Pimp this bum

[Neil D]

Would You 'Pimp This

Bum'?

Created On: Wednesday, 18 Feb 2009, 7:08 PM CST

SALLY MACDONALD

HOUSTON - An edgy website created for a Houston homeless man is asking you to "Pimp This Bum."

A local father and son team created www.pimpthisbum.com to help give "Tim" the boost he needs to get off the streets.

The site has been up and running for just a couple of days, and already there are more than 30,000 hits from around the globe.

Tim, 37, works at the busy intersection of Interstate 10 and Highway 6.

"Sometimes things just cascade out of control," he said. "Four and a half years on the street, you're going to lose pretty much all the dignity you got."

This week, though, Tim has gone from being non existent to an Internet marvel. The website raises money for him.

It's the brainchild of Sean Dolan and his father.

"Tim was like, 'What are you going to call it?' And I looked at my dad and was like, 'Pimpthisbum.com?' They just started cracking up,'" Dolan said.

Tim's wish list includes a cup of coffee, a subscription to the Wall Street Journal, karate lessons, laser hair removal and much more. Really, the items are just tongue in cheek.

According to Dolan, 100 percent of the money donated through the site goes into a fund for Tim.

"The end goal is to get corporate sponsorship," said Dolan.

Dolan says he created the site because he likes helping people, plus he wanted to experiment in viral marketing.

"We're confident, maybe a little cocky," Dolan said. "I think we could do this with anything."

The head of Houston's Coalition for the Homeless worries it's exploiting one of the most vulnerable people.

"If people really want to give, there are very worthy agencies that are doing work, and you know fully where your money is going," said Anthony Love, president of the coalition.

Tim has already made about $300 from the site. He'll work with a financial aide to make sure he goes from a man with a sign to one with a plan.

"A family, a job, a mortgage, a house and come home to kids every night," Tim said. "That sounds like a dream come true to me."

The marketing team doesn't have a timetable for how long this will go on, but they are working to develop a second site for Tim's friend, Bobby.

Ok, whatcha think? Is this some sort of communism? Is this something that our church could become involved in? Am I out of touch?

[carolaa]

At one intersection I regularly pass, there is often a guy in a wheelchair on one corner and a guy in a wheelchair attached to an oxygen machine on another corner. I have to wonder if they are for real. And if they are, what does that say about our welfare system?

[Bravus]

Forget the welfare system - apparently, according to our local conservatives, it just kills people. What about the conservatives oft-repeated claim that the cure for poverty and homelessness is private philanthropy. You have a heap of conservatives in the US, many of them very wealthy. Why do bums even *exist* any more?

[carolaa]

If they're for real, I guess I wouldn't call them bums. I mean, it's not like they're able to go out and earn a living wage. Maybe some of the beggars are bums. I often wonder how much they make in a day.

[Liz]

It is illigal in our town for them to openly panhandle. If the cops see them do it, they will make them leave. They encourage them to seek out the local soup kitchens and shelters.

What I hate to see, is "beggars" that do it for a living. I have actually seen men, park beside a road, and put on a soldier jacket and walk several blocks, to a street corner where they will beg for money. They will also hang around a certain street corner, it has a fast food place on each corner, and they will beg for money; if you offer to buy them dinner they will refuse--they don't want food they want money. And you see the same people over and over again.

[Bravus]

True, the bum is in the eye of the beholder. (This sounds all sorts of wrong here, where the word 'bum' is always used for the buttocks and never for a poor or indigent person!)

I just used that word because it was where the thread started. I should have said 'poor person'.

[Cosmin M.]

Never give a bum money. Give him food. Cause if you give him money he will spend it on drugs/alcohol.

[Neil D]

Excuse me, but did you guys even LOOK at the videos there?????

You think you KNOW what life is like on the street?

Why don't you look at the video and see what they have to say....eh?

That is, BEFORE you open mouth and insert foot....

:lol

[Kountzer]

I seldom go through the intersection mentioned, namely I-10 & hwy 6. That is a bit too far West for me. I work near I-10 and the beltway, which is closer in, and about as West as I go on a daily basis.

On just about every major intersection in Houston there is a homless person working that corner. Sometimes I hand them money, sometimes I don't. Sign of the times, I guess.

Just yesterday I was at an intersection in the galleria area, at Westheimer and post oak, in houston, of course. There was this older man, working the corner. He looked too clean and well dressed to be homeless. He had on a white sport shirt, black slacks, glasses, decent hair cut, a decent hat on his head. When the light would turn red he would take his hat off and pass it by the cars, asking for spare change. Maybe he has mental issues. Not trying to judge..

DB