Helping the Homeless through Photography

Hello!

My name is Andy and I am a photojournalist living in the DC area. I've made a few trips up to NYC in recent years and while documenting my trip, I became aware of how many homeless folk are out on the streets. I came up with this idea after speaking with one guy named Brad who was out on the streets. I shot a picture of him on the street that you can see above and he yelled at me "Don't take my pictures!" I inquired about why I couldn't shoot him and he told me his story. He was an accountant in the city that lost his job and his family during the little depression we experienced in recent years. He told me that he was saddedend by the fact that he was in that situation but appreciated the fact that I actually came up and spoke with him. I told him what I did and why it was an interesting contrast having a photo with a homeless man in the middle of a bustling city full of well-to-do people.

He eventually let me take a few photographs of him in his evironment and I gave him a ten dollar bill to help out with his meals for the day.

All proceeds of this endeavour will go to to help the homeless in NYC find a better life through the help of Coalition for the Homeless of NY.

I also plan to try to speak with some of these folks and get their stories, perhaps a small donation will help them come out and give me some information, maybe 5$ or so. Sort of like the People Of New York guy who's work also fascinates me.

All proceeds of this endeavour will go to to help the homeless in NYC find a better life through the help of Coalition for the Homeless of NY.

I'll of course host the pictures on the web so all can see and plan to bring prints in local galleries, all proceeds of which will be donated to Coalition for the Homeless (excluding framing costs and print costs) All proceeds from GoFundMe (excluding lodging and travel) will be donated directly to this cause.

Here are some disturbing facts about homelessness in the City:

-In recent years, homelessness in New York City has reached the highest levels since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
-In May 2015, there were 58,906 homeless people, including 14,093 homeless families with 24,014 homeless children, sleeping each night in the New York City municipal shelter system. Families comprise nearly four-fifths of the homeless shelter population.
-Over the course of the last City fiscal year (FY 2014), more than 116,000 different homeless men, women, and children sleep in the New York City municipal shelter system. This includes nearly 42,000 different homeless New York City children.
-The number of homeless New Yorkers sleeping each night in municipal shelters is now 79 percent higher than it was ten years ago.

As you can see, this is a pretty important cause. I am ever so thankful to have a roof over my head, a decent job and food to eat every single day. Let's raise some cash to help those who aren't as fortunate as we are!


I get to go shoot interesting subjects and if I don't happen to find too many homeless, money still gets donated to the cause. It's a win-win!


Please share, my starting fund is rather low, and GoFundMe takes a little off the top.. However, let's see how much we can raise to help this cause! Thank you for looking!

Please check out my photography page on Facebook as well for updates. I'll also post a link to the pictures on my website as soon as they become available.

www.facebook.com/andrewpphotography

www.andrewpphoto.com

https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/donate/

-Andy