About the PTB Project

We purposely made this site to be about Tim – not us. However the buzz we have created is deafening from where we stand. When we went live, only a few months ago (mid-day February 17,2009), we had no idea what we were in for. Well, it has been a wild ride. We have been praised more than criticized 20:1, but the criticism is what seems to lie heavy in our bellies throughout the day. So, I would like to take a minute to explain for those who wish to understand the PTB project.
Sean and I started Ascendgence LLC, an internet marketing business in January of this year. I am a veteran VP Sales/Marketing of 24 years. Sean is a part time DJ and marketing student specializing in online marketing. We do sophisticated tactical SEO and Viral marketing campaigns. We needed to do a campaign that we could use as a case study to market and showcase the capabilities of our fledgling enterprise. We were originally going to do a campaign for a local business in Katy Texas. However, Sean came up with a different idea.
Sean has been involved in volunteer work since he was very young. We raised him in a church that is very focused on service. He was president and founder of a service organization at his high school (Mayde Creek High School) that worked with the developmentally disabled kids in the school. That organization was later chartered into the Best Buddies organization. He is an Eagle Boy Scout and his Eagle service project brought young people together with special education kids. Over the past 6 years he has spent many hundreds of hours donating his mobile DJ services to Best Buddies, Special Olympics and many of other events for the handicapped, homeless and others. His favorite gig ever was at the Periwinkle Foundation camp. There he DJed a big annual shindig for a large group of terminally ill children. Anyone who knows Sean has no doubt what his intentions and motivations were for this PTB project.
As we have worked with Tim and his friends on the street over the past two weeks I have had an awakening that I hope we can share with others through this project. We knew that the same campaign with a sincere appeal, and a website like “helpthehomeless.com,” would be ignored. We knew that if we insulted people’s sensitivity or appealed to their humor – on a subject as sensitive as this we would get their attention. Then when they came to the site to see what a horrible thing or funny thing we were doing, they would immediately be introduced to Tim Edwards. They would quickly see a warm funny, sensitive, intelligent homeless human being. Someone they could relate to – someone they would like.
The homeless are invisible people. I am not a psychology expert so I won’t guess why, but people don’t like to discuss, or even recognize the homeless. People can remember the funny sign that one used to panhandle, but they never remember the face. We make a million assumptions about them as though they came off an assembly line, but they each have a different story. Some are lazy. Most are alcoholics. A lot of them will die on the streets, but there are those that can be reached and redeemed to be functioning members of society again.
Some of these people are in a pit so deep that even if they want out they simply can’t do it on their own. We have heard many comments over the last few days – the standard criticisms about the homeless. The one that I have said myself: –“McDonalds is hiring, they need to get a job and pull themselves up by the boot straps!” When you have no home, you have no shower. No one will hire someone who cannot maintain a minimal level of hygiene. As Tim said, “how can you pull yourself up by the boot straps if you don’t have any?”
Alcoholism is a problem as well. It surprised me, contrary to my assumptions, how many of these guys were not alcoholics when they hit the street. However, alcohol quickly becomes a cheap anesthetic when you live in hopelessness and despair for very long. We have shook some people up, brought some attention to the plight of the homeless and are committed to helping at least one person come back from the dark side. If we have offended you I hope you will understand that www.pimpthisbum.com is a sheep in wolves clothing and Sean and I sincerely wish only good things for these people and all of the invisible people – the homeless, physically disabled, developmentally disabled or any other socially isolated group of people..
Sincerely,
Kevin J. Dolan