No Jeep!

My journey started without this Jeep four decades ago. 

In 1980, on my way to photograph a Celtics game at the Garden in Boston, I saw some homeless people. I was 16, a junior in high school and grew up in the country.  I didn't know anything about the homeless but my heart went out for them. I created a body of work that day of homeless people which I have used for many of my photography shows over the last 40 years. Below is one of the images I took that day.  Thirty-five years ago I named this image after a Bob Seger song called "Even Now". This image has been hanging in most of the places I have lived for the last three decades to remind me how blessed I'm and how others are in need.

In the mid 80's I was working at the Ninety Nine Restaurant in Billerica, Massachusetts, The owner of the Ninety Nine, Charlie Doe, was very passionate about helping the homeless. He encouraged his employees to volunteer to serve meals at a homeless shelter in Boston called the Pine Street Inn.  And I did. 

While I was covering the Volvo Ocean Race in Alicante, Spain in 2014, I spent a fair amount of time ministering to homeless each morning in the city square. On that trip I got more satisfaction helping the homeless than being on the water photographing these huge boats.

One morning on my walk from my hotel to the race media center I decided to put my photography career to the side and dedicated my life to helping the lost and poor. I

took the photo below that morning.

One morning three years ago at a staff prayer at Calvary Christian Church in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, a friend of mine, MIchael McCarthy, prayed for the homeless.  That afternoon, while I was sitting in my Jeep in the rain at a state park on the ocean in Rye, New Hampshire, God put it on my heart to do a six month mission trip across the country in my little two door Jeep to help the homeless in 30 cities and create the Christian Jeep Association.  I kind of felt like Noah must have. I thought it was a bit crazy but I started writing it all down in my journal. That day I did a lot of research, came up with names for the two organizations and came up with the web addresses for both websites.  I think I purchased the web addresses that same week.

Before I left on my journey in 2019 to help the homeless, I did trips up and down the East Coast to see what my Jeep needed for the trip. One of the trips was to Nashville, Tennessee to volunteer with two non-profits so I could see what type of programs helped the homeless the best. On that trip I served out of the back of my Jeep for the first time to help the homeless outside of the Nashville Rescue Mission. Photo below.  

In 2019 I partnered with the Jeep and off road community to distribute thousands of blankets, hygiene kits, clothing, food and water in 46 cities across North America.

On June 6th of this year I leave on a 9 month trip to the homeless in 50 cities. I will partner with Jeepers again to help the homeless across North America. I welcome you to join me on this journey. Please go to www.missionforhope.us to see how you can come alongside me.  Thank you!