Our friend David J. Neff of Austin-based Lights.Camera.Help. has contributed this guest post about an exciting new campaign around online gaming for social good:  

At Lights. Camera. Help. We talk a lot about the power of documentary film and video for making measurable, on the ground impact — which is exactly what a new project from Chicago-based Kindling Group is doing for the issue of homelessness. It’s a transmedia campaign called @home, and it’s using documentary film, social media, and a smartphone “game for change” to educate and inspire action community by community.

I recently took an amazing course on Gamification from the Wharton School. As part of that I learned a lot about transmedia and gamification. I’m seeing more and more transmedia projects exploring issues from a multitude of angles, but the addition of @home’s mobile app — which you can play tailored to your own city — is particularly exciting. As you follow the game’s neighborhood map, you watch video interviews with homeless individuals, and by solve location-based puzzles (like deciding whether a person qualifies for supportive housing). And, as you progress through the game, you’ll raise funds for real home move-in kits for homeless individuals in your community.

The @home team created a prototype of the game at POV’s Hackathon last month, and produced a video documenting the experience. Watch to see a walkthrough of this innovative smartphone game:

And support this project’s current crowdfunding campaign here.

Tags: David J. Neff, Gamification, home, Lights Camera Help, video

This is a blog I did several years ago updated for today. Enjoy!

Panhandlers – America’s great entrepreneurs? Alan, you have really gone off the rocker now. I know that is what you are thinking even if the thought is a little fleeting so hear me out. Can you imagine what it is like to get up most days and journey by public transportation to a street corner somewhere to stand out in the elements hot, cold, rain, shine, wind etc? Or to wake up in your urban camp (they are everywhere in Austin) without a shower, sleep deprived only to be faced with hours begging for spare change. Stand there on your feet for hours baking or freezing while marketing yourself to each passerby hoping someone will spare some change. All of this for about $25 to $50 bucks on an average day? Well, I have tried panhandling, sleeping in urban camps, sleeping under and on bridges as well as alleyways, shelters and the like. Very hard work to say the least coming from someone who works very hard and long hours.

Even if you can maintain the $50 average five days a week 52 weeks a year that adds up to a whopping $13,000 per year. That is less than 30% of the median family income required for one adult to live in Austin. Who do you know other than a homeless person or someone on SSI that lives on this amount of money? Crazy, to say the least! Lots of work, lots of energy expenditure, and lots of puritan work ethic going on here but the rewards are very small. Is there a way to refocus that energy to something more rewarding and productive? Stay tuned as we begin to put another tool into the toolbox of solving social issues.

I know what it means to be an entrepreneur. My entire adult life I have been an entrepreneur. In fact when I learned what an entrepreneur truly was it changed my life. In 1978 I dropped out of the University of Texas frustrated with the academic way of life and went into the real estate business in Austin, Texas. This changed my life forever and I learned then that I could be my own man in charge of my life (to the extent one can truly be in charge) and the fruits of my labors would be freedom, flexibility, purpose and perhaps even a little financial reward. I felt truly empowered.

You see I later came to realize that the typical academic structure did not fit my personality too well. Perhaps as a youngster I would have even been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder or something like that. I can tell you that while in high school and college I did not spend a lot of time in the classroom focusing on academics. My mind was always wondering. But somehow I was blessed with enough DNA to get by in this model without a lot of effort. It is precisely this type of behavior that I witness day in and day out with my brothers and sisters who live on the streets; folks that struggled in conventional education and had a hard time focusing on the details. However, I also found that there was a strong puritan work ethic in each of these people. I gotta tell you that it takes a strong, resilient and resourceful individual to survive in a state of homelessness.

In fact people like me and my brothers and sisters on the streets have a model that we can look to to lift us up into this life of freedom, flexibility, purpose and yes financial reward. Walk across any border bridge from the United States into Mexico and you will enter into a gauntlet of entrepreneurs. Whether it is the girl selling chicklets, or the vegetable stand or someone making fresh tortillas or someone selling handmade jewelry or whatever, people are purposefully working under their own power. Somehow here in the good ole USA we have regulated ourselves away from this entrepreneurial spirit; some good reasons and some bad. You have heard the old saying, “you can give a man a fish and he will eat for the day or you can teach the man to fish so he can eat for a lifetime”. I have a new saying, “most people already know how to fish but now it is up to us to help them get the license to fish”.

So back to the statement I made earlier that the homeless are some of the most resilient and resourceful people I have ever met. I have never met so many talented people; mechanics, carpenters, craftsmen, musicians, salesmen, teachers or you name it, they are out on the streets. There are many impediments to conventional employment so we have to get creative; to help them get that license to fish. Check out www.mlf.org/roads to see what we are doing to help these budding entrepreneurs. I say we get creative to convert all that energy that is going into panhandling into something fulfilling and rewarding; something that is a benefit to our communities. Let’s take this entrepreneurial spirit and this puritan work ethic and really make it work. Let’s help turn these brothers and sisters into effective entrepreneurs.

Check out the following video too!

Street Treats Video

-Alan

Tags: home, Homeless, MLF, mlfnow

WOW! Hard to believe we are at the end of this 21 day Daniel Fast. Spiritually this has been awesome. Today I finished a three day Street Retreat and I gotta tell you that was a great way to culminate this powerful fast. I witnessed some great transformation from those who participated. Also, have to share that I am witnessing a new level of desperation on the streets. Particularly downtown at 7th and Neches the epicenter of homelessness in ATX. Having been on nearly 30 of these retreats over the past 12 years there is something materially changing. I will wait for the next retreat to see if this is an anomaly or now the way it is. Regardless, it was a beautiful time on the streets!

Looking forward to coffee, cheese and perhaps a little chocolate tomorrow. I will weigh too and see how many lbs were lost. I know I lost a few. Perhaps I will report back.

Please continue to pray for Community First! We need to intentionally cover this vision in prayer. Also please pray for Mike, Zane, Will, Meliton as they need our special intercessions.

God bless!

-Alan

Tags: Fast, Fasting, home, Homeless

Guest blog post by Paul McArdle

At Austin’s annual South by Southwest, innovation cannot be ignored, its role imperative, if not absolute.  Considering this 2013 event and its global, exponential attendance, it is fair to relate this dynamic characteristic and what seems to be the dissolve of the individual among the vast collective ‘sea’ of new ideas, both technological and artistic. However, this observation cannot be made without acknowledging that it is with an individual’s vision by which the ideas of innovation are created and shared.  More importantly, though, it is their initiative that counts.

It is within this ‘forward-looking’ atmosphere wherein Mobile Loaves and Fishes launched, for its second year, an opportunity for our homeless brothers and sisters on the streets of Austin to earn a modest income, one based on service and compassionate relationship.  This opportunity, known as Street Treats, is part of ROADS (Relationships and Opportunities Allowing for Dignity and Security), which is a faithful initiative of the vision of MLF I am working alongside.

Considering the mass of unique, creative, and progressive innovations undoubtedly presented this year, the primary focus of ROADS Street Treats does not account merely for the measurement of its inherent effectiveness or success, but primarily in its ability to allow for personal and relational engagement, which, in a sense, serves as the modality for opportunity, and in that sense embraces its innovativeness.

As a new assistant to the ROADS team, and it being only my second year attending the event, my immersion into this year’s SXSW could not have come as more of a direct experience.  This being the case, I am certain it was one of honesty.

With this in consideration, the integration of my newly applied knowledge of ROADS with my interpersonal interactions with our brothers and sisters who were participating gave a very realistic glimpse into the life of service and its mutual reciprocity: as I watched, heard, and held conversations with such remarkable men and women of great willingness to participate in such an event, I was greatly impacted by the their faith in action. Their overall willingness to get out into this field of this event more than suggested a characteristic that cannot be quantified by courage.  All the more, it was this primary observation that I will singularly attest to that dissolved my personal presumptions heading into the week.  This I believe concretely advocates for these opportunities to be met with success.

Therefore, as I am continuing to participate with Mobile Loaves and Fishes faithful commitment to meet those in need with dynamic opportunities, I am continually becoming convinced that these ‘innovations’, their ingenuity shared for our homeless brothers and sisters, is our faithful response to God.

Tags: Austin, ROADS, Street Treats, SXSW, Texas

Day 20 on the Daniel Fast and Day 2 on the Street Retreat. In both cases there is light at the end of the tunnel. As I have said all along the fast has been spiritually awesome but not without a few attacks. The Street Retreat is also nothing short of awesome too. Don’t tell anyone but we found ourselves inside a warm cozy building last night thanks to one of our retreatants skillful past.

I love these retreats because you never know who God is going to bring into your path and this retreat is no different. One after another He has brought us some life changing colorful characters like Sassy Grace, Zion, Zane, Quinn, Budda and Aidan. Budda on our first night out welcomed us into his “home” with great hospitality. He guided our team to a place to sleep and helped us find cardboard which is “street gold”. He complimented me on my dumpster diving skills. He also pointed our team to places to eat throughout the week. Of course, as a Street Retreat veteran I know most of what is being taught but it is awesome to watch others experience this hospitality. It is a stereotype shifting transforming experience.

This retreat I succumbed to including a couple of meetings into the schedule dealing with Community First! This too has been an interesting experience for me. Living on the streets but floating in and out of my world and the world of those who live on the streets. When we share with our brothers and sisters that we are here spiritually and that we are not “pretending” to be homeless they seem to have a deep admiring respect for what we are doing. They resent the pretenders…a lot! They know, we know and God knows that we are not homeless so why pretend. They are astute at authenticity. Or in their vernacular, they have great bullshit meters!

Looking forward to what God will unfold today. He never ceases to surprise and entertain. He must be pretty humored at us.

Please continue to cover Community First! in prayer. There is a lot of great and exciting stuff happening and that always means the evil one is looking to mess it up. Lets rebuke together the evil wicked snares of the devil.

My warmest blessings to you!

-Alan

Tags: community, Fast, Homeless home

This month Mobile Loaves & Fishes’ staff is reading The Circle Maker at the suggestion of our founder Alan Graham, who has found it immensely beneficial in focusing his attention on our Community First! housing project.

The Circle Maker’s author, Mark Batterson, is the founder and pastor of the National Community Church in Washington, D.C.  In this book, Batterson talks about how his intensely focused prayers were responsible for helping him and his family see the NCC grow from an idea to a reality.  As Mobile Loaves & Fishes prepares to launch our newest initiative, we will be practicing this same method of focused prayer to ensure our work is aligned with God’s Will.

The Circle Maker begins by re-telling the story of the ancient Jewish prophet, Honi.  During a devastating drought, Honi was asked by his community to pray for rain and so, drawing a circle and stepping inside, he raised up his voice in prayer and told God that he wasn’t moving from the circle until God sent rain.  It was a bold request, made as a simple childlike demand—with complete faith that it was within God’s power to grant.  And God granted his request.

Batterson encourages us to pray like Honi.  He says, “Bold prayers honor God.  And God honors bold prayers.”  By dreaming big, praying hard, thinking long, and working toward our goals as if they are assured, we are channeling our energy into alignment with God’s.  We simply cannot fail.

Batterson’s story is an inspiration because it is full of the kind of success that is so obviously unachievable without God’s help.  As he says, “Nothing honors God more than a big dream that is way beyond our ability to accomplish.  Why?  Because there is no way we can take credit for it.  And nothing is better for our spiritual development than a big dream because it keeps us on our knees in raw dependence on God.”

The Circle Maker is part religious reflection, part self-help, and part inspirational story-telling.  Regardless of your denomination you can read the book and benefit from Batterson’s call to unwavering trust in God’s Plan and His Ability to grant us anything we need or want that is aligned with His Will.

Here at Mobile Loaves & Fishes we don’t just hope God will bless our Community First! project.  We are counting on it.

Won’t you pray circles around Community First! with us?

Tags: Mark Batterson, The Circle Maker

Today is Palm Sunday and for the eleventh year we begin a 72 hour Street Retreat on the streets of Austin, Texas. This year we have 10ish people joining us; some newbies and a few veterans. This retreat is a one-on-one retreat between the retreatant and God. It is absolutely not about experiencing homelessness or pretending to be homeless. It is all about finding the risen Lord in those we encounter while on the streets. AND, ladies and gentlemen, this is precisely what happens!

I have been on over 25 of these retreats and the transformation I witness and the fruit that is harvested is nothing short of a miracle. I guess I am addicted to witnessing transformation. Perhaps I need to look into a 12 step program!

I continue to thrive spiritually imperfect on the Daniel Fast. Highly recommend it and has been the most spiritually rewarding of all the fasts I have done. My goal these next three days is to continue to cover our Community First! Village property and vision in prayer. In May at a staff picnic on the property we are going to stake the four corners in prayer and raise a canopy of prayer over the entire property. I will share more on this later.

May the risen Lord warmly nourish you as we enter into Holy Week. We are an Easter people who anticipates and believes in the resurrection. May you experience the resurrected Lord this week!

God bless!

-Alan

Tags: community, Fast, home, Homeless

This morning during my hike and morning prayer time I began to reflect how spiritually nourishing this fast has been. I even love to say the word “nourish”. It sounds so refreshing doesn’t it? Nourish! Repeat it a couple of times slowly.

From this I began to prayerfully reflect on Genesis 2:10, “A river rises in Eden to water the garden; beyond there it divides and becomes four branches”.

How nourishing is water to all of life? Vital, to say the least! I love the word “vital” too! It is from Latin and means “life giving”. And, that God would have a river rise in Eden and divide into four branches. He intended to completely nourish the Garden of Eden. How wonderful is our God!

Then I began to imagine and dream that what if we, the Body of Christ, are the river that rises in Eden and that each of us individually are the branches that are being divided from the Body to go forth and nourish?

Genesis 2:5-6, ” While as yet there was no field shrub on earth and no grass of the field had sprouted, for The Lord God had sent no rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil, but a stream was welling up out of the earth and was watering all the surface of the ground”.

I believe you and I are the branches of the wellspring being encouraged to go out and nourish and till “souls” so that from them beautiful gifts will flourish for the glory of the Kingdom!!

Lets go out and nourish today those who need our vital, life giving, presence and see what God can restore.

May God warmly nourish you today!

-Alan

Tags: community, Fast, home, Homeless

Tags: St. Tomas More, Summer Camp