Homeless Man In Detroit Takes Credit Cards

This guy, known as "Honest Abe," is a Detroit man who claims to be the first homeless person to have a website.  I know that's not true, because I had a blog, Make Money Panhandling, while I was homeless in 2010-2012 that became the world's top panhandling blog and scored over 60,000 total pageviews.  At one point, I was contacted by John Stossel's producer for information when they were doing a segment on panhandling for their "Freeloader" episode.  What Abe does have is a Square merchant account that allows him to take credit cards while panhandling.  He also has a website where you can hire him (and friends if necessary) to do odd jobs.

Now I realize that a lot of you may look at him as scumbag just looking for handouts.  But I know from experience that it's nearly impossible to find a decent job once you're completely homeless and on the streets.  You can't just walk up and fill out a paper application anymore.  I did do that once while homeless, but the restaurant job didn't pay enough for me to even get close to renting a room again.  Since I've been homeless for several years at several different levels, I have the utmost respect for what Abe's trying to do.  Building a web presence and using the myriad of available technologies today is one of the few ways to actually have a chance to get your life back together.  I can't vouch for Abe's character since I don't know him, but I applaud his effort in a really bad situation.  Unfortunately, at the time of this interview, his phone got stolen so he couldn't take credit cards.  Theft is another big issue when you're on the streets.  Good luck Honest Abe!