Between Something and Nothing...

So many things happening, and not happening. I guess it's all a process. Fortunately, I'm patient and persistent, but it's tough when you know you're trying to reach out and help people get a place to sleep. Just a couple of items before I get into what's happening this week. One, if you're new to this site, please read my first post, it has my mission statement and goals. That will help you to make more sense of what I've been doing here. Two, I don't know where the pic I posted came from, possibly from the National Coalition from the Homeless, but in any case, it seemed fitting. Anyway, on to the show. Here's what's up for this round of updates:

I spoke at length with Oliver Shokouh, the man who founded the Love Ride. He had a lot of good ideas and insight, it was really an eye opener to talk with him. I really appreciate him calling me back and answering a lot of questions. Thanks Oliver, I hope I can make it out to the Love Ride this year!! I also heard back from Michael Stoops, from the National Coalition from the Homeless. He pointed me towards the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness, but so far, I've not been able to get in contact with anyone there. I also heard back from the Department of Defense, which was a pleasant surprise. They linked me up to a couple of Veteran organizations. They were quick to point out that they can't exactly endorse any particular group publicly, but it was nice of them even to respond, even if it was just the Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs ;)

I went about trying to contact local LA politicians as well. None of the Congressmen seem to want to talk to anyone outside of their District, so I went ahead and e-mailed all of the Los Angeles City Council members. So far, not a single one has responded with anything more but an automated e-mail, similar to the one I got from (newly re-elected) Mayor Villaraigosa. The exceptions to this is Councilwoman Jan Perry, who sent a personal e-mail saying she would look into it. Nothing new from her recently, but at least she took the time to read my blog. Thank you Ms. Perry! I also went ahead and e-mail The Governator, seeing how he's a Harley rider, but of course, no response as of yet.

On the national front, I contacted the National Veterans Foundation, and they did respond with an e-mail saying that they would look into it and get back to me asap. Phil Mangano, who is a key member of the US Council on Homelessness, also got an e-mail from me, but I haven't heard from them at all, I so wonder if the e-mail was just a public address and not a direct line. Just for the heck of it, I also sent an e-mail to President Obama, but I know I'll never hear back on that one.

I'm planning on going to an AMA Superbike race with my family this coming weekend in Fontana. I was thinking of maybe making some cheap "business cards" or something with this blog address and handing them out, but we'll see if I have time. It seems like an opportunity to get this idea out to a wider audience. We'll see how it goes.

In the meantime, here's an interesting article I found today

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090316/ap_on_re_us/homeless_airports

March Forward

It's been a while since I posted, but that doesn't mean I haven't been cranking away. In the past month or so I've gotten a lot of feedback. All of it has been positive, some a lot more proactive than others. I want to list people and places I've contacted. I hope this doesn't come across as a "shame on you for not getting back to me" list, I merely mean it as a way of keeping track of who I've looked into, for your benefit as well as mine. I'm simply trying to streamline for all parties involved.
To date, only a few people I have contacted have gotten back to me, hence the reason I've been hesitant to post (I don't want to put up negative news). I do want to say that sifting through the pebbles has brought some golden nuggets. First of all, huge thanks to the following people: Angelo Tota, a friend of the family and former teammate. He turned me on to http://www.patriotguard.org/ They have returned my e-mails, and are looking into any further participation. I haven't heard anything more from them, but at least they responded, and they do have some experience in this sort of thing, so I'm hopeful. Also huge thanks to my friend James Ozenne. I find his input on pretty much all things to be intellectual, inspirational and helpful. He turned me on to the President's New Era proposal, which lists Mr. Obama's plans for a budget, including veteran affairs and VA money. You can read more about this at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/ This has led me on to some other organizations, and in the process I sent an e-mail to the Department of Defense about this blog.
Next up I want to thank Jessica Leung and Debra Ballard for all their suggestions, information, inspiration and motivation. Digging through all of this stuff has been time consuming and at times frustrating, but their input has kept me going. I also want to thank Susan Carpenter of the Los Angeles Times. Ms. Carpenter covers motorcycles and riding for the paper, and she has given me some good advice on how to proceed. Per her suggestion, I contacted Oliver Shokouh, the founder and chairman of the immensely popular and succesful Love Ride http://www.loveride.org/lr25/. He has gotten in touch with me as I was typing this latest post, so I'm looking forward to talking with him. His input so far has been extremely valuable!! Last but certainly not least, I want to give a huge thanks to my friend in the Air Force, Tech Sgt. John Peck, who has been sending me a ton of links and information. Not all of them are hits, but all of them have led to something useful and informative. His interest and participation is literally above and beyond the call of duty!! Of course I want to thank everyone who has responded in some way, it's all been helpful.
I'm not saying this is the "bad news", just the list of entities I've contacted that I've yet to hear back from, but hope will contact me soon. So far, nothing from the National Coalition for homeless veterans http://www.nchv.org/index.cfm
or the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority
http://www.lahsa.org/default.asp
In my mind, their participation is critical, so I'm going to keep trying. I also contacted the Director of Operations at the Amer-I-Can Program http://www.amer-i-can.org/, which was created by Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown. They are Los Angeles based, so I'm hoping they get in touch with me.
In addition, I've contacted the founder of Veterans and Families http://www.veteransandfamilies.org/home.html and am looking into the local chapter of Rolling Thunder http://www.rollingthunder1.com/. I watch the local KCALchannel 9 news on a regular basis, so I contacted them via their website. No pun intended, but stay tuned!
I am happy to report that I was able to get in touch with a contact for Los Angeles born actor and activist Edward James Olmos. Since I don't have a date set for an actual event, Mr. Olmos can't confirm or commit, but to even hear back from them was HUGE motivation to get this going.

That's all for now. The only other thing I want to mention is that I've gotten a lot of info and feedback regarding the military and veteran side of things, but finding info and interest in the non veteran homeless has been slow going. If anyone comes across more non veteran info and ideas, please let me know. Thanks again to everyone!!

Pete

OperationHB, week 2

Thanks to everyone who has gotten back to me. I appreciate your ideas and comments. Just a few thoughts so far. First, while I don't want this to be about me in any way, I just want to clear something up, based on some of the feedback I've been getting. I wasn't homeless because of any crime or substance addiction or anything like that. While those are very real problems, my situation was the result of two other major issues in the public eye; a lack of healthcare and the skyrocketing cost of an education in this country. I don't want to go on a soapbox about it. Those are two seperate but related issues. Conversations for another time. I mention this not as a way to "prove my innocence", but to remind people that being homeless is a problem that can strike anyone, and has.
Back to the matter at hand....
With regards to a riding route, I don't feel that there is a specific "homeless area" where we can go ride and see "the transient: in his natural habitat". Homelessness is everywhere. I saw a recent ordnance prohibiting the homeless sleeping on the beach, in Laguna Beach. That was a shock. When I worked down in Venice, I saw an old homeless guy everyday hanging out in front of the stores on Abbot Kinney. Across the street walked the kid who played Frodo in the Lord of the Rings movies (I know his name, I just didn't want to call him out by name). Wherever we ride in LA, we're going to be by someone without a home. I guess that's part of my point, the whole juxtaposition of wealth and poverty in LA.
Moving forward, I want to try and achieve something each week, whether it's recruting somebody new, or something a bit more prominent. Last week, I began this blog. In that time I have e-mailed it to a few people for feedback, but also have sent it to the LA Homeless Services Authority http://www.lahsa.org/
and the National Coalition for Homeless Vets.http://www.nchv.org/
So far, no response. I also e-mailed a guy via Linkedin who was my contact with the LA Kings when I did a jumbotron animation for them in the late 90s (ironically, the time I was homeless). Again, no response. I've had this blog up for a week, just kind of testing it out. Time to "go public"...

Until they all come home....To a home.

Operation Homeward Bound- Mission to end homelessness in LA

I. Intro- Some of you have probably seen some version of this plan over the last month, but I’m hoping this mission will have networked to enough people that I and my goal will be new to you. For those who have read some of this in some version, I appreciate you spreading the word, your patience (for reading through this again), and your enthusiasm. You have only fueled my passion for this project. Those who are new to this mission, I welcome you and any help, feedback, suggestions you may have. Even if your comments are “go to hell buddy, it will never work”, I still welcome that. It’s only going to make we work harder, as it has throughout my life.
So who am I? My name is Pete Cruz, a native Los Angelino who (as a result of the high cost of college and healthcare) was amongst LA’s homeless in the late 90s. While I was able to finish school and turn my life around, I know that others, for whatever reason, are not so lucky. I vowed never to go back to that situation, but more importantly, I decided to repay the help I received by helping others to get off the streets. I had heard that LA Mayor Villaraigosa was embarking on a series of plans towards helping the homeless. I was thrilled at this motion and began to think of ways to help, to raise money or to otherwise volunteer my time and services. I had gotten my motorcycle license a year earlier, and bought my first bike in 2005. While many people see motorcycles and riders as a hazard, to me, it was a great symbol. I had turned my financial life around to the point where I could buy the bike I always wanted. Nothing fancy or expensive, but mine nonetheless. I became part of a community that, contrary to popular belief, is filled with many good people. As with any group, there are good and bad apples, but the more people I met and the more I learned about bikes and their riders, from all walks of life, the more I realized what I could do to help. I began to set my plan in motion….

II. Mission Statement- My plan is to create a motorcycle ride through the streets of Los Angeles, a fundraiser that could start, go through and end in some of the more famous locations throughout LA. The route isn’t so important, but hopefully it could be something central to Los Angeles and its more famous symbols.

III. Goals- My goal is to raise money for homeless shelters and or housing for the homeless here in Los Angeles, with an emphasis on homeless veterans. In general, I’ve been trying to steer clear of many of the established shelters, such as the Midnight Mission. This might sound counterproductive, but it’s my goal not to make this a religious or political situation, so I’ve tried to keep it as secular and bipartisan as possible. Eventually I would like this event to be as big as the Love Ride, an annual event hosted every year by Jay Leno. As with the Love Ride, it’s my hope that the event could be much more than a ride. Something with auctions, celebrities, food and live music to begin and or end the event. Eventually I would like this ride to spread into every major city throughout the country, in an attempt to end homelessness nationwide.

IV. Current and past action- I began this mission in mid 2006, after becoming a bit more versed in the motorcycle riding community and studying up on motorcycle charity events. I was even more motivated when I read that LA Mayor Villaraigosa was passionate about putting an end to the homeless problem. Intrigued, I read up more on his plans and what steps he was trying to take. I felt compelled to e-mail him about the plans that I already had. I had envisioned a city sponsored event, possibly with thousands of riders being escorted through LA by police motorcycle escort. I know, probably just a dream, but if you’re going to dream, dream big, right? After many attempts to contact the mayor, I finally received this e-mail response, dated December 2006:
Thank you for taking the time to e-mail my office to express your views and concerns. As Mayor, I am pleased to hear from you so that I may better serve the needs of Los Angeles. Your comments will be forwarded to the appropriate staff member or city department. A swift way to resolve service problems and needs is to dial 311, the City's direct phone line to customer service information. If you are outside the City of Los Angeles, you may also reach a 311 Ambassador by calling 213-473-3231. Very truly yours,
Antonio R. Villaraigosa
Mayor

I thought that maybe he was just busy with the holidays, but I tried the phone numbers many times, to no avail. I then concentrated my efforts on people who I thought to be “LA Royalty”, that is to say, celebrities and or their companies\charities who are a staple of Los Angeles. These include the following:
1. The Magic Johnson Foundation
2. The Serenity for Shelter Foundation
3. The Anschutz Entertainment Group
4. The LA Kings Care Foundation
5. The Loose Cannons radio program on XTRA Sports 570 radio
I know I’m leaving many off, but it might get redundant to list them all, and to be honest, I kind of lost track after a while. I began just trying to contact individuals and seeking their advice. I got a lot of good feedback on whom to contact about charity rides, and ideas from people within the riding community. I am thinking about getting in touch with USC football coach Pete Carroll, who has a foundation in LA called A Better LA, geared at getting young men out of gangs and into better situations. If anyone knows of any other projects like this, or how to contact any of the people I’ve already mentioned, it would be a great help.

V. Moving forward- In all my research, I’ve found two entities which could most benefit from this and fit my overall mission statement. The first is a local organization called The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. It’s a city based agency that is actively reaching out to homeless people in the community. The second is a national based project called the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. They operate in a similar capacity, but are non profit and not government based.
What I would like to see happen is an outpouring of ideas on how to get this thing going. It would be ideal to see it happening during Memorial Day, Veterans Day or Independence Day, but really, any day would be fine. Maybe we would end up creating our own annual day of celebration and remembrance.
I’ve created this blog to keep track of progress and will make an official website once we get the thing in motion. Anybody who can volunteer in any capacity or has thoughts, feedback, etc, please e-mail to OperationHB@roninapache.com
I tried for a few years, but I don’t think I can do this alone. I don’t know the first thing about starting something like this. I know about motorcycles, veterans and the experience of not knowing where I’ll be sleeping at night. I’m hoping we can join our efforts and make this happen in 2009.