(Reads Sundays, March 25, 2012, Tampa Bay Times Online story- Click Link Above)
Robert Rashford is one of my more successful students of homeless recovery. He currently lives at our first residential rehab project on Old Memorial Hwy. He since has been hired by our private sector partner, Mobile Auto Glass Repair, moving up to a sales position at one of their car wash locations. On one of his first days of pitching auto glass repair he transacted five commercial sales which by all accounts is a substantial day in the sales arena, says his new employer Rob Arnold.What's more, Robert is one heck of a social engineer in the blogosphere world where tens of hundreds and I think even thousands of online followers as far away as Australia read and comment about his experiences on the streets as a recovering homeless man. His blog is a personal journal giving tips on street survival combined with anecdotal yet intriguing stories capturing the unvarnished reality of homeless plight.
Many from his cyber audience have encouraged him to write about these struggles and his successes to help others understand the hidden side of homelessness. He just finished writing the eBook version about this journey recently self-published on Amazon.com. Since the release of his eBook titled: Yelling into the wind, he was featured as a guest on BlogTalkRadio this past Saturday morning to talk about his book.
When our homeless candidates receive help from our Homeless Initiative we only ask in return that they become a foot solider for the same brand of homeless recovery that helped them get off the streets. Robert fulfills this obligation to duty almost as a daily ritual. Through his blogosphere network he has connected me to many professionals and homeless devotees in establishing a nonprofit organization and website. Through the reach of his blog audience he has also been contacted by the St Pete Times spending a day with him out on the street; and if that wasn't enough an award winning producer contacted him about a possible HBO documentary.
I would like to think that the Sheriff's Office has played a small hand in this success even though Robert has the innate motivation that very well would have produced these results on his own. At the very least, helping him with a residence and a full-time job certainly helped nurture these attributes that were always present.
Deputy Steven Donaldson
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
District III
Office: (813) 247-0330
Email: sdonalds@hcso.tamp.fl.us
Facebook.com/HelpCopsHelpUs
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