Page 23 - July ONLINE VERSION

Pay it Forward the participants did not have a long history of drug have the drive to open up any restaurants, nor do I
addiction and that they had relatively decent chances
think I could try and study every homeless person I
By Corben Horton of success if given the money. come across, so those options are out. However, with
that said, there are a few more options available.
So, should you still give money to that random guy Visit a nearby community center in your city. Ask
sitting on the street who looks like he was born if there’s any upcoming social projects that you can
Ever been down on your luck? Nearly all of us have the focal point of the Big Apple, right? Wrong. In an there? That’s for you to decide. However, the data sign up for or any way you can donate.
at one time or another. You miss your bus and run article by Kiplinger.com that covered some of the is in with regards to those who just happen to have
late for your work; you get a flat tire and don’t have most expensive places to live in the United States, experienced a bit of bad luck, and helping them back The internet has also made finding places to donate
the right tools to fix it; your short on cash and strug- Manhattan ranked 20/20 on their list with the cost of on their feet is highly possible. much easier, but that presents a new challenge: how
gling to make ends meet. It’s in these times of need living being 145.7% above the national average and do you know which ones are going to produce the
that the little things people do for us mean the most. an unemployment rate of 16% out of a population of Cheap Pizza most benefits? Utilize Google to find good charities
Something as small as a warm meal or a couple dol- 1,628,701. AND Helping the Homeless? that share your personal interests. Five minutes or
lars can make your entire day. less of research should be enough to tell you what
This makes the existence of these restaurants even I know what you’re thinking: “Pizza, again? What’s you need to know about the charity, and then you
You might be surprised to find that New York more spectacular. Pizza lovers around the world sa- with this guy?” But hear me out! A Philadelphia man can even check if they have a brick and mortar estab-
City—the place of rat-filled subways, soaring sky- lute you, 99¢ Fresh Pizza, for making those delicious named Mason Wartman left his office job to open a lishments near you.
scrapers, and pedestrians yelling “Ay, I’m walkin’ slices cheap and available. unique restaurant. It’s a pizza place that implements
here!”— has a chain of some amazingly cheap the idea of “pay it forward” by enabling customers If you want to go the extra mile, you can create
restaurants. The Homeless to purchase pizza slices for future customers. Mason petitions for problems you see in your society and
Person Dilemma has them write whatever they wish on a sticky note encourage your fellow citizens to sign it so that you
99¢ Fresh Pizza when they make the future purchase, and then he can present it to your mayor or other governmental
What do you do when you see a homeless person sticks it on a wall where customers in need can come leaders.
holding a sign? You probably avoid their eyes, walk in, grab the note, and exchange it for a free slice of
past them as fast as you can, and try to forget about pizza. Crazy, right?! Feedingamerica.org is an organization which works
the uncomfortable experience altogether. After all, to provide food for the hungry in America. You can
there’s nothing we can do, right? donate online and it even allow you to fundraise and
volunteer in your community. If you know some-
Well, according to a CNN article about a recent one who could use this organization’s help, please
study in Canada, this may prove otherwise. Re- help them access the website as it has locations listed
searchers carefully selected participants in the age where they can get food via Feeding America. This
range of 19-64 who had been homeless for an aver- really is a great organization, and it’s one that I rec-
age of six months and gave those in the test group ommend for anyone concerned with those who are
approximately $5,700 in U.S. currency. They also going hungry in our nation.
For those of you who have been to New York City, observed a control group which did not receive any
you know that the price of pizza isn’t cheap. Nypost. money but also met the same criteria as the test
com says here: “According to the pizza-delivery group; the findings were astonishing. The restaurant is called Rosa’s, and it’s working
platform Slice, the average price of a standard 18- miracles for the rising homeless population of Phila- Corben Horton is an
inch pie in NYC is $16.98, while a 12-inch specialty Those who received the money were able to find delphia. Mason’s work is truly inspiring, and it begs undergraduate student at
version hovers at $19.23. In neighborhoods such as housing sooner than those who did not, their drug the question of what entire corporations could do on Oklahoma State University
the Lower East Side and the East Village, the price and alcohol purchases decreased, and many of them their own without the help of customers who “pay it with a major in Creative
of pizza has grown 7 percent from 2016 to 2017.” It fulfilled desires they had possessed while previously forward”? Writing.
seems impossible that there could exist a place to too poor to do so, such as fixing their car to have
get a cheap slice of pizza—and yet it’s true. There reliable transportation to their job. “Takeaways?” He has self-published two
are several restaurants in NYC by the name of “99¢ Do you mean books and hopes to contin-
Fresh Pizza” that sell pizza slices for a dollar. This has a major impact on how we think of home- “takeout?” ue producing more in the
less people, as many believe that giving them money future.
While some might claim that although New York would only yield negative results. Of course, it must I bet you’re wondering what you can do to help con-
City is expensive, surely this doesn’t extend beyond be clarified that the research also made sure that tribute to the overall goodness in the world. I don’t

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