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2nd Annual 5K Race to End Homelessness: A Huge Success! HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – During the 2nd Annual 5K Race to End Homelessness on March 24, 2012, five hundred and ninety-eight feet in tennis shoes and one pair of bare feet crossed the finish line. “This year’s race was a huge success,” said Homeless Voice editor, Mark Targett. “We went from 200 runners last year to 300 runners this year. Last year we had 17 sponsors and this year we have 29 sponsors.” Bringing in the best overall time for the males was Ryan Trombly, 37, with a time of 20:01:00. The best female overall time went to Christine Forbes, 40, with a time of 23:47:00. Before the race began you were greeted by a gentle ocean breeze, a golden glow from the recent sunrise across the sky silhouetted by palm trees, and inviting beach sand that separated the ocean from the beautiful bricked path of the broadwalk. As you drew closer your ears were treated to the cascading, vibrant sounds of the classic rock band “Curbstone,” mixed with the voices of people chatting, laughing and just thoroughly enjoying themselves. One of the first tables in the event area was the Miami Heat Dancers booth, where two beautiful women handed out signed autographed photos. Next I found a booth staffed by Chick-Fil-A franchise store owner Seth Poor out of Pompano Beach, along with some of his employees. Mr. Poor was no novice to the Homeless 5K race. “Last year was the inaugural race here in Hollywood Beach. We came out and provided the water and breakfast for that race. And we’re thrilled to be able to come out again,” said Poor. Poor’s marketing director, Kyle Chapman, was also at the booth to show his support. “This is actually my (Continued on pg 6)
Vincent Ippolitto
Finding the Homeless New Jobs!!!
Richard Carlish Ipp, Ipp, hooray. Those are the words you would hear whenever one of our clients Vincent Ippolitto came around. Sadly, we won’t hear those words anymore and even more sadly we won’t see Vincent any more either. After a long battle with cancer Vincent passed away last month. He was one of those guys who flew under the radar as they say. A very quiet, non-problematic man. Vincent just went about his business every day as a vendor and stayed in his room at night. He was the type of man you couldn’t’ help but like because of his mild mannered demeanor. When Vincent began to be overwhelmed by the cancer and his days were becoming numbered our director Sean set up a hospice room for him at one of the offices next door. he turned it into a mini apartment making sure he had a dvd player to watch movies, a microwave to heat up soup, and a coffee maker so he and his hospice nurses could have coffee throughout the night. The proof of just how much Vincent was liked was the constant traffic of clients going to see him at all hours. it was like a parade at times as they would wait in line to pay their last respects to this fine man. I always said if we had a hundred Vincent Ippolitos here it would be a wonderful place to be. I don’t know much about his life when he was younger because as I said he was a very quiet
CNNMoney) -- It sounds like a headline from The Onion, but it’s true: A project called “Homeless Hotspots” is turning homeless Austin residents into mobile wireless hotspots outside the South by Southwest convention center. It’s part marketing stunt, part genuine charitable initiative -- and it’s generating lots of double-takes and chatter from those who pass by. “I’m Melvin, a 4G hotspot,” reads the T-shirt of participant Melvin Hughes. “SMS HH Melvin to 25827 for access.” Hughes is carrying a Verizon MiFi 4G hotspot. Texting his code sends back his network password, which the recipient can use to suck down a few minutes of fast broadband access -- a scarce commodity at SXSW, a tech/film/music gathering that has drawn more than 20,000 visitors to Austin, Texas. Access is pay-what-youwant, though $2 per 15 minutes is the suggested donation, payable through Paypal or Venmo. BBH Labs, the project’s organizer, says it will pay all the proceeds directly to the participant who made the sale. Reactions are definitely mixed, Hughes says. He’s handed out hundreds of cards explaining the project,
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and says a few dozen people have actually logged on. “Some people want nothing to do with it, for whatever reason,” he says. “I think it’s a great thing. It’s an opportunity.” BBH Labs, the experimental wing of global marketing firm BBH, came up with the idea as an attention-grabbing way to draw attention to the issue of homelessness. Saneel Radia, BBH NY’s Director of Innovation, casts it as a legitimate experiment in entrepreneurship. The company was inspired by the street newspapers sold by homeless residents in dozens of cities and wanted to update the model for the Internet age. “We’re believers that providing a digital service will earn these individuals more money than a print commodity,” Radia
“I’m Melvin, a 4G hotspot,”
Our Purpose: To Help the Homeless Learn How to Help Themselves
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