We just counted up all of our completed projects over the last year and it is amazing! 373 projects have been finished over the last 12 months! That’s over a completed project a day! Absolutely incredible! We can’t thank all of you enough. All of you that selflessly give freely of your time and knowledge have helped change so many lives. You are truly a gift. We have so many more projects to post but this year has been incredibly busy and we are so far behind in posting on the website. Look for new projects being posted over the next few weeks (again, there are a lot)!

We are also still very far behind in our email. We apologize to everyone that we haven’t been in touch with yet. Please know that we will get back to you, though. We are doing our best to get caught up. It’s just taking longer than we had expected. We have hundreds of requests and are getting to them as fast as we can. We are coming, though.

Look for some new changes coming to the website soon and a new list of projects that span the globe! Thank you again to everyone and we are looking forward to another phenomenal year!!

Seth and Michelle

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Portland Oregon is expecting an arctic blast (for our area).  We were contacted by a local organization that focuses on the homeless in Portland. The only thing they are requesting is to put the word out for people to look through their closets and cabinets for extra blankets, tarps, or sleeping bags. They are not asking for new items or even money to buy items. 

 Last winter, in Portland, we were working with a warming shelter for families in NE Portland. They were only open from 7pm to 7am. During the day all the homeless families had to find other places to stay warm. These were people with children that were displaced due to the current economy. Most had a nice warm home just a few months ago. The warming shelter needed microwaveable  food to send them out with every morning. Items that could be micro waved at the local convenient store or school. A cup of noodles or microwavable soup can be the high point of someone’s day. And here we sit in our homes. We may be wondering how we can pay the bills to keep the home or the heat on but at least, in this exact moment in time, we are not sitting in the snow or rain or extreme cold with our loved ones next to us hungry. These were, and are, human beings. They are not “The Homeless” or “Those People”. They are living, breathing human beings.

For those of us that have a place to sleep at night things like this don’t cross our minds.  A used torn old tarp can literally mean the difference between life and death for someone.  The time is now to look around and see what we can do. It can be as simple as going through your closet and carrying those old socks and clothes, that you will never wear, in your car to hand out to a human being who needs the extra layers of clothing. It doesn’t have to be the person at the freeway off ramp with a sign. It could be anyone who you think might need a hand.

We are putting the word out in Portland Oregon about the warming shelters and JOIN, the organization that wants your old tarps, blankets, and sleeping bags. What about your city or neighborhood? The .35 in your pocket can purchase at least one hot meal.

As we sit here looking at the computer or smart phone in our warm homes is there nothing we can do?

The time is now.

We, Seth and Michelle, are in Portland Oregon. Where are you and what help is needed in your community? Please post comments so everyone who stops by this website can help.

Take care and we hope to hear from you soon!

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As was evidenced two nights ago, during the elections, there is still too much fear in our country. Too many people either voted out of fear or they didn’t cast a vote due to their loss of hope. This wasn’t a referendum on the current administration so much as it was a referendum on the fear that is rampant in our country.

This is one of the main reasons that we started WGTTH. Fear. Fear and the loss of hope. I think the elections showed that not only is the fear spreading like wildfire throughout this land but there is a wholesale loss of hope. It’s extremely saddening and maddening at the same time.

On that note, we wanted to talk about the Game Changers event last week. We attended the Game Changer awards last Thursday in New York City, for which we were invited. It was an incredible evening filled with wonderful and innovative ideas and mountains of hope. It was the most inspirational group of people that we have ever been with.

Between Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Sean Penn, Anderson Cooper, Dylan Ratigan, Geoffrey Canada, Louise Story, Nora Ephron, Gayle King, Michael Bloomberg, Matt Taibbi, and of course, Arianna Huffington, not to mention all the other great minds, this was a room filled with ways to change the way we all play the game. There were too many people to mention and too many people to thank. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening and we can’t tell you how inspired we were when we left.

As I said in my acceptance speech, we do not feel like we are game changers. We tweaked the rules a bit, but we didn’t change the game. We took a look around us and said “this is an opportunity.” We didn’t set out to change the world, or the rules for that matter.

We don’t offer fame. We don’t offer fortune. We don’t offer a new world where everything is fine and dandy. What we try to offer is hope. What we try to offer is a shield from the fear that is consuming this country. We offer a hand up not a handout.

Of course, living with hope and without fear, doesn’t make the world a just place. But, it does help. It does make a difference. It does change the way we see things. It does change the way we view our world. Just ask anyone that has lost hope how it feels to regain it. Ask them how they got through another day.

Similar to the efforts of Sean Penn in Haiti (not that we are comparing ourselves to him in any way, shape, or form) we are attempting to rebuild America. True, we are not literally rebuilding America the way he is helping to rebuild Haiti, but more in a figurative sense. Our way of life is threatened. Our foundation has been shaken to the core. We are a country that is littered with rubble. Most of us are suffocating under the weight of the debris.

Again, similar to Sean’s efforts in Haiti, we have a chance to reach our hands out to others in need. We have the chance to pull others from the rubble. We have the opportunity to stretch our hands out and say “I will not let you fall by the wayside.” You have the chance to say “I will not watch as my community sinks into the abyss.” You have the chance to say “My neighbors, my neighborhood, and my community mean more to me than partisan hackery or my party affiliation.”

We have so many opportunities, not only because we are American but, because we, you and I, are game changers. Do you have the guts to change the game?

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Thanks to the Arianna Huffington, Nick Penniman, and the Arete Fund We’ve Got Time to Help is now able to offer anyone who makes any gift to us a 100% tax-deductible write off! It’s an incredible opportunity for us to be able to raise money for various projects, not just here in Portland, but all over the country. Now, not only we will be able to complete these ongoing projects, but we will be able to accept new projects and help so many more people. We are also looking at expanding nationally in the next few weeks, and these donations will allow us to help thousands of people almost immediately. We have so many projects that we could complete if we had the funding.

We use every penny of every dollar to help those in need.  As we tell everyone that makes a donation, you are not only making a donation of money. Not at all. Most importantly you are giving hope. 

Thank you for everything and we look forward to working with each and every, single one of you! 

If you would like to make a tax-deductible gift to We’ve Got Time to Help, please click on the blue “Donate Now” button on the upper right side of this page. Thank you! 

Take care, 

Seth and Michelle

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Goodwill Hunting

Written by Seth Reams

I am not a good person. Strong statement perhaps but, nonetheless, true. I do not think I am a bad person, but I am far from perfect. Very far from it. On the other hand, Michelle King, my girlfriend and co-founder of We’ve Got Time to Help, has lived a pretty just life. Of course, she is not perfect either (don’t tell her I said that), but she has done things the right way for the most part. She has held the same job for almost 15 years, bought her first house when she was 23, and has a heart larger than I could ever hope to have.

I am not a saint. I have made many mistakes in my 36 years on this earth. I have caused pain. I have caused heartache. I have taken from others and not given a thing back. I have ignored other’s pain because I was too caught up in my own world to care. I do not feel like an inspiration. There is not enough space on the Internet for me to detail all of my shortcomings. But, suffice it to say, I will not be winning a Nobel Prize.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, though. It’s what keeps me going every day. Perhaps I have not been a great human being my entire life, but that does not mean that I have to continue to be that way. I can change things. I can be a different person. I can change the course of someone’s life for the better. I can give back.

So starts our mission of goodwill hunting. It doesn’t matter our background, our past failures, or our misdeeds. It doesn’t matter what we did yesterday, only what we do today. What matters is our want and desire to change the community paradigm. How can we change things for the better? How can we, as a collective, make life better for everyone?

The answer to that question starts with another question. Do we see a problem? Do we want things to change? Do we want to see stronger communities? Do we want to pool our resources to make it easier on all of us? Or, do we want to continue our current path? Do we want to see our neighbors and neighborhoods fall by the wayside? Do we want to let friends and strangers alike, slip through the cracks?

The answers to these questions are in all of us. If your answer is that you don’t see a problem and you think things should remain the same, by all means, continue on with your life and we wish you nothing but the best. However, if your answer is that your neighborhoods and communities need change, that you see people everywhere struggling, that it’s time that we get reconnected, then please do something.

The time has passed for those of us that want things to change but who are willing to have someone else to do the changing. If things are to change, we need to be the people to effect those changes. We can no longer stand by the wayside and wait. We, as a country, can no longer afford to watch as our communities crumble around us. It’s time to start looking for things you can do. It’s time to open your eyes and find see the difference you can make. It’s time to start looking in every corner of your neighborhoods to see what you can do to help. It’s time to go goodwill hunting.

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More than a few times a week, Michelle and I read an email that starts out with something along the lines of, “I have lost my job” or “we just lost our home” or even “I have lost everything.” Generally, when a letter starts out that way, that person needs help. Mind you, that’s not a complaint. That’s exactly why we started this group, to help people and we are more than happy to lend you our hands and hearts.

As a rule, if a letter starts out with horrible hardship, the person will need help. As a rule, people that are hurting, need help. As a rule. Isn’t there some saying about rules…? Well, if there is a rule, these people didn’t just break it, they obliterated it. Here are a few excerpts from letters that we have received recently:

“I am 60-years-old. Have lost almost everything. Things here in my part of the state are very depressed… I was growing food in a family garden until the water rate increase stopped that. Please do not think I am depressed over my plight I am still alive, and as such, I tell people you can only be two things when asked If I am okay. You can only be good or dead and as long as I am breathing, I still have an opportunity to shake the world.” – Stephen

or

“Although my mortgage isn’t “under water” I feel as though I am, fighting the heavy weight of being financially vulnerable. Two years ago, I thought I had made all the right choices, selling my home to buy a smaller/fixer with a more affordable payment and put some of the proceeds in the market for retirement, etc. Then everything changed and I too am stuck in my head, worrying about the unpredictable future, feeling like somehow I failed and that my feet are stuck in concrete waiting for “things to be the way they were before.” That psychological place drains hope and motivation. The limited finances harden the cement for fear of spending unwisely… At some point it becomes a silly mental spin cycle reminiscent of an old saying “worry is like a rocking horse, something to do that will get you nowhere”. So I have decided to put that horse out to pasture and ask what can I do to help.” – Roxanne

or

“I’m 42, was laid off in Dec. 2008 from an executive position… I also owned a flight school (my passion) that I had to close in 2009 and have recently lost my house to foreclosure. So, boohoo for me. Just add my name to the millions of others… I certainly have plenty of time to help… I’d like to start a chapter…” - Julia

These are just excerpts from three letters. Three. We have hundreds of letters like these. Stories of pain and anguish and sorrow. Stories of hardship and fear. Stories of people that have lost almost everything.

I say almost, because these amazing people have not lost everything. Not even close.

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