The same year Bitcoin was released by its anonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto, Keene's privately-run cold weather shelter and drop-in center, Hundred Nights, was also launched. I reported at the time on founder Don Primrose's courageous civil disobedience of opening without the permission slips from the local ruling gang known as the "City of Keene".
Ever since, I've been a supporter of the unique approach that Hundred Nights has taken to helping the homeless. Rather than give them a place to stay every day of the year, Hundred Nights opens for the hundred coldest nights. At 7am, all those staying overnight have to get their stuff and leave for the day. They aren't completely out in the cold, as Hundred Nights also operates a drop-in center open year-round, where the homeless can work on finding jobs, putting together a resume, or just get warm.
Recently, the Monadnock Decentralized Currency Network (MDCN) donated 1% of a Bitcoin Core (BTC) to the auction that Hundred Nights put on in December. The MDCN also offered to match the dollar amount of the winning bid on the coin as a BTC donation to Hundred Nights, up to a maximum of one whole BTC (which at the time was worth about $15,000). Turns out, despite having the chance to bid, a room full of mostly older folks only resulted in one bid... of $25. It was a lady buying it for her son, who had been telling her about cryptocurrency.
Given that the bid was so low, it was decided that a matching 1% of a BTC (worth around $150 at the time) would also be donated to Hundred Nights, rather than just $25. I dropped in to the office of Hundred Nights' Executive Director Mindy Cambiar and helped walk her through signing up with Coinbase. While I'm not a big fan of Coinbase as a company, they do make it easy for people with bank accounts to acquire cryptocurrency as well as convert it to USD if they need or want, so I still recommend them to newbies. Indeed, within a short time, Hundred Nights was ready to accept cryptocurrency donations and the addresses are up now on their website. Whether you live in the area or not, if you're a cryptocurrency user, please send them a donation to thank them for embracing the future of money!
As of now, Keene's independent homeless charity is now accepting cryptocurrency including Bitcoin Core (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH)! Here are the addresses to which you can contribute:
Bitcoin Core (BTC/XBT):
13rPdujR7Gg2v8pGHEF1UwCAP9gVjb6j8v
Ether (ETH):
0x85D44c447adB416C1b3Db765645B5DF7Cb31a923
Litecoin (LTC):
LMgZCSWe19qWdNAnGUHg6e9FrjK9D78CB1
Bitcoin Cash (BCH/BCC):
qqk6aweryht2nr5hlca4283dqm35glr85cwadch6mj