Man is determined to put a human face on homelessness
The creator of an online video project aiming to put a face to homelessness will be making a stop in Whitehorse this summer.
The creator of an online video project aiming to put a face to homelessness will be making a stop in Whitehorse this summer.
Mark Horvath, a former Hollywood producer who was homeless, will be in Whitehorse July 21- 22 interviewing homeless people and highlighting the work of service providers in the area.
The stop is part of a 34-city road trip across the U.S. and Canada which began in San Jose, Calif. at the end of June.
Horvath believes using video and social media like Twitter and Facebook, helps motivate people to help because it allows them to see homeless individuals as people first.
“Homelessness is typically something we ignore,” he said Monday from his hotel room in B.C.
“But when we make a personal connection to someone, it is harder to walk away,”
Sixteen years ago, Horvath had a successful career in Hollywood. A year later, he was sleeping on Hollywood Boulevard.
“I managed to get my life back together after that,” he said. “I had a three-bedroom house and a 780 credit score.”
But in 2008, with the American economy suffering, Horvath found himself unemployed again.
Inspired by the homelessness he saw around him, Horvath took out his video camera to document stories and post his video on the website invisiblepeople.tv
The videos have not gone unnoticed.
In March, Horvath posted a video of Donny, a homeless man in Calgary who had lived 21 years on the streets.
“When I first met Donny, it was so cold I thought my face was going to fall off,” Horvath remembers. “There is no way I could have slept outside in that but that is exactly what he was doing.”
After seeing the video, a group of Calgarians got together to track down Donny and see what they could do to help.
“They found him and now he is in an apartment of his own,” Horvath said. “It is amazing what a community can do when it works together.”
Chris Nash, a youth outreach co-ordinator with the Skookum Jim Friendship Centre, will be taking Horvath around Whitehorse to meet the city’s homeless youth.
Nash said he hopes Horvath’s visit will help raise awareness about homelessness, particularly the lack of affordable housing in the city.
“I know how hard it is to find a place to rent, and I have a job and a good credit score,” he said. “Imagine how hard that is for a youth.”
The road trip is being funded by Calgary’s Community Action Committee.
Committee chair Barry Davidson wants people to recognize that being homeless goes beyond the stereotype of a transient with an addiction.
“I think there is a gap when it comes to people recognizing that it could happen to them,” Davidson said.
“Just think about the one or two things that could happen to you and then you’re sleeping on other people’s couches and trying to get by.”
Still, Horvath doesn’t want people to feel overwhelmed by the problem.
“Communities working together to come up with a solution, I have seen that change lives.”
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junejackson
Jul 14, 2011 at 3:32 pm
I know WHO the homeless are.. but it begs the question.. WHY?