Month: May 2018

(The picture here is with Tony Putnam, Tara Samples and Sage Lewis. Tony and Tara grew up together.)
I know that Memorial Day is to remember veterans that lost their lives in active military service.
But it also makes me think of homeless veterans. In many ways, they have lost their lives to a failed system that doesn’t work hard enough on their behalf.
About 11% of the adult homeless population are veterans.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimates that 40,056 veterans are homeless on any given night.
And we, of course, have our fair share of homeless veterans come through our facility.
This interests me because Akron is proud to say that “Veteran homelessness in Akron reaches ‘functional zero’”
Basically, they are saying any veteran that wants housing can get it.
That is either a lie or a delusion. I haven’t figured out which, yet.
We repeatedly have older veterans with serious mental health issues come to our facility. They can’t work the system. They don’t have IDs. They don’t have phones. And they certainly don’t have a single dollar to their name.
And service providers sit back and wait for the homeless veterans to come to them.
“Call us between this time and that time.”
“Come to our office for a meeting”
“Just get a job.”
These are massive obstacles for a person who can barely walk, has no money and is extremely depressed.
Homeless service providers have barely scratched the surface on doing the work that needs to be done to help the homeless reintegrate back into society.
So, of course, we have homeless veterans in Akron. And until we all work A LOT harder at meeting their actual needs we will always have a lot of homeless veterans in Akron.
This functional zero designation is gaslighting us into believing a completely false narrative. Just because someone says we don’t have any more homeless veterans doesn’t make it true.
If there is ever a person in America that deserves some care and attention, it’s a veteran. How many of us would be willing to sign up for anything where we agreed to give our lives up for a cause? We accept that as reality in America. But the truth of it is incredibly heavy. Most of us are cowards with flexible ideologies. But not veterans. They are all in.
Today, I want to give thanks to one veteran I get to spend a great deal of time with at The Homeless Charity: Tony Putnam.
He runs our kitchen with Mary. He’s a powerful force of good. He always goes to the Food Bank with me to help load and pack food on our truck. He is an amazing role model to his girlfriend’s son, who loves him dearly.
He works constantly for us. I seriously don’t know what we’d eat if it weren’t for Tony.
And he lives in a tent.
He is one of the 40,056 homeless American veterans with nowhere to go.
Thank you Tony!
My life is so much fuller and richer for knowing you. You are a great guy. I thank you for your service as a veteran. And I thank you for your service at The Homeless Charity.
You are awesome.
 
 

It becomes increasingly difficult to not think in spiritual terms when working with the homeless.
More and more ministers come to work with these people. They say things to me like “You are walking in the way of Jesus.”
That’s embarrassing. But coming from them I know it’s a great compliment.
I’ve also been asked why I’m not a Christian.
It is very difficult for me to explain my spiritual beliefs.
I asked that one minister who accused me of not being a Christian, “How do you know I’m not?”
While it might have sounded combative, it was a sincere question. I wondered if there was something glaringly obvious, like a neon sign over my head blinking “NOT A CHRISTIAN!”
I guess it comes down to not caring about my own salvation. This isn’t about me. I don’t need to declare some words to the world that makes me one faith or another.
If I end up displeasing God because I didn’t swear loyalty to Him, that’s the way it should be. What happens to me simply is not of a concern.
I don’t care if one story is true in the Bible and another story in the Koran is false. That’s just noise to me.
But let me take a step back. Like way back.
I always had a strong desire to prove myself. From a very young age. In the late ’70s they didn’t diagnose kids with learning disabilities. You were either smart or stupid.
I fell into the stupid category. I couldn’t read until about 4th grade.
Except I knew full well that wasn’t true. I knew who I was and what I was capable of.
So I spent most of my life proving myself to the world.
Acclaimed cellist, good college student, nationally recognized digital marketer, successful in family, successful in business.
But what I found was that accomplishments all had a hollowness to them.
One time my accountant asked me if I ever thought I’d make $250,000 a year as I had that year. I told him I didn’t. And I didn’t really care. That number changed nothing. I didn’t want a bigger house, a newer car. I just didn’t care.
That struck me as an important milestone in my life.
No matter how big that number got, it wouldn’t excite me. Maybe it excites other people. But it just didn’t change much for me.
That was a depressing moment. What was I doing this all for?
And then the great recession happened and we lost almost all of our momentum as a company.
What I learned at that point was that money didn’t make me happy but it sure as hell could make me sad.
It was at that point that I grew to resent and hate money. It controlled me and gave me very little in return.
And then I realized I had been doing all of these things for some external validation. And no one cared. And if they did, I didn’t care that they did care.
This was the moment I began serious contemplation.
What am I doing here? What is the point?
I checked all the boxes I was supposed to check and nothing changed.
Contemplation and action go hand in hand. Or at least they should.
You come up with an idea and you try out the idea.
The first thing I did was run for Mayor of Akron.
That changed everything for me. The vast majority of people that talked to me were the homeless. Most people that should care about who their next mayor is going to be were too busy to think about it. Most would just ignore me or scowl at me as I asked them for signatures to get on the ballot.
This opened a major door for me. The homeless.
They weren’t at all what I thought.
They weren’t stupid or lazy or wasted or dangerous. They were just poor and living on the streets.
I just started listening to what the world was telling me. “Go here.” “Do this.”
What I didn’t know at the time, but I certainly know now is that I had just started working on my spirit. I spent the first 45 years working on my mind and body. And for the first time I started paying attention to my spirit.
I’m fascinated by the universe. By dark energy and dark matter. I love watching scientists who believe something is out there because of math and then they prove it with experiments.
Do you know that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle collider, the most complex experimental facility ever built, and the largest single machine in the world. And it’s purpose is to document the smallest things known to man.
These scientists are trying to understand God. I want to understand God.
Scientists are using math. I’m using my spirit.
They want to know who God is. I want to know what God wants.
And I finally feel like I’m on the path. While I’m still very much in the learning phase of all this, I strongly believe God is telling us something about the poor and the weak and the prisoners.
Why?
Why would these people unlock the riddle to understanding what God wants? Is it just supposed to make us feel good? Is it a test? Are we supposed to learn something?
What if this is preparation for something bigger? What if God is teaching us to help the poor so that one day we’ll be ready for what He really wants us to do.
Do you know that there is a mystery force in the universe that scientists can’t see, yet they know it’s there. And we are hurdling toward it. It’s called The Great Attractor
Astronomers have theorized for years that something unknown appears to be pulling our Milky Way and tens of thousands of other galaxies toward itself at a breakneck 22 million kilometers (14 million miles) per hour. But they couldn’t pinpoint exactly what, or where it is.
What if we are getting ready for something big!
I’m at a point now where I believe in a great cause. A great destiny.
I also believe we are coming to a place where capitalism is failing us. Government is failing us. I feel like we very well might see a resurgence in spirituality as a way to understand our purpose. Because let’s face it, no one has been spending a lot of time on their purpose for the last 100 years. We’ve been told by government and business that our purpose is to buy more stuff.
Last week I spoke to a woman who was new to our village. She had been there a couple days. I just got to meet her.
She said, “Oh! You’re Sage.” She gave me a hug.
She told me that for the last couple days she had been asking around, “Who are the ones that love us?”
“Who would put all of this together for us?”
She said that never once in her life had she been loved. No one had ever loved her.
And now, strangers she hadn’t even met loved her.
That’s it!
That the point. Love and hate are the great forces of the universe. We will either transcend or we will crumble.
Nothing feels more right than loving someone that you don’t know. It changes everything.
Loving for nothing in return. That’s the secret to the universe.
That’s why I don’t care if I’m “saved” or not. I want nothing in return.
And in fact, I expect dark forces to continue to come. I am planning on more difficulty and pain.
I need no gratitude for doing this. The work is so right. The work is the gratitude.

I used to find these rumors amusing. But now they’re just getting boring and tedious.
But people actually believe them… like government officials, ministers and priests. People you wouldn’t think that would be suckered into believing far fetched fantasies.
So, I thought I’d start making a list of these rumors and give you my stance on them.
I suppose a true conspiracy theorist would say I’m just cleverly creating this post to confuse you into thinking these things aren’t true when really they are all SO very true.
Whatever, I can only tell you my side of the story. Think what you want.

Rumor 1: I am the plug.

This one might take a little explaining. Urban dictionary defines “The Plug” thusly: “A top hustler or boss motherfucker”
This is and likely will always be my most favorite rumor. I mean who doesn’t want to be a “boss motherfucker.”
Apparently I am THE ice dealer in Akron. Ice is a form of meth, I guess.
Look: I have never sold any drugs ever. And I am most certainly not the leading ice dealer here in Akron.
Truth be told, I’m a little insulted by this rumor. It suggests that I’m an idiot. Why the hell would I publicly surround myself with meth addicts and then start my ice career? It would have been way smarter to stay far away from my clientele. I should have continued my online marketing career as my front while I was secretly selling ice to the world. I mean come on! I watched Breaking Bad. I know how to make a proper front business.
I’ve never seen ice. I’ve certainly never made ice. I sucked at chemistry.
I am NOT the plug.

Rumor 2: We are run by the Aryan Brotherhood.

I don’t know if this is still an active rumor. But I thought I’d cover it here. People believed the Aryan Brotherhood were getting out of jail and moving in here.
I was a little scared about this one for a while. But then one day a person who lived here who had actual connections to the ABs said this was insane. They said that ABs aren’t going to camp in my crappy backyard. They like to camp in places like Montana.
This person said ABs were never here and would likely never lower themselves to coming here.
Aryan Brotherhood is a white supremacist and Neo-Nazi prison gang and organized crime syndicate in the United States with an estimated 15,000–20,000 members in and out of prison.
They wouldn’t let their fellow brothers be stranded in a tent city.

Rumor 3: We are run by the Hells Angels.

The problem with this is that in order to be a Hells Angel you have to qualify:
Hells Angels Membership Requirements – One Percenter Bikers
You will be expected to live on your Harley Davidson, riding across cities and states on your way to meets and as your primary form of transport, if you want to know how to become a Hells Angel then you need to be a dedicated Harley Davidson rider.
There are 2 people here that have drivers licenses. Me and Steve. Steve drives our minivan.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone roll up here on a motorcycle looking for a tent.
One time one of our residents went to a Hells Angels meeting and asked if they wanted to support us. He said they didn’t want anything to do with us.
We are not run by the Hells Angles. As far as I know, they have never stepped onto our property.

Rumor 4: I run prostitutes and drug deals out of our back yard.

This is a little bit like Rumor 1. But it’s different enough that it deserves its own attention.
The amusing thing about this is that this rumor came from someone living here that was actually trying to sell drugs out of our backyard. He has been kicked out of here for months.
I do think that in the early days when we allowed drinking and a camp fire some prostitutes came into our backyard a couple times.
That was the main reason we ended the drinking and campfires. It was like the wild, wild West. One morning we found a guy we didn’t know passed out in the fire ring. Fortunately, it had been extinguished.
If you ever start a tent city, take it from me: NEVER ALLOW DRINKING AND A CAMP FIRE.
This rumor bothers me because it seems to stick. I still hear questions about this one.
Let me be clear: We have ZERO tolerance for anything illegal in our community. It is grounds for immediately and permanently being banned from the property.
I have never and will never prostitute anyone. I have never and will never sell any kinds of drugs. Business for me is a game. Part of the fun is playing by the rules and still being successful.

Rumor 5: Sage is a failing business man.

This is a weird one to counter. I’m happy to show my tax returns. If you really want to see them because you think I suck at business let me know. I’ll ask my wife if she’s cool with letting me do that.
I will say this: I am not impressed by my business dealings. I’ve only broken $1 million in revenue one year. I’ve always felt like I was much better than that. I felt like I should at least be a $10 million to $100 million guy. But I never got there. I’ve since lost my interest in chasing money. The great recession ruined me on the glories of capitalism.
If you want a real rumor it might be that I’m probably becoming more of a Marxist than a capitalist. OOOOOOHHHH. How’s that for some juicy gossip!? You can use that the next time I run for office.

Rumor 6: Sage is just doing this to run for mayor again.

So you’re telling me that I’ve set up this entire tent city and elaborate homeless day center as a campaign stunt? How cynical do you have to be to think I’m doing this work just so I can run for mayor. I mean at least say I’m doing it to run for Senate or governor. This is a lot of work to hope to be mayor some day.
I have no idea if I’m going to run for mayor again or not. It really depends where I am in the homeless process. It also depends on how I think I can be of the best use and make the biggest difference.
In my mind I’m thinking about how to solve this homeless crisis nationally. Akron is just the beginning for me. I want people to say that Akron was where America learned how to properly help the homeless.

Rumor 7: Our building is now under immanent domain.

This is the rumor that started to make rumors less fun for me. Maybe I was a little tired. But the fun of all this kind of slipped away. I started getting slightly irritated. But just the same, I understand the reason for the rumor.
There is a resident here who loves this place. Of all the people here he might love it the most. To the point of maybe even needing it.
Somehow he got it in his mind that we are now going to be a parking garage. And I think it’s going to be happening in 2 days, according to him.
Immanent domain is one of those things that technically could happen at any time. So the “worry” is always out there. But this is completely false. No one in authority has ever so much as even whispered this to me.

Rumor 8: Sage is buying china for the village.

Um… I hate china. It doesn’t microwave and you can’t put it in a dishwasher. I wouldn’t buy china for my worst enemy.

Rumor 9: Sage is getting fat rich off the homeless.

Since we started this operation in  late 2016 I have taken no salary. On average we are in the hole about $2500 per month.
The yearly taxes of the building are: $8232.40
Total Utilities so far for 2018 are: $9,681.42
So far we have brought in: $19,992.61
$5000 of that is earmarked for an opiate recovery grant.
$2000 of that is earmarked for a grant of food, clothing and tents.
Our expenses so far this year have been:  $14,191.45
If you can figure out how I’m getting rich off of those numbers please tell me.
All I know is every single month my wife covers all of our home expenses and pays out about $2500 per month to keep this place a float.

Rumor 10: Kids live at the village.

NO KIDS LIVE AT THE VILLAGE!
Our feeling is that child and family services would likely take them away from the parent. So we send kids back to their cars and the woods.

Rumor 11: People turn down housing vouchers to stay living in a tent.

If I ever got word that happened I would throw that person out immediately. We aren’t trying to keep people living in tents. We are a place where they can get back on their feet and get into housing.

Rumor 12: There is housing available for anyone that wants it.

The city says this. AMHA has 20,000 people on their waiting list. There is not housing available for anyone that wants it. That’s just a flat out lie.

Rumor 13: Sage is selling the building

I’m 46 years old. I’m healthy and have a ton of energy.
A commercial building is a ridiculously difficult thing to purchase. The appraisal to purchase the building was $4000. The paperwork was endless. The loan process was a nightmare. I had to put 20% down on the building. If I had known what I was getting myself into for the buying process I seriously might not have done it.
But I did do it. And now I have a commercial building. It’s not just any commercial building. It’s a GORGEOUS commercial building with a lot of really cool history. I love having this building.
On top of that, you can do really cool things with a commercial building that you can’t do with a single family home. It’s a bunch of fun to have this building.
I’m not at a point in my life where I want to sell this building.
On top of all that, I can see one day where this building becomes the property of The Homeless Charity. Maybe we could make this the homeless center of America. That’s where my head is right now.
But the charity isn’t at a point where it is able to take on a building. And I’m happy to have the building.
No, I’m not selling the building.
***********************
These are the rumors I know of right now. If you know of any other rumors please let me know. I’ll add it to the list.
 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the number of good people in the world is staggering.
I had no idea what the hearts of Americans were truly made of. It’s pure, compassionate, boundless love.
Rich people. Poor people. White people. People of color. I see endless goodness everywhere and every day.
(I do believe in evil, for what it’s worth. But I can tell you without a doubt that it is weak, small and afraid.)
Because of this goodness, we have developed an abundance of several items:

• High end bread.
• High end bagels.
• Clothing.

I am now getting bagels 7 days a week. Sometimes that includes bread as well.
On Friday mornings I get crazy good bread.
These are all yesterday’s baked goods. But I can tell you from personal experience: You would never know it.
This stuff is fluffy, fresh and delicious.
But I need help getting these items to the people.
The people here at The Homeless Charity have thought that Haven of Rest and Hope Cafe could use them. I would love that. But I don’t have any good contacts those places. If you know someone there could you pass this message along?
I would love to give these to any group that comes in contact with people that might enjoy these items.

I NEED YOUR HELP!

Can you think of some people that might want these?
The only thing is they would need to come and get them at 15 Broad Street in Akron. This stuff is here by 9:00am every morning Monday – Friday. If you need them on the weekend we might be able to arrange something else.
While I’m writing, I also want to let you know that we get an abundance of clothes. If you know of a group that could use clothing please let me know also.You can call me at: 330-416-7519
And if you know of any individuals that might need them please pass this message along.
You can come pretty much any time Monday through Friday 9-5. At 15 Broad Street in Akron. If I’m not here just let someone know that you are here for bread or bagels or clothes and they’ll hook you up.
I really don’t care what you use them for. Just don’t sell them!
Fundraisers. Church gathering. Picnics. Come and get ’em!
Come: Monday through Saturday 9-5.
Sunday 12-5.
15 Broad St.
Akron, Oh 44305
330-416-7519

There is this beautiful person, Simone Giertz, on YouTube. She builds robots.
She is fun, smart and, above all, a great role model for girls thinking about getting into science and technology.
Yesterday she posted this video:
“I have a brain tumor.”

She has just discovered that she has a brain tumor.
This was a big story on Reddit yesterday. Click here to read that thread.
The outpouring of support was, and still is, amazing. Everyone is wishing her the best and letting her know how important she has been to them.
But one person disagreed. He wrote:

Thinking and she’s annoying as fuck, that her “robot” act is fucking stupid and pointless and thinking that it’d be great if it finally ended isn’t “trolling”. It’s just having an opinion and hoping for an end to her idiocy.

and then he wrote:

Maybe, making retarded videos gives you brain cancer.

and then he wrote:

Why? You want more of her awful videos and shitty, unfunny nonsense shitting up the internet more? Good riddance, retard robot queen.

This is his profile: https://www.reddit.com/user/kyleortonallday
At the very best he’s doing it to get a response. At the very worst he’s a sociopathic killer. It doesn’t matter what the motivation. It’s pure evil.
It’s the same with every single school shooting. Of all the people on planet earth to kill, these people choose children. It’s pure evil.
It is all just destruction for destruction sake. Evil is real. And while it is a tiny cancer of hate, it makes big waves.
You have enough negativity and hate and destruction in your lives. It’s called the “news”. It’s the mouth piece for evil.
I try to focus on love and hope. Which truly are the largest, strongest forces in the world.
That said, it won’t stop evil from causing destruction and trying to kill anything good it can find.
I bring this up because rumors are yet again flying around Second Chance Village. This time they are coming from within the organization.
Before I get to today’s rumor, let me remind you of the untruths of the previous rumors.

• No. I’m not a drug dealer.
• No. I’m most definitely not the largest ice drug dealer in Akron.
• No. We don’t run a prostitution ring out of our backyard.
• No. We don’t sell drugs out of our backyard.

I’m sure there are others. But I’m not going to spend time remembering them right now.
Today’s rumor is: I’m funneling all the money from the charity and putting it in overseas bank accounts.
First of all, like my supposed ice making career, I have no earthly idea how to send money overseas. I’ve never had any interest in learning how to hide money. One of the reasons I got into working with the homeless is my incredible lack of interest in money in general. I’m not a great business person. I’m just OK. And that has everything to do with my lackadaisical interest in money.
Second of all, this is a brand new charity. What kind of money do you think we are bringing into this organization? Last year we made: $24,431.71. This year so far we’ve made: $17,094.66.
Here are our bare bones expenses for 2018:
Expenses
Staff Salary $0
Utilities $18,000
Rent $11,000
Labor $0
Supplies $8,000
Advertising $3,000
Total Expenses $40,000
Do you know who makes up that difference of income and expense? My family. Specifically, my wife. She is running our main business, SageRock, all on her own as I try to get the charity to a break even point.
So, I guess in the mind of the rumor spreaders I’m somehow skimming money off the top of the organization illegally and then paying the charity to survive. It’s the most ridiculous, convoluted system I could possibly imagine.
If an actual person that knew what they were talking about was truly skimming money off a charity they’d just pay themselves a bigger and bigger salary. There is no need to illegally steal money from a charity. Just pay a salary.
We have no paid people at this point. I work full time at the charity for free. Actually, less than free considering we are in the hole every month in expenses.
And that’s what evil is: stupid, unthoughtful and just straight out hateful. Evil will do anything and say anything to destroy anything.
To the people that are spreading these rumors (they are definitely reading this). Good job! You had a great effect.
People are now telling me that we should fix the charity’s van that needs a transmission and ball joints with all the money we’re hoarding.
I’ll probably need to sell the van now.
That van has been used for many months to take villagers to doctors appointments, mental health appointments and housing appointments.
So, congratulations on that impact you had.
The reason I am going to need to sell the van is because you’ve also angered our largest donor. So, they are stepping back on paying our utilities and our insurance for the charity. (Oh. You didn’t know that our water bill is $600 – $800 per month and we have to have special insurance because we have a tent city in our backyard?)
This donor is angry because people inside the very organization they are helping fund are ungrateful. Most people are not altruistic. Most people would at least like a “thank you.”
Evil doesn’t care.
Just kill and destroy and ravage. That’s the plan. That’s what evil brings to the conversation.
This is, of course, the story of history.
Jesus on the cross. Martin Luther King Jr. shot in the face. Socrates who was sentenced to death by drinking hemlock for “corrupting the youth of Athens and introducing strange gods.”
But of course, the killers, the evil, never wins.
This is just a minor setback for us at Second Chance Village. We will use this time to get stronger.
I will be posting ALL our finances online (probably on our member’s only site.)
We will be shoring up our finances in a variety of ways. We will likely need to get more structured about our cash donations that come into the organization through the store and other ways.
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
And the mystical side of me says: This is why God put me here.
I’ve dealt with mutinies before. I know how to handle them. This does little more than make me mildly irritated. I’ve lost way more sleep over way bigger problems than this.
To evil I say this: You will never win. You will never succeed. You bring nothing to the planet except disease and pestilence. There is nothing you can do to win this. Malign me. Hate me. Kill me. You will only make me stronger.