Tell me your story

Christopher Paul Gardner (born February 9, 1954) is an American businessman, investor, stockbroker, motivational speaker, author, and philanthropist who, during the early 1980s, struggled with homelessness while raising his toddler son, Christopher Gardner Jr. Gardner's book of memoirs, The Pursuit of Happyness, was published in May 2006. The 2006 motion picture The Pursuit of Happyness, directed by Gabriele Muccino and starring Will Smith is based on the book

Daniel "Homeless" Mustard (born December 25, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His nickname is derived from the fact that he is homeless. He appeared on the Opie and Anthony Show after being chosen to participate in their "Homeless Shopping Spree" charity event. However, due to restrictions placed by SirusXM management they were unable to follow through. With airtime set aside for the event that needed to be filled, and because they had already brought in several other homeless people, they decided to improvise a "Homeless Talent Show".

Adrian Lamo (born February 20, 1981) is a Colombian-American threat analyst and former hacker. Lamo first gained media attention for breaking into several high-profile computer networks, including those of The New York Times, Yahoo!, and Microsoft, culminating in his 2003 arrest.In 2010, Lamo indirectly reported U.S. soldier Chelsea Manning to the Army's Criminal Investigation Command, claiming that Manning had leaked hundreds of thousands of sensitive U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks.

I once heard a story about a homeless man on Hollywood Blvd who really thought he was invisible. But one day a kid handed the man a Christian pamphlet. The homeless guy was shocked and amazed, “What! You can see me? How can you see me? I’m invisible!” It isn’t hard to comprehend this man’s slow spiral into invisibility. Once on the street, people started to walk past him, ignoring him as if he didn’t exist… much like they do a piece of trash on the sidewalk. It’s not that people are bad, but if we make eye contact, or engage in conversation, then we have to admit they exist and that we might have a basic human need to care. But it’s so much easier to simply close our eyes and shield our hearts to their existence.