Mark Horvath › Comments

From this poetic image of total despair, one can only look upward: “Walking Around” It so happens I’m tired of being a man. It so happens I enter clothes shops and theaters, withered, impenetrable, like a swan made of felt sailing the water of ashes and origins. The smell of a hairdresser’s has me crying and wailing. I only want release from being stone or wool. I only want not to see gardens and businesses, merchandise, spectacles, lifts. It so happens I’m tired of my feet and toenails, my hair and my shadow. It so happens I’m tired of being a man. Still it would be a pleasure to scare a lawyer with a severed lily or deal death to a nun with a poke in the ear. It would be good to go through the streets with an emerald knife and shout out till I died of cold. I don’t want to go on being just a root in the shadows, vacillating, extended, shivering with dream, down in the damp bowels of earth, absorbing it, thinking it, eating it every day. I don’t want to be so mu... - Mark Horvath

this is a must see short movie - Mark Horvath

@invisiblepeople's MySpace presence is now official - it's up, live, & ready to help keep the homeless conversation going more GREAT news soon! - Mark Horvath

I should warn you this video is hard to watch. Viper has lived on the streets of Hollywood for over six months. Although, like many of those who came through the foster care system, she considers herself homeless for her entire life. Viper faces serious health issues; she has a catheter and uses a service animal since she is prone to seizures. Sadly, her ailments and dog prevent her from being admitted to most homeless shelters. Seeing her panhandling with a catheter (not to mention the upside-down sign) is just heartbreaking! This is one of those stories that left me feeling helpless. I wish I had more answers. - Mark Horvath

BURBANK — Operators of the winter homeless shelter at the Burbank National Guard Armory are scrambling to find an alternate location capable of housing 50 of their clients during two planned closures of their current site. The Salvation Army of Burbank has agreed to take in up to 50 homeless people during the planned closures Feb. 6 to 8, and again for the same dates in March, but that would cover only half of the average crowd that uses the emergency winter shelter every night, said Carrie Gatlin, vice president of government relations and special project for the Union Rescue Mission of Los Angeles, which oversees the operation. The last day of the winter shelter program is March 15. Moving to an alternate armory isn’t an option for service providers because all of the local bases are planned for simultaneous combat training drills, officials said. “There are a variety of options for shelters, and that’s something that really needs to be worked out between the county and t... - Mark Horvath

In November of 08 we found a buyer for my house in ST Louis and started the process of a short sale with Countrywide, yet it has been nightmare after nightmare. To make a very long story short Countrywide is killing me. You can never get to a manager, or the people who are (supposedly) negotiating the short sale. It took a month to schedule an appraiser yet they assigned the data to only one of the loans causing more delay (they kept saying it was not done when my realtor was with the appraiser at the house) I call a few times a week and they give a different story each time. “It will be 7 business days” they told us in December before the holidays. After the holidays they say that 7 days was just to assign it to a negotiator so now it will be another 10 business days. Once 10 days was up I called and they responded 10 business days is just a ballpark figure. My realtor also calls and gets the same madness. - Mark Horvath

many new comments every day. tens of thousands of read this post and new POWERFUL comments show up everyday. if you've read it a while back - you want to go read it again - Mark Horvath

Service groups team up Executives from 11 nonprofits will unveil program to gain more funds amid recession. - Mark Horvath

thanks to Nedra Weinreich for pushing me into myspace and helping me with connections. we're still tweaking on the profile but take a look. there might be some crazy news coming soon - CRAZY news! thanks to www.PearseStreet.com www.myspace.com/designform yspace for donating design services - Mark Horvath

New PSA from the National Coalition for the Homeless (USA) with a darkly ambient Radiohead snippet. PSA is made by agency Knarf. Message is clear: homelessness can happen to anyone. That’s what I learned recently from Mark Horvath, the man behind the great vlog Invisible People. Last week Mark wrote a heartbreaking inside story about the first night being homeless. Read it here at Change.org. The National Coalition for the Homeless, founded in 1982, is a USA national network of people who are currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to a single mission. That mission is to end homelessness - Mark Horvath

LOTS OF GREAT COMMENTS STILL COMING IN EVERY DAY: Your life has changed mine - thank you.- Posted by Kristi Sawyer on 01/05/2009 @ 11:51PM PST I don't know what I would do. My brother is in jail right now, when he gets out he will nowhere to go. It scares me- Posted by Ernesto Torres on 01/06/2009 @ 01:22AM PST This is very interesting to me, i always think about homelessness everywhere i go. I see people and i wonder how on earth they feel inside. Please tell more... - Posted by Elvia Knoll on 01/06/2009 @ 08:06AM PST In an area where the median income is around $20,000 and the average rental $1100 a month. Add utilities, and what's left? $200 or so for food, clothing and transportation for a month? How can that be called living? - Posted by Jacqui Sewall on 01/11/2009 @ 05:28AM PST I wish I had some profound words of wisdom to express what it is I feel about your journey Mark, but I don't, all I can say is, thank you for sharing your very personal story.- Posted by Darren Ack - Mark Horvath

John Lawlor interviews me for blogtalkradio. The topic is using social media to help bring awareness to the issues of homelessness. Two months ago I started invisiblepeople.tv with only $45, a small camera, laptop, and I aggressively used twitter to make things happen. Wow – I don’t know how I did it but I was able to work in The Dream Center, Union Rescue Mission, Andy Bales, Michael Buckingham, Guy Kawasaki , and many more. We talked extensively about homeless issues and I used real life examples of my social media successes like “persuading” Guy to build homeless.alltop.com – the best resource for current homeless news. - Mark Horvath

I want to share with you another great story from the world of social media, just in case anyone still thinks it’s nothing but a bunch of geeks self-promoting and tweeting into the wind. David Armano, or @Armano on Twitter, an influential blogger, last night posted a plea for help to his 8,300 followers. His Romanian friend, Daniela, and her three children are staying with he and his wife after separating from an abusive spouse. They were in a desperate situation with no money and in need of living space. David asked his followers for $5,000. What happened over the next 24 hours is phenomenal. - Mark Horvath

You cannot grow a giving heart when you are always focused on receiving. Bye-bye Magic Jesus. It's time to pray for other people and not a new Mercedes. - Mark Horvath

It’s raised a lot of money for sure, but at the same time has created a selfish generation of Christians. - Mark Horvath

I’m telling ya. I never knew church could be so real! Charles Lee ROCKS - Mark Horvath

My First Night Homeless made the top story on the main page - WOW! - Mark Horvath

If you've never been homeless, it's tough to describe that first night sleeping on the street. The fear and disillusionment is almost paralyzing. You just go through the motions, but at the same time you're beating yourself up for being in this situation. It is very surreal because no one ever thinks they will become homeless. No one. - Mark Horvath

Back in the Spring of 2008, six of us organized the wagon project in less than 10 days, and it played out in 72 hours. A few days ago, vegan consultant and cookbook author Moira Nordholt organized her Tweetuplift in less than 48 hours and it played out in two! We used Twitter in the service of our project, whereas Moria used Twitter to organize her project in the first place. How did she gather ten people to give up their time on Christmas day (in order to hand out food and supplies to those in need)? How did she gather them in the pouring rain, with no mandate or preconceived structure, giving less than two days of lead time for anyone to alter their plans? Answer: Twitter–but not just Twitter. Specifically the fact that well-known and well-followed people chose to take up her cause and “re-tweet” her call on Twitter, meaning they re-broadcasted the call for volunteers for which Moira had originally asked. This allowed a wider audience of people to hear about the ad hoc event, a... - Mark Horvath

WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT A HOMELESS MOM AND HER TEENAGE DAUGHTER - PLEASE! - Mark Horvath

DID YOU SEE THIS - BUM ADVERTISING - AHHHHHHHHHH - Mark Horvath

Yesterday I had an awesome experience. In the city of Glendale an apartment building is being setup to temporarily house single moms and their kids. My first trip there our minivan was filled with two moms and three babies. All were homeless. One baby was two weeks old and 5lbs – a gorgeous baby! The apartments for the most part were bare. Nothing inside, but the girls were ecstatic with joy that they had their own apartment. They need everything - cleaning supplies, furniture, food, curtains, silverware, clothes, toys, beds – everything! Just imagine moving into a place and you have nothing, and the only money you get is food stamps! It is a good program. The girls can stay there anywhere from 12 – 24 months. Their rent is 30% of their income and they have to save another 30% to get back on their feet. They have to look for work or go to school – or both! Unfortunately all social service agencies are taxed right and all of these single moms need your help. Please DON’T G... - Mark Horvath

John spent much of his childhood in foster care. Today, he lives on the streets and takes a philosophical approach to his situation. John says he wants nothing, but I think he’s really searching for a little love and acceptance. - Mark Horvath

A new survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that 19 out of 25 cities have seen homelessness increase in recent months by an average of 12 percent. We speak with Philip Mangano, Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness about how this will impact his "Housing First" initiative to get the chronically homeless into permanent supportive housing - Mark Horvath

Sign of the times? It made me so mad I had to take a walk. While at the corner store security comes dragging in a middle-aged clean-cut white guy. He had just lifted a Sneakers bar and got caught. The whole thing seemed kind of odd to me, and to make it even a little weirder the clerk behind the counter says, “Everyone is going gangsta right now because no one has money”! He was so casual about his words I got the feeling shoplifting is not only increasing…it is becoming rather normal. - Mark Horvath

The search is on in Orange County for several teenagers suspected in a severe paintball attack on a homeless man. The attack happened Friday night on Center Street in Costa Mesa and the victim is likely to lose sight in one eye because of it. Some of the paint from that paintball attack is still on the wall in an alley in Costa Mesa. The victim says the suspects continued shooting at him even as he was running away. He eventually made it to a nearby store, where he called 911. "I can't see anything, period," said assault victim Gregory Dahlgren. Dahlgren's eye is almost swollen shut. His hands, back, and legs are also injured. He says six teenage boys armed with paintball guns started shooting. - Mark Horvath

Who Put the "Public" in Library, Anyway? Are public libraries meant to be more "public" or more "library?" While some may complain about the prevalence of homeless people in public libraries, this is often an indicator that a deeper community issue exists. Orlando blogger Dave Ballentine has taken issue with the prevalence of homeless people at his local public library. Or, as he put it, the "disgusting sights and smells staff and patrons must put up with there." He writes: I cannot for the life of me understand how the City and the County continue to allow this facility to be used as an air conditioned homeless day care center for these bums to lounge about and sleep. - Mark Horvath

Handing someone a free turkey on Thanksgiving or a free hotdog in a park on Saturday afternoon DOES NOT change a life. Don’t get me wrong giving to the poor is a good thing, but from my experience most churches (not all) hold outreaches as a marketing tool to promote their Sunday services and reinforce their self-perception as being good people. Everyone knows the economy is in the crapper. It’s going to get far worse before it gets better. When you are planning all those big outreach events this year, and I am sure many of them are great events, look at the dollars and see if all that money could be used to in a better way to help people, and please take an honest look at your events to see if they are being held for all the RIGHT reasons. - Mark Horvath

i like this post because it tells a deeper story. the faith-based community needs to focus more on providing tangible long term support for people then event driven campaigns. handing someone a turkey on thanksgiving DOES NOT change a life. it makes YOU feel good, and yes the person gets a free bird, BUT what if we took all the money we spend on events and pooled it to REALLY HELP SOMEONE? hmmmm? - Mark Horvath

never been much for Nader - but many of his comments are RIGHT ON - Mark Horvath