This past weekend I joined my friend Alan Graham President of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, David J. Neff, and others on the streets of Austin to spend 48 hours with our homeless friends. It was my second time to sleep in the great outdoors on cardboard and asphalt with the good people of MLF. Both times Alan and I brought along some of the gadgets Alan actively uses to create various forms of social media, including some Flip-Cameras, iPhones and a Netbook, to assist with the MLF mission. They make it possible to document our experiences and share them instantly with followers who are supporting us with encouragement and even visiting us during the 48 hours.

Following is a YouTube Alan recorded before the retreat started which explains more fully. When it finishes you can view more updates added during the weekend.

Our hope for the weekend was to help bring about more awareness for the work Mobile Loaves and Fishes does to alleviate the suffering of the homeless population in Austin and other cities, like New Orleans, where they’re located. What I’m really excited about, though, is that we also engaged in some pretty serious policy discussions surrounding the City of Austin and the creation of a community on the grounds of my old high school in Del Valle. We discussed ways to utilize interactive marketing and social media channels to raise funds and organize around this initiative.

Look for an action plan describing Alan’s initiatives and our ideas to help in the very near future. Mobile Loaves and Fishes has already been working to build the necessary tools and after seeing what Alan is already doing, I think anyone would agree that we can actually help make a difference.

The image below is of a small mobile recreational vehicle that can be used to house a currently homeless person. It’s an actual solution – a home. (Click the image for more information.) It’s not just a vision, it’s already being done. What will be new is the use of interactive strategies to make more homes available faster by utilizing the online tools for fundraising and organizing.

Alan Graham is an enthusiastic user of social media and interactive tools. I’m very excited that his willingness to employ these new technologies and the power of online communities could help make Austin the model for its handling of homelessness. Please follow Alan at @MLFNOW on twitter and ask how you can help. You can also contact me at @MikeChapman and I’ll help connect you.

David J. Neff, known to many of us as @daveiam because of his Twitter name, was on the street retreat and submitted this great post about the weekend. Following, also, is a YouTube David put together documenting our experience this weekend. Enjoy.

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