Life is all about adventure, adversity, emotions and growth and every now and then the odd curve-ball.
As you may have heard, I have recently been bowled the proverbial "Jaffa". I saw it coming and couldn't get out of the way in-time. And so that has led me here, explaining my situation to anyone who wishes to learn from it.
The story I wanted to tell was one of debt and how so many of us have fallen into its trap. My current total is around £11,000 and a large portion of this debt is rent-arrears. Unfortunately, for me and many others in a similar state, the largest piece of this pie has been created through "administration costs" and "penalty charges". Although this is not necessarily the case with my rent arrears(£5000), it is the case when it comes to the other half of this oppressive amount. As my eviction has only just begun, it has not yet been handed over the a 3rd party debt recovery team. Therefore, this debt has only had an extra £1000 pounds worth of charges added to the original debt, compliments of the court process and interest I am now liable for. As for the other debts which are made up of; council tax, electricity bill, water rates, and payday loans, they have been through the goons calculator. Nevertheless, I am applying for bankruptcy to finally draw a line under this depressing period in my life and start again, with a lot more wisdom than before.
As I have been explaining in my previous blogs on this topic, I have spent my life trying to catch up with my own debt, which began with a 'Top-Man' store card when I was just 18-years old. I'm now approaching 40-years young and it time to say enough is enough. My journey with debt has brought me to the point of being evicted from my home, in just over a weeks time.
I've got a busy week ahead and it begins on Tuesday with a meeting at the councils homeless department. The following day I have my 2nd meeting with the debt agency and I hope to get a date when I can apply for bankruptcy. I'm not holding out much hope for the council meeting but I have decided to see what is on offer and document the experience. I will endeavour to report on these two meeting later this week, but for now I have had a very interesting idea that I want to share with you.
It was after seeing a recent local-news report that I picked up on the plight of 'Tracy's kitchen'. The ITV news report turned out to be reporting on a different homeless organisation in Nottingham, which also shows you how bad things are over here. Anyway, after contacting Tracy's colleague, Andrew, I found out that the group who were on the news had, subsequently, found the funding they were asking for and their kitchen can now carry on giving out it's supplies of food, clothes and other essentials.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Tracy's project and this, I soon found out, was a bone of contention for the kind-gentleman on the other end of the phone. From what I now understand, it has been common practice for these different organisations to help out one another and share their supplies. After all, they are all helping the same victims of modern society. The man who I was speaking to was audibly upset, when speaking of how these newfound funds and the TV exposure had not been shared in the traditional way.
"We desperately need funding. If we can rise £10,000 per year, we qualify to register as a charity and then all the real funding you hear about is accessible. Until then, we fund ourselves and Tracy is the only one who draws any kind of allowance and that is only for basic expenses".
(Andrew, co-founder of 'Tracy's Kitchen')
So I said...
" Well Sir, I think I may just be able to assist you with that. Do you know much about cryto-currencies?"...
and his radio show and not forgetting to add the fact that he() does some great work for various charities. This led me to talk a little about 
and 
and all the possibilities available to such worthy projects, like his.
So it seems that steemit.com is just what this group needs right now and I intend to sell the shiznit out of it, in the hope he will see the benefits(not just financial, but spiritual) and jump on the steem-train.
I had already spoken to 
and enquired about a possible appearance on his radio show, for Tracy to talk about her kitchen. As I suspected, embraced the idea and has given an open invitation to appear on his show. Armed with this, I then contacted the phone number displayed on Tracy's website and this is when I began on my new quest.
My intention is to use my spare profile, 
TRACY'S KITCHEN
Welcome To Tracy's Street Kitchen
Homelessness is more than just a question of where you’re going to sleep at night. It’s about also being ‘off the radar’ in terms of health, safety and financial support. And whilst a number of national charities work tirelessly to provide shelter for people sleeping rough, sometimes it’s down to local people to help too.
I will finally get to meet the wonderful lady behind this fantastic service and after hearing how Tracy and Andrew met, over 30-years ago, and formed a bond that can only be described as beautifully paternal, I know this is going to be a positive experience. I only know the basics of how Tracy began her life on the streets, at the age of 14, and how she has overcome many obstacles to obtain various skills and qualifications.
I've asked if it would be OK to document and photograph the nights events, so I can then relay it to steemit and let you all see the wonderful work they do, feeding up to 200 homeless in one evening.
I have promised to email Andrew a link to this post and also donate the rewards to his project. I will wait to speak to Tracy, herself, before I set any solid date for a radio appearance. I'm confident this is all going to come together and not just because of the enthusiastic response from Andrew, but also because of the timing of this all coming together. I've said this before and I will say it again; I am one of the lucky ones, who have the support and love of my family. There are too many who have nobody to turn to and I realise my fortune, I also realise how different my life could be if I wasn't so lucky and I want to try to help those less fortunate than me.
Please keep your eyes peeled for the next post by 
I'm very excited about what could come of all this and it has been my intention all along, to give something back to my community, whilst highlighting the best thing about all this blockchain-technology we have found at our fingertips.
Peace to you and yours.
Pictures sourced from http://tracysstreetkitchen.co.uk/gallery
Steemit images sourced from google.