and who knows where it will end.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Michael Fox, Founder. Project Five-Star

Back From the Dead

I am sorry that I have not posted for a number of months. I have been involved with a number of activities, some pleasant, some not.

In February I was hit by a car while walking from the library to the shelter. My right shoulder was dislocated and 3 ligaments in my right knee were torn (my doctor used the term 'gone').

Wake Med put my shoulder back in place, however I was unable to move my right arm to any degree without excruciating pain. I was also unable to walk on my right leg.

I spent two months recuperating at the shelter, and only occasionally was I let out to go to the library to check my email. I either rode in or pushed a wheelchair. I accumulated all kinds of hospital bills.

After two months, I received the only settlement I could from the insurance company that represented the girl that hit me. The hospital bills accumulated to over $100,000, and the settlement was for $30,000. Of that, my lawyer got $7,000, the hospital and other medical companies got $11,550, and I got the rest.

Now, before I go on, let me state that I went over my options for using the money with a great deal of care.

1. I could have paid some of my bills, including a student loan that has persisted for more than 20 years. But that would have meant staying in the shelter, since I had no other income.

2. I could have put it toward Project Five-Star. This was an interesting choice, since I've been asking you to donate for some time. I gave this serious thought, but in the end, I said no, because there was simply not enough money left to do everything I wanted to do.

3. I could have found a nice place to live and simply spent my time searching for a job. The problem is, my arm and leg were still damaged and I felt my ability to find a job had been seriously curtailed.

4. I could have used the money for dental work, which I think is one reason why I haven't found a job. I gave that very serious consideration.

5. I could have invested the money in the stock market. I gave that some thought. Very risky for one so inexperienced, though.

6. I could have used the money to fulfill a dream I had started before the accident, a self-employment attempt I call 'Mike's News Hangout.' The idea was to travel the country, paying special attention to baseball parks, and shoot video of people and things that people might find interesting, and then post the video on Youtube.

With all my choices before me, I weighed what would be the best thing for me? I was selfish. I had been in that shelter more than a year, and stuck in convalescence for two months. I was sick to death of the shelter. I was sick to death of Raleigh, for that matter. I wanted to travel, I wanted to be my own boss, even though I had only $11,550 to spend.

My knee had healed to the point where I could walk, wearing a brace, painfully, slowly. My shoulder was worse, but the pain was less, even if I couldn't move the arm much.

For 3 months, I moved out of the shelter, still technically homeless in my mind, because I had no permanent place to live. I rented a car (big mistake, I should have bought one) and traveled the country. I saw my daughter for the first time in 8 years. I saw 6 baseball games. I recorded hundreds of hours of video and posted it on Youtube.

My knee got better, my shoulder less painful, but still not very mobile. I was really starting to have fun for the first time in years.

Then the money started to run out. Yes, $11,550 gone in 3 months. Some spent on equipment, some spent on motels, some spent renting the car, some spent on gas and tolls. I would not call it splurging, but rather investing. My Youtube account makes money. Not much money, but it does make something. I had a dream of going to every Major League ballpark and shooting video of the fans and some action, and then making a documentary. That dream has not diminished, but reality has come crashing back down.

I am back in Raleigh (I had to turn the car in there) and back in the shelter. I've had to start over in the program and wait my turn to get back into it. I've spent some nights 'in the rough,' sleeping where I can.

Was the money wasted? Some might think it was, certainly I've been chastised by some, but let's face it, the money I got wasn't nearly enough to do the things I want to do for Project Five-Star. It might have allowed me to live outside the shelter for a time, but the reality is, without a regular job I would have been back in the shelter soon anyway. I took a chance and tried to make something of myself. I don't consider it to be a failure. I may not be making as much money as I'd hoped, but the money is trickling in.

This has all brought me back to where I started: Project Five-Star. The experience has served to remind me that training is the key to moving on. It has served to remind me of the importance of continuous funding, either by donations or our own hard work. Without a steady flow of cash, the project goes nowhere.

And so I'm asking again for donations. I've changed the source for collecting donations, to GoFundMe. We actually received a donation on that site a few days ago, so I consider that a good start. But it's not finished. Over the next few days I will outline what I want to accomplish over the next year.

Project Five-Star is back, with renewed vigor and attention. I have been looking nationally for help, but for right now, I think I need to concentrate my fund-raising efforts locally. Please consider donating!