In April, Elvis Summers, 37, skipped on buying a little bit of food and paying couple of bills; spent about five days and $500 dollars, and constructed a 3½ by 8-foot mobile house for Irene ‘Smokie’ McGhee, a 60-year-old grandmother who ‘lived down the street’ and knocked at his door everyday to collect recyclables so she could go and exchange them for cash. He also gave her a cell phone so that she could contact him if she needed anything else.
“I felt so good. I was so relaxed. I think I must’ve slept half of the day,” Smokie told CBS Los Angeles.
Elvis didn’t stop there. He made a time-lapse video of him constructing the house for Smokie and shared it on YouTube. More than 6.4 million people have watched it so far. He also started a GoFundMe page to “build tiny houses for homeless women, men, children, U.S. veterans and families who are homeless”. His Tiny House, Huge Purpose campaign has brought in over $80,000.
“I’ve met so many homeless people, good people. Since I built Smokie’s, I’ve had several people ask me to make them a tiny home and it’s turned into much more than just the one house I wanted to build,” he said.
This Los Angeles man is on a mission – he has been working seven days a week to build a movement and more houses. He has started a nonprofit – Starting Human, and is working with the LAPD to find a government-owned lot where more tiny homes could be built for the city’s homeless.
“People are calling it a movement. I’m humbled. But now I can’t turn my back on it,” he said. According to Associated Press, contractors offered to help in the design of the small, wheeled structures; builders said they would donate materials, and chefs said they would bring food to the construction sites.
“[If] I have to do it singlehandedly ’til it’s done – building one tiny house at a time until there’s no more homelessness – then that’s what I’ll do… So many people say they want to get involved and they want to help so I’m going to put it all together. Anybody that wants to volunteer and be a part of it can come down and build the houses with me,” Elvis told PEOPLE. “They’re human beings just like anybody else and I simply tell people, ‘The next time you run into someone who’s homeless or asking for money, take three minutes and stop and talk to them.’ “
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