There are thousands of homeless people living on the streets in every major city in America. The homeless need our help and support, or they may never get the chance to change their circumstances.
One man, Elvis Summers, found this to be true when he met Irene “Smokie” McGee, who had been sleeping on a patch of dirt outside his house. Seeing the common trend of people building tiny houses, Summers wanted to put his own construction skills to good use.
Summers met McGee after she knocked on the door of his Los Angeles home, looking for recyclables that she could exchange for money. After noticing that the woman didn’t even have a tarp or box to sleep on, he knew he had to do something to help her.
The man decided to build a tiny home for McGee that could be moved around easily. He went straight to the hardware store, where he bought $500 worth of materials. After several days of hard work, the tiny home, with a door that locks so McGee could keep her belongings safe, was completed in 2015.
While Summers was building the house, he documented his progress on video. Later, he posted this video to Youtube, hoping to inspire others to help the homeless in their own communities. He accomplished that and more.
The video has over 7.2 million views, and Summers has been able to use the publicity to start the Tiny House Huge Purpose fundraising campaign. Keep reading to learn more about Summers and McGee and how this man is helping even more people in his area.
When Summers first met McGee, he didn’t fully realize how dire her situation was. “I knew she was homeless, but only found out about three weeks ago that she didn’t even have a tarp or a cardboard box to sleep in,” he told The Independent.
In spite of his own financial hardship, Summers knew he had to do something to help McGee. He shared:
“I can barely keep my own lights on, but I saw that a 60-year-old woman was sleeping literally in the dirt, next to a house – a house where everybody carries on with their happy, warm lives, enjoying their hot showers, and toilets to use, the food in their fridge, clean water to drink, electricity, TV, etc.”
Summers continued, “I went right to the hardware store and decided to buy the materials to build her a tiny house so she could at least have a warm, safe place to sleep instead of the dirt. It was more important than a couple of bills which I’m sure I can pay late and catch up on.”
After hearing what Summers did for McGee, a local church has offered up their parking lot as a place where the Tiny Homes could be parked overnight. “The people of the church are willing to help with showers, food and clothing to help all the people in the tiny homes we put there to climb back up,” Summers said.
With all the attention from the video, Summers has changed his goal. He explained, “Because my video went viral and I’ve got such a huge global response I’ve expanded my plan to help a few more people into helping as many as I possibly can.”
What do you think of what this man did? How do you help those in need in your community? Let us know, and feel free to pass this along to your friends and family so they can get inspired as well.
