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

Status: ???

I don't want anyone who is following this blog to think that just because I haven't posted in over a month that the project has lost steam. Excitement is starting to brew, but it's a slow buildup that I believe will boil over in a relatively short time.

First, some good news: The book: 'Project Five-Star: The Five points of Hope,' has been published and is available in several outlets. A hard copy of the book may be bought from Createspace.com, for $6.10. I make very little money from that, and any profit would go toward the project anyway. You may also buy it from Amazon.com, for %6.10, and I won't make any money at all from it.

If you have Kindle, you can get the book for 99 cents, and I don't know how much money I'll get from that. You may also find it for the Nook, also for 99 cents.

The next bit of news may or may not pan out. I let the guy that sleeps in the bunk above me read the book, and he and his fiance were impressed to the point where he thought he'd present it to his church to see if we can get donations rolling. I told him I'd make him a paid fundraiser if he could do that, but unfortunately, nothing more has come of that.

When you're homeless, it's easy for things like that to get lost in the shuffle, which is one reason why I haven't posted much, I've been trying to find myself a job.

And in between all that, I did send pdf copies of the book to several media outlets. I have not heard back from any of them. Promotion is hard work!!!

But I did want to post those two bits of good news and let those that do read this blog know that the project isn't dead. I'm fighting every day to get the word out!