I’ve been meaning to make a post following up on the Pay It Forward project I started last Christmas for a long time now.. For those who haven’t been following my blog since then, last Christmas I decided to play poker out in below freezing temperatures alongside homeless people to raise money for them. I wasn’t able to play the entire time outdoors because at one point the temperatures were less than 10 degrees and my computer wasn’t even working properly in that kind of weather. So I played some outdoors and some indoors, depending on the temperature. I did this for 5 days and raised about $21,000.
While some of the money went into a general fund, most of it went to 3 specific people. That was really my goal for this project. Rather than give it to a lot of people, just like in the movie Pay It Forward (in the movie, the idea was if 1 person did something nice to 3 people on the condition that they did something nice for 3 people, an epidemic of kindness could spread throughout the world and change the course of humanity), I wanted to try and see if I could help facilitate a huge impact on 3 people’s lives. So I figured for about $6,000 a person, that kind of money could give 3 homeless people an apartment for 6 months, food, utilities, insurance (or repairs for their car if they had one) and basic living expenses. From there it would be up to them to find a job and take advantage of the opportunity.
I could not possibly be more proud to report that I have gotten a chance to meet the people that my poker profits were able to help out and ALL 3 of them are in jobs that they are loving and their employers are impressed, with a couple of them even getting promotions!! They are all about to be on their own with the prepaid rent expiring and all of them will remain in those homes as self sufficient, valuable members of the community.
Meeting them was quite a powerful experience. To hear their stories and what they have been able to do with the opportunity got me a little choked up. They could not be more spectacular people and while they were super grateful for the opportunity, I really only played a small role in their success. Someone who didn’t want to better themselves would’ve just taken the opportunity to put their feet up and watch TV all day for 6 months and wind up exactly where they started. But they seized the opportunity and seem to be very happy, hard working and loving people. I could not be more happy for them and could not be happier with the outcome of this project.
While most people were very supportive of what I did, there were some who just thought I was lighting money on fire. Some just shook their heads like I was crazy and could not figure out why I was helping people who “clearly do not want to help themselves.” Those words are theirs, not mine. But you see, while I get as depressed as anyone with the way human beings behave sometimes, I do believe the overwhelming majority of them are good people who often just make one or two poor decisions OR are just a complete victim of their circumstances. People think because they can’t imagine themselves homeless that it only happens to lazy drug addicts. That is definitely not the case. In fact you need to look no further for proof of that than the person writing this blog.
About 6 years ago I had a heart attack and my employer (who also happened to be my father) said he would not pay me for my time away from the job. With only a little money from disability, high living costs and medical bills, I wound up with only $1,000 to my name (apologies to those who have already heard this story) and rent do in a couple of weeks. I put all $1,000 online and hoped for the best and a few weeks later after running pretty good at the tables, I had my rent money plus another $5,000. From there I have never looked back.
The point is that I was lucky. I was a new poker player and my skills were decent, but without a nice run at the tables, I could have been on the streets just as easily. And I can tell you I took no drugs whatsoever and since I am known by many as one of the hardest working people in online poker, I am sure no one will doubt me when I say laziness was not the reason I almost became homeless.
On a seperate, but somewhat related note, I am involved in a book project that Albert Pujols was gracious enough to lend a hand with. For those who don’t know who he is, he is one of the best American baseball players to ever play the game. ESPN recently voted him baseball player of the decade. When asked about all of the fame, money, celebrity and opportunity that comes with being Albert Pujols, he didn’t seem all too impressed with it. He said he feels grateful to be able to play baseball for a living. When asked about the money, he just told us he didn’t really care about it and he tries to just give most of it away to help the poor in the Dominican Republic and to serve his foundation.
A lot of what I took from that conversation is that for the rich and the famous, those who choose to sleep with a ton of women, blow their money on champagne and all of the other random stuff rich people do are a dime a dozen. Anyone with money can just walk around like a rich guy and blow it all, thinking they look cool. But to me, what is cool is a guy like Pujols, Albert keeps his head down, works on his game and what do you know, is the best baseball player in the world right now. When he is done being the best ball player in the world for the season, he then tries to be the best human being he can be off the field. Guys like Albert have my respect. People like the 3 people who were part of the Pay It Forward project have my respect. And while I don’t look down on people who want to enjoy their lives to the fullest extent, I would encourage them to take a close look at a guy like Albert Pujols and see that there are other ways to enjoy success.