There are many issues I wish I had more time to focus on at ChangingAging and homelessness is probably at the top of that list.
It’s a social issue that cuts across the lifespan but I can’t think of a more vulnerable, disenfranchised population than elders who are homeless. They are invisible and forgotten even though they live in plain site.
A filmmaker and a Michigan-based nonprofit focused on serving homeless people recently tried an experiment to change the way one homeless veteran (and society) views himself.
Teaming up with a make-over artist, they provided a complete physical transformation for U.S. Army Veteran Jim Wolf, who has struggled with alcoholism, poverty and homelessness for decades. The results are moving:
The Blaze talked to the filmmaker, Rob Bliss, who teamed up with nonprofit Degage Ministries, a stylist, and a production team to create the timelapse video of Wolf’s makeover.
“The homeless are people we ignore every day,” Bliss said. He set out to create a time-lapse video of the physical transformation of a homeless person to show how “they can look like they’re meant for the cover of GQ — they have that potential too.”
Since the makeover, Wolf has been able to find housing and has been attending Alcohol Anonymous meetings. Obviously, this is not proof that make-overs are a solution to one of society’s most intractable problems. But it’s a powerful and moving example of how changing our self-perception can change our reality.
I would challenge all our readers, the next time you see a homeless person — especially those who look the most downtrodden and forgotten– to see them as the human beings they truly are.
No. It is superficial and shows nothing of what brought him to this conventional change.
This is such an amazing study!!!! Not as if we did not already know the results though.
2 years ago my perception of homelessness was shattered as I commuted via bus multiple times when my car was out of commission. I didn’t see what is typically depicted in film. Instead, I saw elders limping, towing their possessions around town in a simple cart, wounds bandaged with toilet paper. I saw widows who’s homes had been lost in foreclosure, with no where to go and no one to love them. My heart still grieves every time I’m in that area of town. It has wrecked me in a good way and birthed a desire in me to somehow deliver culture change to these elders who need it the most. I realize it is a pipe dream at best, but I believe there will come a time when elders who have no family and no home can receive the same love and care as the grandparents I am honored to partner with in the Green House homes I currently serve in.
Thank you Kavan for bringing this to forefront.
What I would really like to see is a follow-up on this gentleman’s progress over the next few weeks, months, years… And, like you Gavan, I feel a strong urge to reach out to the homeless elders in our country. I am certain there is a subset of the homeless population that qualify for financial assistance to attain long-term housing (via assisted living or nursing homes). The various reasons/issues surrounding homeless folks who don’t take such assistance, even when they are aware it exists, is something of great interest.
if we elders could use our wisdom to end wars as a pathetic and useless way to solve our worlds problems… use all that money and man(woman) power to help solve our world problems in a more humane way…wouldn’t that be wonderful?
I would say that he was ready to change, which is why he agreed to do this, not that the makeover caused him to change. The point for us, I think, is to look past the surface and appearances when we see homeless or other downtrodden people, to see them as PEOPLE, not as some reporters write lately, “He was a homeless,” like a thing, vermin, not even using the word as the adjective that it is. And when we look them in the eye, person to person, that connection can change both of us for the better.