How a veteran helped homeless people by raising 943 BTC

[NotATether]

This is an absolutely beautiful story of how an army veteran used Bitcoin to help homeless people get a place to sleep. Granted, this happened a couple years ago, when Bitcoin was much less valuable, but it's still an inspiring story for future people to take note of.

A guy raised Bitcoin worth $59 MILLION and spent nearly all of it helping homeless people

In February 2013 an Army veteran named Jason King started a homeless outreach in Pensacola Florida called Sean's Outpost, named after his best friend, a local reporter murdered a year earlier

One month later he posted a single pitch to the Bitcoin community: "Donate 1 BTC and we will feed 40 people"

Bitcoin was trading at $50 and each meal cost around $1.25

Within 12 hours he had enough for 80 meals and the donations never stopped

Pensacola had just made homelessness basically illegal

Sleeping outside was banned and King was told that handing a freezing person a blanket counted as helping commit a crime

So the Bitcoin community bought 9 acres of forest for $89,000, with the mortgage paid in Bitcoin, giving homeless people a place where they could legally sleep and naming it Satoshi Forest

King paid homeless carpenters in Bitcoin to build $7,500 tiny homes for other homeless people, while others learned to use Bitcoin wallets

They started earning money online and one even saved enough to move into his own apartment

By late 2014 the charity served over 120,000 meals and became the largest meal provider for the homeless in the entire county

The charity's own records show it raised around 943 Bitcoin, with 532 coming from King and his wife's own pockets, now worth roughly $59 million

Almost every single coin became a $1.25 meal or a bed in the forest

What do you think about this? What would you do if you raised hundreds of BTC?

[Exitoral]

This just proves one thing: the Bitcoin community has love, selflessness, and a willingness to help. But if you look closely, they didn't just donate; they trusted that whatever they donated would be used for the purpose for which it was requested. Therefore, the man behind the project should be applauded. He could have run away with those funds, as we hear happen all the time.

Another thing this shows is that if it had been in dollars, I think it would still have been possible to feed the needy. But the barriers involved in moving such funds were eliminated by Bitcoin, making the process swift and easy.

I hereby applaud Satoshi for his innovation, which so many people adopted. Because without the community, Bitcoin would have been dead. Bitcoin to the world.

[Zlantann]

What do you think about this? What would you do if you raised hundreds of BTC?

I see the power of selflessness. It is generally believed that acquiring more money and wealth brings happiness. The media is filled with videos and pictures of people smiling or happy because they are driving good cars, living in luxury homes, and going on expensive vacations. But to some, true happiness comes from helping others in their time of need. Selflessness is giving to people who cannot give back to you. And this is exactly what Jason King and his wife did.

If I raised hundreds of Bitcoin from donations for a project. All of them will be spent on the charity's goals. The joy of helping the helpless is sometimes more valuable than thousands of dollars. When that homeless man tells you "thank you" with tears of joy, the feeling is unexplainable.

We also give credit to Satoshi for creating Bitcoin.

[CryptoYar]

This story is reminder of what Bitcoin is all about before it became mainly means for most to invest. Peer to peer donation without bank or charities or any middle man getting cut. Satoshi Forest is very clever concept. City did not know what to do with the homelessness problem, until community decided to make problem its own, purchase the land. It is shared resources and straight to the problem without committee or approval process.

It is section about the homeless carpenters and how one of them is getting bitcoin and is saving money to rent his own apartment that I cant get out of my head. It is not marketing talking point, it is fact that that is what financial access for everyone looks like in practice. Now and virtually all coins were turned into meal or bed, 943 BTC worth $59 million. It is perhaps one of most important Bitcoin applications of all time.

[Cryptoprincess101]

What i have learnt is this story is that bitcoin is a community and it takes selflessness of one another to achieve a goal. Satoshi has already led the way in charity which is why he sacrificed millions of bitcoins to the bitcoin network. It is left for us to emulate his legacy and together with bitcoin we can build a future where poverty will completed be eradicated or brought to minimum. Nice story to read.

[michellee]

I will continue the plan and distribute the meals to homeless people and if necessary to all people who needed. I am sure that will worth for them. I will inviting more people to participate and help the plan and reaching more homeless people while the government can't do much to them. Those homeless don't need promises from the government, what they need is just food daily and fills their basic needs which they can't get that opportunity.

[Ucy]

Very refreshing to read. I hope the Bitcoin Forest community was sustainable enough to remain in existence till today.
Will be nice to start gathering the abandoned and vulnerable in society, move them to such remote locations around the world where they can be built up spiritually, mentally, physically. Bitcoin wil be part of the currency of the communities.


Before such communities are established,  qualified managers, probably from voluntary free-of-charge organizations, who like Bitcoin ideals could be used to manage them, and everyone without talent has to be taught skills to use to serve one another's needs and grow the communities together.

[Son Of Blockchain (SOB)]

 I love to hear when people use Bitcoin to do charitable things instead of the other way round, Bitcoin was created as an alternative for fiat but some people choose to use it for crime and make people feel that Bitcoin is a bad option. May our create bless and keep providing for the veteran with a charitable heart.
 Sometimes I wish I'm in a position where I can help more people, although some can be ungrateful but that shouldn't stop anyone from doing good when they can, we're in a world filled with evil but good people still exist. This is a motivation to me, I'll try to be more charitable and help as much as I can with my Bitcoin.

[laspol65]

Yes, this is a beautiful story that helps people gain more knowledge, and Satoshi Nakamoto, who created Bitcoin, is a great proof that Bitcoin has played a major role in making people rich. This soldier bought Bitcoin with a small amount of money and kept it for a long time, and it has given him a lot of money in the present,
which he has given to homeless people to build a place to live, this is a great work. This is the biggest proof that Bitcoin can help people in all aspects, and this Bitcoin has played a major role in gaining more education over the ages.

[Doan9269]

We need more charity in this way with the use of Bitcoin to encourage others to see why bitcoin can be necessarily accepted as it too to Foster the intention of raising armss for people and those in need, bitcoin is what should be well spelled as not being an instrument for illicit activities, instead we should portray a good character by engaging its use for an effective implementation that will benefit others in life, doing things like this will encourage for more adoption and erase the mentality of Bitcoin being used for fraud with those that are seeing how many are being beneficiary of Bitcoin charity programs like this across the world.

[Nrcewker]

What do you think about this? What would you do if you raised hundreds of BTC?

Now, practically speaking, raising more than 5 BTC is a tough challenge. Earlier, the value of Bitcoin was much lower, so raising 943 BTC wasn’t a big deal at that time. If we consider a trading price of around $50 per BTC, then he raised approximately 943x50 = $47,150. Today, that amount is worth almost half the value of a single BTC.

Still, this is a truly inspiring story. If I were able to raise a significant amount of money, especially in Bitcoin, I would use it to help people living in old-age homes. I wouldn’t let them feel as though they don’t have children. Every day, I would celebrate with them as if it were a festival and do my best to bring joy and happiness into their lives.

[SatoPrincess]

Wow this is beautiful. Bitcoiners are truly some of the best people on earth. What King and the bitcoin community has achieved is amazing and shows how much good can come from bitcoin.

I’m not going to talk about what I would do if I had access to that kind of wealth because it’s easy to talk than actually do it. You don’t need 1 or 100btc to make an impact in your local community, $10 can feed that homeless person on your street. You just have to make a conscious decision to make the world better each day.

[rat03gopoh]

What do you think about this? What would you do if you raised hundreds of BTC?

I can't imagine being in that position. That's a lot of money and it must be very challenging for the holder's morale. I just think the way to prevent things from getting out of hand is to set everything up transparently from the start and not leave spending decisions to a single authority, for example, by using a multisig wallet.

[Razmirraz]

This is one of the most human stories ever of someone using Bitcoin as a tool for direct good.

Now let's imagine, in 2013 international bank transfers were still complicated, expensive and took a long time, but with Bitcoin everything became easy, he just posted a wallet address and soon the homeless could eat food. Indirectly, Jason King opened the eyes of people around the world to the fact that Bitcoin is a cross-border asset, allowing people from Nigeria, Japan, Germany, Brazil, and other countries to donate to Pensacola in just 10 minutes. The shipping costs are also not expensive, there is no 10% admin fee to the foundation, almost all donations become rice or other necessities.

Those who donate can also track their donations on the blockchain, whether their money is on target or not, this transparency increases public trust so that Jason can collect money in a short time to buy food. When the government labels the homeless as illegal, Sean's Outpost sees them from a different perspective, doing something different so they have the right to be noticed and get food, Bitcoin gives Jason access to fight the government's negative perspective on the homeless.

The positive side of this story is that Bitcoin, which at that time had not yet doubled in value as it is now, can be used to multiply goodness, not just for oneself. Tens of thousands of plates of rice, a sense of security and hope for life from donations using Bitcoin prove that Bitcoin is neutral, what makes it light or dark is humans themselves.

[Lucius]

This is an absolutely beautiful story of how an army veteran used Bitcoin to help homeless people get a place to sleep. Granted, this happened a couple years ago, when Bitcoin was much less valuable, but it's still an inspiring story for future people to take note of.
~snip~

This happened in 2013, which means 13 years ago, and I don't know why anyone today thinks that this story needs to be made into a sensation, with the mention of a sum of as much as $59 million when 1 BTC was worth around $50 at the time. There's no doubt that it was an extremely noble act, but at the time, you could buy 100 BTC for around $5000.

Someone donated 1 BTC to various forum charities a few years ago, and some of us donate smaller amounts from time to time, which means that everyone can do something good with their coins whenever they want.

[Alpha Marine]

These are the kind of people we're supposed to call Bitcoin heroes. Not billionaires who hold thousands of Bitcoin. These are people who actually went out of their way to educate people about Bitcoin in the most unconventional way. This guy even took it a step further. I really admire and appreciate people like this, because they could have simply minded their business like the rest of us, and nobody would have held it against them.

I don't care if Bitcoin was a small amount; it is something we should all emulate. Our little 20-$100 can go a long way.
The fact that he also paid in Bitcoin when Bitcoin was not mainstream is somthing that should be commendable.

[HajiBagi]

This just proves one thing: the Bitcoin community has love, selflessness, and a willingness to help. But if you look closely, they didn't just donate; they trusted that whatever they donated would be used for the purpose for which it was requested. Therefore, the man behind the project should be applauded. He could have run away with those funds, as we hear happen all the time.

Another thing this shows is that if it had been in dollars, I think it would still have been possible to feed the needy. But the barriers involved in moving such funds were eliminated by Bitcoin, making the process swift and easy.

I hereby applaud Satoshi for his innovation, which so many people adopted. Because without the community, Bitcoin would have been dead. Bitcoin to the world.

There are some things that bitcoin has done that we have not hear about yet and with this story we can believe that bitcoin is a blessing for every community and those who believe in it will surely succeed, i always said it that bitcoin was love from the first day it was introduced that is why it is still the best investment in the world, with this story and how another person is able to make other people proud of themselves shows that we can make people understand bitcoin and if they understand and know how it works they will also succeed, many beginners who are interested in bitcoin can also learn from this story and believe that bitcoin can change our lives.

[Ahli38]

I see something worth noting about this story. And I personally see that it highlights the positive side of Bitcoin how it can be used for charity or even to help others. Perhaps there are still many people who have only ever viewed Bitcoin from a negative perspective by believing it’s used solely for money laundering. But from this story they should understand that Bitcoin cannot be blamed simply because some people misuse it. Bitcoin is like any other type of asset, where it can still be used for any purpose. And anyone can use it for positive or negative purposes. But that doesn’t mean Bitcoin is to blame rather it is the actions of those who misuse it that are at fault. They should be able to understand this by looking at positive stories about Bitcoin. And they should realize that they shouldn’t be so quick to blame Bitcoin without first educating themselves before debating it. I’m sure stories like these will change their perspective on Bitcoin or even clear up their misconceptions.

[Oluwa-btc]

What do you think about this? What would you do if you raised hundreds of BTC?

As a food monger, I know what it means to be hungry not to talk about the innocent children in Gaza and Palestine left to starve without food and antibiotics.
I will honestly send drones to drop food, drugs and antibiotics where they could be accessible by the innocent children in Gaza. I think about them everyday. Life has been unfair to them greatly.

[Zoomic]

Beautiful, beautiful story to read. The most impressing part of it is not the amount of Bitcoin that they were able to raise but how it was put to use.

Instead of giving out money to the homeless people, they created a place they could sleep safely, learn skills and even earn Bitcoin.

Satoshi will be very proud because Bitcoin is used to provide long lasting solutions to people in need without waiting for permission.