I met notabum in person today

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

This is the very last thing I expected to be posting here right now. Nobody had been more skeptical of this situation than me. But I did indeed get to meet in person with notabum today, and we spent an hour at Au Bon Pain in Davis talking over coffee. He's an articulate, gentle, well-informed man who at this time is between a rock and a hard place, struggling his way out. He got the cash donation I'd brought, and I wish it could have been more.



To catch you up in case you missed this week's controversy:

Read this http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/1065954.html

And this http://cambridgestreets.blogspot.com/

There were a lot of people, most particularly me, who didn't believe for a second that there was an actual homeless person behind the LJ post and the Blogspot blog. I challenged the poster to meet me face-to-face, and offered a cash donation of $60 if they did. The other moderators and the tag team all know that I was hellbent to the point of obsession with exposing what I truly believed was a fraud. I went to ABP at the agreed upon time, got my hot chocolate, and prepared to be stood up.

He was right on time. notabum walked in wearing the baseball cap he said he'd be wearing. I got him some coffee (he'd already had lunch), and we sat down and I listened. He's currently in the shelter system, following a 30-year career that was interrupted by health problems and a whole lot of bad luck. He's doing everything by the books to get out of the shelter system, into permanent housing, and back to work. I learned more about the astonishingly flawed system than I ever knew in my life. He's getting a lot of help from the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter. He's not destitute, derelict, or drunk, just very down on his luck, and very, very tired. He answered all my questions. He has a teenage son, and the only thing he wants right now is to be able to replace the boy's ancient computer with a laptop. He'd like to do it as a Christmas present.

I'm going on record as standing corrected -- this is not a scam, but a real person with one wish. You can't imagine how glad I am that I asked for this meeting, and that he agreed.

I'm not going to try to tell anyone whether to contribute. I think charitable giving is a deeply personal thing, and I don't like being told what causes I should and shouldn't contribute to. But as for me, I am very glad I had the opportunity to meet this person, and enjoyed every minute of our conversation. I'm relieved that I was able to say yes to helping.

If you want to contribute, I'm giving you my vote of confidence, though. Another thing that would really help -- and I know there are well-connected computer geeks reading -- would be any leads you might have on where he could get a lower-end laptop for less than Staples retail price of $599. I found two $599 laptops on the Staples website, one of which is a refurb. I think he can get a lower price somewhere.

He asked to tell you that if you're not comfortable donating this way, please consider donating directly to the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter, where the money will benefit all of the guests who stay there.

Comments

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

PS- This was rushed because I'm leaving for The Golden Compass right now. I'll be back later tonight to answer any questions.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I for one, didnt think it was a scam. Im glad you got to meet him and he was in fact a nice person just down on his luck.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

Clearly he is now offering you a slice of his scam. For shame.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting. I understand your skepticism (I personally thought he was for real, but I tend to be overly trusting) and admire your willingness to admit you were wrong.

I know that very inexpensive laptops can be had from geeks.com, if purchasing online is an option....

Is it not possible that someone on this community has extra basement space (maybe not "finished," but still out of the elements) where notabum could, e.g., sleep on very cold nights? I have a rocking chair in my basement that I'd almost be willing to offer up, but I'd want to talk to my housemates before making such a promise.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Micro Center is great. I think there's a bus line that goes past it (but I've walked it from the Central Square T).

[cos]

I hope he would meet with a state rep or senator to tell them his story, too.

[wildflowersoul.livejournal.com]

I don't know what kind of software he wants for his son, but MIT's give one get one program (http://laptopgiving.org/en/give-one-get-one.php) is really neat, and requires a donation of only $399. It won't be running Office (I assume, I don't know much about the computers), but it looks functional.

[fantastic-salad.livejournal.com]

that does look like a cool program, but I would caution that while I and many other computer nerds would love a one laptop per child laptop to play around with, one would be probably be terrible for this guy's son's purpose.

They have a very slow CPU, limited hard drive space (~1gb), and a unique user interface run on top of linux. Plus the color of the case isn't exactly subdued, again, not a problem for a secure computer dork or a village in subsaharan africa, but a kid in middle school might attract unwanted attention from some of his peers.

[aki.livejournal.com]

I've seen one of the OLPC computers and while being really really nifty, they wouldn't be practical for a teenaged American's word processing and social networking needs.

[georgy.livejournal.com]

Overstock.com has some decent prices on slightly older and refurbished laptops. The lowest priced one I see is $349.00.

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Laptops/(,800),/price,/133/subcat.html

[carlagaglione.livejournal.com]

that's a very warm hearted post...and as someone who had their life (professionally and otherwise) rocked by personal tradgedy, and now almost on the verge of where this gentleman is, I really am starting to look at life differently.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

If it still works, he can have my old Dell (XP platform, network card, but not that fast) for free. I doubt it does, but I'll gladly give it to him. I twas just going to get left on the street.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

On his blog, he mentioned how he has limited computer time because the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter has only one working one at the moment, or something like that. He suggested that old laptops could be donated to them, and he gave information on how to contact them about it.

[contradictacat.livejournal.com]

Hm. That'd be a good use for the two iBooks I have sitting around my house. I'd have to talk to my housemates, of course, but as long as they have their cords and work...I don't really see why not.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this. I will give some to his Paypal fund; in the past I've given to the Somerville Homeless Coalition, so maybe now I'll give to the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter too. (Are they online?)

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Yep, the shelter has a website: http://hshsc.org/ (http://hshsc.org/), and their e-mail is info@hshsc.org.

Turns out I saw this shelter myself, when a play I was in was rehearsing in that church. It's very clean and well cared for. When I replace this desktop computer of mine, I'd like to give it to the shelter.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the update. I, however, am still skeptical having known too many people who've pulled similar scams within their local communities but not on line. By putting the option to donate to the shelter system rather than him directly, he's making hismelf seem quite legit but may really just be willing to accept the few losses in personal donations in an effort to do so.

If I were anyone willing to assist, I would donate to the shelters directly whether in goods or cash.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Meet him. Talk to him, decide for yourself how you feel.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Maybe.
But even from your story I just feel as though I've met him too many times before.

Why not a desktop?

[jmorash.livejournal.com]

Just another bit of advice on the general topic of buying your kid a computer. Does he really need a laptop? Desktops are generally cheaper, more durable (not a small consideration when giving it to a younger person) and much less likely to get lost or stolen. Seems like the portability of a laptop is not that important for doing homework.

Re: Why not a desktop?

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

I think part of it depends on where the kid goes to school. There are some high schools that do a lot via computer in the classroom these days and laptops are really more the right thing.

Re: Why not a desktop?

[notabum.livejournal.com]

I just answered that on the blog

His high school is putting more and more work online and more and more students are bringing laptops to school where they have wifi and students can share notes. Plus it helps in study sessions the kids have at home.

Keep in mind a kid of 15 has never known a world without the internet and treats it like I did for radio and tv.

My son has an IMac that is pushing 7 and Apple no longer supports it as the latest OS it can handle is 10.3.

My son when he was SEVEN used to go to bed listening to David Brudnoy on WBZ. He was asking questions to his parents that I never did to mine. How do you explain to a 7 year old why President Clinton was in trouble because of Monica????? These kids today have been exposed to everything that we never were.

Thank You

[notabum.livejournal.com]

It was a pleasure meeting plumtreeblossom yesterday. She is a wonderful person.

I am overwhelmed by the generous actions of strangers and I can not begin to find the right words. I have sent emails to people who elected to help and I hope I did not miss anyone.

Thank you all.

Re: Thank You

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

It was a pleasure to help.

I'd suggest you add a link to your blog on your LJ userinfo page, though. It might make it easier for people to find it quickly.

Re: Thank You

[notabum.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the suggestion

Here is a list of places in Cambridge that offer services. For those who would rather donate to an agency you will find them all here.

http://www.cambridgema.gov/CityOfCambridge_Content/documents/ResDirectory.pdf

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Thanks for passing on your story, plumtreeblossom. And good luck to you, notabum.

try the eeepc

[ywwg.livejournal.com]

One of the large hardware manufacturers just came out with an inexpensive but very functional machine call the EeePC: http://eeepc.asus.com/ Amazon has them for 400$.

It runs linux by default, but it has a slick interfance, runs firefox, and can work with Microsoft Office documents. It'd probably be perfect for a kid who needs a machine to do some basic web, email, and paper writing.