Night 1

Night 1
January 14, 2015

28 degrees...

I'll admit it took some time to muster up the nerve to come out. My original plan had been to head out right after we launched the Kickstarter Campaign at 5:00 pm. A last minute meeting with a potential Co-Founder and Product Lead came up; it went great! We will be introducing our third equity member soon :) Even after the meeting, my nervous energy found several things that needed to be done. Embarrassingly, one of these was cook a spaghetti dinner for my roommates and I. Then I remembered one of our favorite shows 'New Girl' was recorded. After re-packing my backpack and sittin on the porch for a while, I couldn't think of anything else...oh wait a hot shower.

"Every night at 9:00, look up at that star and we'll be with you." What a sweet thing for roommates to tell you. (For those of you that know Greg and Jordan, you can find some humor in that!)

Before I tell you how long I walked around trying to find a 'safe' 'warm' spot, I thought I'd answer some possible questions:

*How alone are you really? You have a place to go to if you need to.
-True. I have a nice apartment only 10 minutes from Downtown Nashville. All I can do in this situation is try to separate myself from that thought. It would be naive of me to say I was in the same boat as the truly homeless people around me. I guess this is just my best attempt.

*What safety precautions did you take?
-The basics. Pepper spray (Just FYI, if you have to be 18 to purchase??), Tylenol, Parked my car within about a 15 minute walk of the area I will be staying, and YES I have a cell phone on me. I thought about the phone thing for awhile, but realized it was the only smart way to do this. My mother would die if she couldn't hear from me, I want to document and share at least pieces of my experience and just the 'what-ifs.'

*Don't kid. This is for Kickstarter..?
-Great question. Yes this has a lot to do with our Kickstarter Campaign, and although I had thought about it extensively; it was ultimately a last minute decision to pull the trigger. I read an article about a man by the name of Simon who vowed to sit on the toilet until his campaign "Who gives a crap?" (The sell toilet paper to build toilets in areas that need sanitation solutions.) reached it's goal. Haha. I was instantly inspired.
My prayer is that God can work on my heart during this time, grant me insight and empathy for the people I want to help and get the creative juices flowing. In my personal life I have been longing to let go of distractions in order to spend some time one-on-one time with God.

*Why did you format the money aspect the way you did?
-I was concerned that people would think I was only doing it for the money, then I would go to my nice cozy home. By committing to stay out until we get funded I hoped to show my willingness to put myself in other's shoes, out of my comfort zone. I added the 24 hours for every $1,000 extra raised to show I was willing to keep it going as long as people kept showing they believed in what we are doing. If we raised $1 million, I'd be out for a while, but I'm a man of my word and we'd make it work--the first homeless CEO experience?! Man I wish...

Ok, I'll make this quick because you only get 30 minutes on public computers at the library...this place is packed with lower income and homeless people. Note to self---they could use more computers.
I posted up at a 'V' ledge about 2' tall down by the river. It was cold as crap, but once I snuggled in to the sleeping bag and wrapped my face like a mummy with a scarf (Good call Greg!) it wasn't as bad as I thought. I finally drifted off about 2 am and slept in good increments until about 8 am. Not comfortable my any stretch, and if it hadn't been so chilly I would have got through it a lot better! Couldn't wait to get up and start moving--first stop was McD's for a large coffee. I guess that is a stereotype I had developed over the years!

Questions would be fun--give me something to do!
Email me @ secretshirtmatt@gmail.com if you want!

Smile and Rock on.

-Matt

www.secretshirtproject.com