Some of you may remember that about five or six weeks ago I wrote a post titled, 'Being The Change I Want To See In The World!!' The intention of the post was to demonstrate that each and every one of us has the ability to use the steemit platform to make a positive difference in someone else's life.
It was a very simple idea.
I would wake up early every morning, go out into my local city and collect the litter from the streets and roads that others had ignorantly discarded with no regard for anyone else or the environment we all share. Having done this and documented my doing so by taking before and after photos, I would then make a post for steemit and all of the liquid rewards I managed to get from the post would be used to help someone less fortunate than myself and not in a position to help themselves.
If you would like to read the original post you can click on the link below.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@tonyr/being-the-change-i-want-to-see-in-the-world
As you can see from the screenshot above, the post did pretty well, though a big part of its success came from the fact that it was posted just before hardfork 19 and as such was fortunate to receive a greater reward than it might have otherwise.
The post received just under 70 SBD in liquid rewards which, when sold for BTC and then GBP, came to around £100.
So what did I do with this £100??
I would like to introduce you all to my new friend, Casper!
Casper has been homeless for about nine months, since before Christmas 2016.
Since then, he has been living life on a day to day basis trying to come up with the £15 per night it costs him to stay in a homeless shelter. He does this not by sitting there with his hand out or an outstretched arm with a cardboard cup at the end of it but by doing what he enjoys, creating art for others.
Rather than simply begging, as many homeless and not so homeless people do, he tries to provide value to others who would try to help him by creating little works of art which he then sells or offers in exchange for a small donation. I think this is an extremely admirable way of supporting himself through what I'm sure is a very difficult and lonely time in his life and that is why I have chosen him to receive the rewards that I received from my post.
With your help, I would very much like to help Casper get back on his feet.
Today I spoke with my new friend and explained to him a little bit about steemit and how I felt that it would be a very good idea for him to join the site and start posting some of his artworks as well as anything else he might want to share, such as the story of how he came to be homeless or his experiences of being so. I assured him that everyone on steemit was very friendly and supportive and I assured him that he would have my support 100% if he chose to sign up but it is not my place to force anyone to do anything or make demands of someone that I am trying to help.
I gave him the £100 that I had from the rewards of the post and suggested that he invest in a cheap smartphone from which he could join steemit and make posts via esteem if needed.
I told him about my own contest, #ltdwf and suggested he take part in it as a way of earning some rewards. I introduced him to the colorchallenge and let him know that this was something he would be able to start posting with straight away as well as his own art. I gave him my phone number and told him that I planned to continue helping him for as long as is I could but that help will ultimately depend on how much he wants to help himself..
I have no idea whether Casper will choose to join steemit or not. I sincerely hope that he does as I feel that the platform has the potential to change his life in a positive and considerable way. At the end of the day though, it will be his decision and regardless of whether he signs up or not, I will continue to support him in any way I can and for as long as is needed. Tomorrow morning, I will resume my litter picking and will be posting my before and after photos for everyone to see. If you feel like what I am doing is valuable and worthwhile and you would like to help my friend Casper get his life back on track then I would ask you to consider upvoting (at 100% if possible) and resteeming this post and future posts to all of your followers. All of the liquid rewards from this post and from this series of posts which will all be titled 'Being The Change I Want To see In The World!' will go to Casper until such time as he is able to take back control of his life and at that time I will focus my attention on someone else who is in need of help.
I would like to finish by thanking everyone who voted on the original post over a month ago now, both from myself and on behalf of Casper. As I said in my original post, I would also be very happy to help and support anyone else with a similar plan to help others using steemit so if you have one, please let me know.
I usually let the banner at the botton of my page do the asking for me but on this occasion I feel no embarrassment in asking you to 'upvote' and 'resteem' this post if you believe it is something that your followers would be interested in supporting.
Thank you all so much for your time. Have an excellent day!!
Hi, Tony,
Please keep us posted on Casper. It's good to see someone making an effort, and I hope he does choose to join Steemit. Meanwhile, I appreciate your good efforts to reach out to someone in need.
😄😇😄
Thank you so much @creatr. I very much hope that he does choose to join steemit and gets the opportunity of conversing with your good self. :)
I am sorry it has been so long since since I have had the opportunity to speak with you myself. You have posted some excellent work lately, especially your post concerning government and their satanic influence on society but I have been very busy and not quite feeling myself as well as being a bit 'comment drunk' from taking part in merej99's challenge. :)
I will keep you updated as, when and IF possible.
Hope you are well my friend! Thank you for stopping by. I really appreciate it.
Hey, no worries! Good to "hear" your voice again, and I'm glad you've seen some of my stuff.
Take care! :D
hi @tonyr ! I was actually looking at your profile to see if there is already another new sketch with friends challenge, and then I came into this post.
I truly admire and applaud your effort in helping this guy, Casper out. You have a really big beautiful heart and what a great idea it is!
I applaud Casper too that he doesn't just beg for help. He kept making himself useful and productive. That is someone who have greatness in him.
Please send my regards to him again and we will look forward to visit when he showcase his artwork here. Having a phone is one thing, maintaining for dataplan access and other things still require expenses.
My vote can't really do much, but I will resteem for you and hope your post will spread further!
I have sent you a message in discord as well. Just a heads up. :)
upvoted
Thank you so much for your kind words @littlenewthings. I am very interested in your idea and it is something I will be looking into myself and seeing if I can spread the word here in my home country of Scotland and the UK. Haveing given it some thought I think it is a very good idea and I am very pleased you brought it up. Let's see what we can do! :)
Thank you so much for the upvote and resteem my friend. It is very much appreciated!
Have great day and hope to talk more soon. :)
This is a really amazing thing you're doing here, Tony. This is the kinda shit that Steemit ought to be getting used for. To change the lives of those who need it most.
It's disappointing how little attention this post has, so I hope that my resteem will help. If we as a community can help get this man back on his feet, then in my eyes, we would already be more successful than facebook or twitter.
You can tell Casper that I will do everything I can to help him, for as long as he is willing to help himself.
Also, I think you should edit the title and add something along the lines of; "How Steemit Is Impacting The Lives Of Those Who Need It Most." Something that will give people more of a reason to read this post, because I am sure once they do they will offer their support, even if by modest means such as an upvote, and all that will give Casper a much better chance of getting off the street.
Once again, I am too fucking proud to be your brother.
Thanks a lot bro. I'll definitely take your advice and change the title now if you think it will bring more attention to the post and I really appreciate the resteem from you and whoever else decides to do the same as it will definitely help Casper get the help he needs from others so that he can help himself out of the situation he is in now.
Proud of you too bro!
That is awesome mate. Well done and all the best in this and I hope Casper does join here as I am sure he will quickly at least get enough support to start rebuilding.
I really hope so too Taraz but it is in Casper's hands now and I can only help as much as he will allow me to. Perhaps he is satisfied with one good payday and I will never see him again. It can be a bit overwhelming I imagine when you are homeless and someone offers you £100. You may be happy to accomodate someones suggestions in such circumstances but in reality have no intention of taking them seriously so I will have to wait and see how it turns out.
Thanks for stopping by mate. I really appreciate it and I'm sorry I haven't been commenting on your posts lately. I haven't had as much time as I would like to comment in depth but I have still been following your work as much as
I can. You are just too prolific at times though! :)
Have a good one mate.
Wow dude, you are awesome. Well done to you! This is a great thing that you are doing
Cheers mate. I really hope it works out. I've seen this guy loads of times on Sauchiehall street and he stands out from the rest. I really hope he joins up and can turn his life around but if no i'm still going to try and do as much as I can for him with these posts and try n make a difference with steemit.
Thanks for the support and the randowhale vote mate. That's really good of you bud!
Shame your no getting a new dug! :)
Looking forward to reading Caspers posts. Fair play to you
Cheers @scottish01. I'm going to help him set up an account today so hopefully it won't take too long and he'll be posting soon but as I'm sure you can imagine it might take him a wee while to get the hang of things and he'll need a lot of help and encouragement.
Cheers mate. Have a food one! :[)
wow..this is awesome. thanks for such a lovely help. will keep him in prayers.
https://steemit.com/@casper01