$5 Paper Airplane Stories
***If you would like to submit your own $5 Paper Airplane Story then send the story and picture (if available) to keepingupwithmom [at] gmail [dot] com***
- EMAIL FROM DAN -
Hey, Joanie.
Hope you’re well.
I wanted to send you an email to let you know that I gave away my first $5 airplane last week. It’s funny because, although am in contact with the homeless quite often, I almost never remember to bring $5 bills. I wish I had a pic or something but Victor (the homeless man that I met) didn’t want to take a picture. I was able to share a sandwich and coffee with him on two separate occasions. Hopefully, more!
Just wanted to say, “Thanks for the idea.”
Have a great day.
Dan
-MEET STEVEN-
Steven used to be a contractor for industrial and commercial buildings. He is now homeless. He has been hitch hiking from Delaware and it has taken him a month and a half to get to Utah. He plans on hitch hiking the rest of the way to L.A. to pay respect to a few family member’s graves and get a job through a friend there. Good luck Steven! I hope everything works out for you!
When I saw Steven, instead of getting on the free way I pulled over and went to the gas station he was standing near. I went in picked out a vitamin water (fruit punch), a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and got $10 back….in fives, obviously! (Thought that was pretty safe. Everyone likes Cool Ranch, right???) So I walked over to him and gave him the food and the $5 paper airplane and asked him about his “story”. While we were talking a lady I passed while walking up to see Steven came over and brought him the left over pizza she was bringing home from their meal at Applebee’s. Mmmm, Applebee’s! Anyway, Steven was super grateful. I hope he makes it to where he’s going safely!
-MEET GARY-
Gary has a cool cane……….
Gary is homeless. He has been trying to make his way back up to Idaho, but apparently his van blew a tire…..even though that same day when I drove past where he had been sitting, his red van was gone. But whatever….Doesn’t really matter if his whole story was true or not, he was cute, and that’s all that matters in life……..Okay it’s not, but see for yourself how cute he was -
I pulled over when I saw him sitting there and gave him the $5 paper airplane I made up real quick and also a piece of the hot pizza I had been sent out to get for the fam. Poor guy had no front teeth, but he seemed to still enjoy it 
-MEET ROBERT-
Yesterday I was driving away from my bank and was passing a homeless guy and thought, shucks! the light’s green I can’t give this guy 5 bucks….so I had a thought go through my mind and decided to share it on twitter. Here’s the “tweet”:
“Have U ever made a paper plane out of a $5 bill & thrown it out ur car window while passing a homeless guy? Me neither but I’ve thought about it.”
Anyway, so today I was by my bank again and there was a black homeless guy sitting in the same place. I could have sworn he was white yesterday but whatever. So I got an extra 5 dollars out of my bank and pulled over and made a paper airplane out of it. Then I drove over to the homeless guy, named Robert and asked him if I could get a picture with him. We took like 7. Had to be somewhat decent right? Anyway, I gave him the $5 plane (Sorry, white guy. You picked the wrong corner today) and asked if he minded if I posted the picture on my blog. He said he didn’t mind, and I gave him the blog url so he could see it if he ever had internet access….I hope he doesn’t pretend like he never gave me permission and then sue me. (Robert, if you’re reading this, that was a joke, you can’t actually sue me for this. That never happens….ever! I have no money)
Anyway, Robert and his wife need a place to stay. If you know of a place they can stay, he can usually be found on the corner of University Ave and…..across from the Provo Mall, by Chase and McDonalds. 
(……..Ok, yes. My kids were in the car waiting for Mom to get done taking pics with a homeless guy. Is that bad?)
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Very cool. Very cool.
Mind if I start using the $5 airplane too?
Haha, once again, you are a trip. Cool idea. Paper airplane stories , oddly enough actually have been brought up here almost everyday lately. You see, the company where my Hubby works at is quite big, over 450 employees. Well he manages a team of people as they are a call center for Customer Service Type things. They had recently gotten word a few weeks ago that they are all being laid off due to this stinking economy right now and all received 60 days notice. As you can imagine, things can get pretty gloom there. So my Hubby trying to keep the moral up to a little on the lighter side has started a paper airplane war among his 20 or so member team. In fact he told me a specific story yesterday that while one of the agants was on the phone with an upset customer some paper airplanes were flying around pretty smoothly as someone must have used an aerodynamic map or something in it’s design. But anyways it flew and stuck right up an agents nose as she was on the phone with a Customer. They all about peed their pants as they were laughing so hard. So to me, it goes right along with this, When Life deals you a load of Crap, throw a paper airplane at it!
Hope you don’t mind, but Im going to continue this thought over on my blog as well. May I also link back to your story?
Bear Hugs,
Cherie
http://bearablescents.wordpress.com
This is way cool. My husband and I thought about how cool it’d be to talk to homeless people, get their story and pictures, and make a ‘coffee table’ book about them, haha!
Great post! I like the blog!
Hey… since our money is plastic it’s a little difficult to form it into a plane. We have a street magazine here called The Big Issue – http://www.bigissue.org.au/ and it costs $5. I make a point of always purchasing one and chatting with the vendor. Vendors are homeless or unemployed and have the most heart breaking stories of hardship. They feature one or two vendors in every issue and I always shed a tear. What you are doing here with your $5 Paper Airplanes Stories is awe inspiring. I’m going to spread the word – hope you don’t mind.
LOVE this idea. I have two girls (as a single mom). Both are adopted. On our anniversary (which we call Love day) we do something for someone else. Last year we went to an Assisted Living Center and danced for the residents (just to be clear I did not dance — the kids did). This year, we may be making some paper airplanes. GREAT IDEA.
Kelly Ozley
kellyozley.wordpress.com
Twitter: hopebuilder
August 17, 2010 at 8:49 pm
I’m really enjoying reading your blog. Love all the pictures and videos and great ideas!
I love what your doing, I just started a similar project for helping out the Homeless people around were I live. God Bless You, your awesome:D
Twitter: JoanieAtwater
August 23, 2010 at 3:12 am
Thank you for all the kind comments! Please do spread the word about it, and you are welcome to blog/link back to these stories however you want! I’d love to hear about how you used the idea or spread the word. I’d love to see any blog posts about it too! Thanks, again!
Twitter: ChildWillRead
November 2, 2010 at 2:05 am
I don’t have a $5 plane story.
But I wish I did.
I’ll be on the lookout for somebody who needs to learn to read…
And maybe I can give him his wings!
Thanks for a beautiful idea.
Twitter: Aviongoo
December 12, 2011 at 12:22 am
Homeless guys can easily have online homes. Just go to any library these days. Libraries have computers providing access to the Internet.
Once on the Internet it is easy to setup a free Blog. The Wordpress website or the Blogger website are just two examples among hundreds. Seek out libraries – they are warm in winter and cool in summer. Each time add some comments to your blog.
If this works out for you, the next step is to populate your blog with advertising. Some folks will click on your ads and you will make money eventually.
If things are still moving forward for you, go to VistaPrint online and get some Free business cards printed for your Blog address. With 500 business cards to start you can meet lots of folks along the way and introduce them to your blog. Ask them to drop by and leave comments about your blog entries. (You do not need a street address on your business cards, but you can use a shelter address to receive your business cards for you.)
If Google is providing advertising for you, you will want to start checking how much money they have for you so far. When it gets close to $100 you will need to start thinking about how to get the money. Often ING has a bank deal, just by opening an account they might even deposit $25 in the account; you probably should pretend the $25 does not exist – that way you will always have a bank account open. You will still need to give Google a street address, but you can have them send the $100+ to the ING account.
Keep building up your blog commentary. Remember, not being homeless is a goal everyone will be willing to help you achieve. Keep feeding the blog, giving out your business cards and as time goes by more and more people will visit your blog to see your progress.
If you skills or other expertise offer those services on your blog. Tell folks where you are going and where you will be. Advertise any products or things you collect along the way as well.
You now have a job as an online entrepreneur. Keep it up and eventually you will pull your way out of your homeless situation.