Joshua Coombes
Pauly's Project in Skid Row, LA
Pauly's Project in Skid Row, LA
The person is my friend Paul who lives in LA. I think we all know somebody in our life who wakes up each day and makes the choice because it is a choice to walk on the sunny side of the street or take take an inventory of the things he's grateful for instead of things that he isn't. Paul is a caregiver for his son who was born blind and autistic but that's actually led him to many other things and inspires loads of people partly in response to how his son responds to music. He lives quite close to Skid Row, which is an area of downtown Los Angeles where there's thousands of people who are living on the streets and experiencing homelessness. Back in the day he went out with a few cheap CD Walkmans and started donating them with some music they could listen to and then he got some funding and it quickly transitioned into something much bigger. Paul managed to bring together all kinds of different people to volunteer to support and distribute essential products. But the main thing is that he knows everybody down there by name and he knows them and what they need and he helps them along when he can. These people are often dehumanised in the mainstream media as people you should be scared of, but the way that Paul does his work is just so inspiring to me and it always comes back to his son and the challenge that he was faced with. He decided to completely embody and make it his strength not a weakness.
Transcript
Civic Engagement
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