Priceless Chair
This strong photo came along on FaceBook and I placed it on Chair Blog’s FB Wall with the caption Priceless Chair. When I opened FB this morning it appeared the photo had attracted over 40 likes itself. That got me curious about its provenance. Unfortunately it appears there is no larger format available at the moment. The sign next to the person is barely readable apart from the Text Them Home
Text Them Home
When I searched on Text Them Home I hit the source. It turned out the Los Angeles based charity The Weingart Center partnered with ad agency David & Goliath to promote the “Text Them Home” fund raising campaign that integrated homeless volunteers and art.
Street Art Project for the homeless
A chalk artist used the sidewalk as his canvas and drew simple, yet realistic scenes around homeless individuals lying or sitting on the street. A sign asked for a $10 donation to the Weingart Center accompanied by the message: “Text Them Home, text HOMELESS to 50555 and help the 50,000 Homeless in LA find a new place to call home.” MSG/ DATA rates may apply. Full terms at mGive.com/T and read the privacy policy. All proceeds will benefit the Weingart Center’s many homeless assistance programs.
I’m just wondering why they didn’t use social media more and better to spread the word.
UPDATE: To make it more convenient for all of us, here’s a little more insight on the project left in the comments section below by Jordy who works for the Weingart Center (the one that launched the Text Them Home campaign). More information on the campaign can be found on their website here, as well as on their YouTube channel here (including the video in which the photo above was taken). The first photo in this post is also a new addition.
Good on you for digging out the original source and promoting the charity.
Doesn’t look overly comfortable as a chair! but I guess that is the point they are making.
good post
Thank you!
In addition. Donation by texting is an unknown concept here in Europe…At least it is new to me.
Fantastic idea, isn’t it?
Hello Chair Blog! My name is Jordy, I work for the Weingart Center which launched the Text Them Home campaign! I’m very happy you stumbled across our photo, and I’d like to take this opportunity to give you some more accurate information.
Please note that our campaign has changed and there is a new Keyword/shortcode. Please text “HOMELESSLA” to 20222 to donate $10. You can get some more information on the campaign by visiting here (also a much better picture!) :
http://weingart.org/highlights/51-000-reasons-to-send-a-text-message
The source you found is our new website, still in its beta form… soon we will be live and you will find a much easier time navigating and getting information about the Weingart Center. In the meantime, visit our youtube page for the video in which that photo was taken: http://www.youtube.com/weingartcenter1
Thanks for sharing!
Great ‘blog’ altough I’m a sculptor, I have made a mumber of ‘chairs’ both for exhibition in galleries and as community project working with schools and adults. Love the chalk on wall ‘art project’ for the homeless, like the idea that its temporary…I have a number of photographs of ‘real’ chairs and sofas abandoned on the streets, taken as inspiration for my sculpture and collages. See my facebook page for my ‘street matress’ album.
Can’t believe I missed this post in July – certainly got my attention today.