March 10, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
A New York charity is experimenting with new technologies to raise awareness about the problem of homelessness — and hopefully reach out to new donors.
Three evenings last week, Pathways to Housing projected the image of a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk and shivering in the cold in downtown Manhattan. Words also projected onto the side of a building asks passersby to send a text message to help get him off the streets.
When someone sends a text message, it triggers a new video loop in which the man gets up and walks in the door of his new apartment. The idea is to convey visually the organization’s approach to combatting homelessness, which emphasizes getting people who are homeless into housing first and then tackling issues like mental health and addiction.
As the man gets up, the organization’s name and Web site address are projected next to the image. The person who sent the text message receives a message back asking if they would like to make a $5 donation that would be added to their cellphone bill.
Too often pedestrians look away when they pass homeless people, says Sam Tsemberis, chief executive of Pathways to Housing.
“You can’t bear to see the pain or the suffering,” he says. The light installation, on the other hand, draws people in, he says, and gives them an easy, non-threatening way to interact with the homeless.
Pathways to Housing set up the projection at nine locations last week. Of the 200 people who sent text messages, more than 30 opted to make a cellphone donation. The organization says that it also saw an increase in the number of people visiting its Web site and becoming a fan of its Facebook page.
