I met notabum in person today

This is the very last thing I expected to be posting here right now. Nobody had been more skeptical of this situation than me. But I did indeed get to meet in person with notabum today, and we spent an hour at Au Bon Pain in Davis talking over coffee. He's an articulate, gentle, well-informed man who at this time is between a rock and a hard place, struggling his way out. He got the cash donation I'd brought, and I wish it could have been more.



To catch you up in case you missed this week's controversy:

Read this http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/1065954.html

And this http://cambridgestreets.blogspot.com/

There were a lot of people, most particularly me, who didn't believe for a second that there was an actual homeless person behind the LJ post and the Blogspot blog. I challenged the poster to meet me face-to-face, and offered a cash donation of $60 if they did. The other moderators and the tag team all know that I was hellbent to the point of obsession with exposing what I truly believed was a fraud. I went to ABP at the agreed upon time, got my hot chocolate, and prepared to be stood up.

He was right on time. notabum walked in wearing the baseball cap he said he'd be wearing. I got him some coffee (he'd already had lunch), and we sat down and I listened. He's currently in the shelter system, following a 30-year career that was interrupted by health problems and a whole lot of bad luck. He's doing everything by the books to get out of the shelter system, into permanent housing, and back to work. I learned more about the astonishingly flawed system than I ever knew in my life. He's getting a lot of help from the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter. He's not destitute, derelict, or drunk, just very down on his luck, and very, very tired. He answered all my questions. He has a teenage son, and the only thing he wants right now is to be able to replace the boy's ancient computer with a laptop. He'd like to do it as a Christmas present.

I'm going on record as standing corrected -- this is not a scam, but a real person with one wish. You can't imagine how glad I am that I asked for this meeting, and that he agreed.

I'm not going to try to tell anyone whether to contribute. I think charitable giving is a deeply personal thing, and I don't like being told what causes I should and shouldn't contribute to. But as for me, I am very glad I had the opportunity to meet this person, and enjoyed every minute of our conversation. I'm relieved that I was able to say yes to helping.

If you want to contribute, I'm giving you my vote of confidence, though. Another thing that would really help -- and I know there are well-connected computer geeks reading -- would be any leads you might have on where he could get a lower-end laptop for less than Staples retail price of $599. I found two $599 laptops on the Staples website, one of which is a refurb. I think he can get a lower price somewhere.

He asked to tell you that if you're not comfortable donating this way, please consider donating directly to the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter, where the money will benefit all of the guests who stay there.