Before leaving for Seattle, Wash. to enter an alcohol rehabilitation program this week, Tim Edwards ceremoniously shaved his beard and cut his hair Monday while viewers watched the live event via an Internet broadcast.’
Edwards is the homeless man featured on the Web site pimpthisbum.com, created by Houston marketing specialist Kevin Dolan and his son, Sean, the Associated Press reported Saturday.’
The Web site features video interviews of Edwards and his homeless friends and gives viewers the chance to ask them questions about living on the streets or their lives before they became homeless. The Web site also provides viewers with the opportunity to donate money to Edwards using their credit cards.’
When Sunray Treatment and Recovery offered Edwards admission to a 5-week rehabilitation program in Seattle for free, viewers provided the funds for Edwards’ plane ticket. According to the Web site, viewers can still donate money that will go toward ‘clothing, counseling, job training, and shared housing for (Edwards’) return to Houston and long-term recovery.’
While pimpthisbum.com does not address the underlying causes of homelessness – minimum-wage jobs that don’t pay enough for workers to earn a living, the social stigma attached to using government assistance programs, drug and alcohol abuse – it does bring attention to the issue and those who face it.’
Viewers are able to get a glimpse into the lives of human beings whom they might otherwise never meet. It gives Houston’s homeless a chance to tell their individual stories and a platform from which to voice their concerns and dreams.
‘ Change, no matter how far-reaching it may eventually become, is enacted one step at a time. Bobby Bryant, Edwards’ friend who is also featured on the Web site, said Edwards is ‘a lot happier’ since being given the opportunity to enter a rehabilitation program.’
‘He’s doing something to change his situation,’ Bryant said in a video interview. ‘He’s getting all excited (and saying) ‘I’m gonna be happy again. I can get my life back.’ That’s unbelievable.’
