Last year I had the pleasure of meeting Rex Hohlbein. I had been hearing about Rex for some time. Rex is a quite a successful Seattle architect who had a series of interactions with people who were homeless in his Fremont neighborhood. Those interactions were deeply moving. They moved Rex to decide to commit a significant portion of his time to trying to help people who experiencing homelessness. He used his skills as a photographer to begin to tell the stories of the people he was meeting. He also created a small organization, called Facing Homelessness, that is focused on helping meet the immediate needs of some of our homeless neighbors.

Rex’s story is remarkable. Certainly we’re not all in the position where we can step away from our careers. And certainly few people have the courage to jump in and try and take on homelessness. But Rex makes this point – that most of us have left it to nonprofits, government and religious organizations to help solve this problem. It reminds me of this line from an old Jackson Browne song, ”You’ve left it to someone other than you to be the one to care.” If we are going to end homelessness – that is, make it rare, brief and one-time – then we just can’t leave it to someone else to do the work. We’ve all got to commit to do our part whatever that is. And what that something is will likely be different for all of us… but it will take all of us.

Rex recently presented at a local TED Talk.
Check it out. Be inspired. Be the one to care…