Starting waves
Most of this week’s little victories are related to efforts to connect with other people and groups that have a chance of being interested in helping our mission in one way or another.
The Attention Gainer
ElectraMeccanica Website
It seems like my quest to get Electra Meccanica on board with donating a Solo in any way has come to an end. They are still a small enough company that they are not in a position to give anything away yet. Not even simply making no profit on a single, solitary vehicle. They say they are very interested in our mission and wish they were in a better spot to be able to help us out.
I still think this is a good match for a unique vehicle for a unique idea for helping people experiencing homelessness. As such, I think we will pursue a small vehicle loan in the next few weeks and get one on our own.
For it to help increase awareness, we will get it vinyl wrapped in R+R orange and decked out with large decals and QR codes.
Heavy-Duty Accessories
WeldTec Designs website
As we prepare to build retired ambulances into #tinyhomes, I know we will need serious partnerships with people and organizations that have experience with homeless programs and with building extremely capable large vehicles. WeldTec Designs is located near us here in SoCal and will make a great partner for making the systems off-road capable and for bumper and other accessories for the vehicles. We had a few more conversations this week and hope to have a formal meeting soon. I’ve reached out to them through email, by phone, and on Instagram. The idea of teaming up to build a very serious vehicle is exciting. Their videos on YouTube are pretty cool, too.
Calling on the big guns
DuelEx’s YouTube channel
I’ve tried several ways (email, Instagram, Twitter) to reach out to someone I think will make a great partnership for us. DualEx is a veteran that is pretty well known in the YouTube van conversion / tiny home community. I know he was on a show called Gutted but I don’t know if it has already aired and/or where to go to watch it.
**I need to check that out**
Not only is he experienced at converting vehicles but I feel he already connects with our veteran-focused mission. I hope he will be able to come to our site once we are up and going to work on a build or two with us.
…and remember, a while ago I reached out to IceCo to see if they were interested in supporting our mission as a result of a DualEx video.
((I still haven’t heard back from them either))
My point though … I appreciate his perspective on things in the arena of vehicle-based #tinyhome conversions.
The Wild Card
Brandon Gross’ YouTube channel
I contacted another YouTube creator that has experience converting vehicles into homes. Brandon Gross is a traveling adventure seeker with a penchant for adrenaline. He started off traveling in a converted small bus (commonly referred to as a skoolie). However, he recently converted an ambulance and has been adventuring with it this year.
Brandon’s Ambulance on Adventure
Brandon has already agreed to work with us on at least one build if not more. He said it might be something he could do each season while he is in our area. I am very excited about teaming up with him and getting to learn from his experience in turning these vehicles into safe, comfortable, and enjoyable homes.
The Wizard
The Car Wizard
A friend of our organization recommended reaching out to the Car Wizard if we planned to pursue YouTube collaborations. He has been known to do some interesting stuff with some difficult vehicles. So, we attempted to contact him via Instagram and email. We are hopeful that he would be interested in either helping consult with us about setting up the shop, helping out on a build on our site, or maybe we could send an ambulance to his shop to get fixed up (on the vehicle side at least).
Fueling Our Mission
Black Rifle Coffee Company
As one of the most well-known Veteran-Owned businesses today, I reached out to Black Rifle Coffee Company this week to see if they would be interested in a partnership. I am a huge coffee drinker and love their coffee and their veteran-focused brand. Whether they want to supply us with coffee as a donation or even offer a reduced cost, we would love to know that we are working with other veteran-owned businesses.
BRCC is heavily engaged in social media
It’d be a really fun twist to hang a sign up at the workshop like some small businesses do with Starbucks saying “We proudly brew Black Rifle Coffee here.”
Proudly Serving BRCC
Powering Our Future
Battle Born Batteries
As one of the most respected battery brands in the #vanlife community, Battle Born Batteries seems like a perfect partnership for us in the long run. We are going to need a large supply of their batteries to build out these homes. We are going to be documenting each of the builds with video on our YouTube channel and I guarantee the battery and electrical system will get a great deal of attention. They are always one of the parts I want to know the most about because it is the heart of the vehicle’s ability to provide for the people that live in them.
Not only are they high-quality products but… they are Battle Born! What better pairing could there be for a company with a name like Battle Born to be paired up with a nonprofit helping homeless veterans and retired ambulances tell the story of how they were Battle Born as well?!?!
Some photos of home wind power systems
In a similar vein… to gain a little experience with systems like we plan to build on our ambulances, I am planning to install a wind power generator and battery storage and management system at my home. We have very regular high winds at my house (in case all the windmills in the videos hadn’t given that away) and it is a fairly similar process to installing solar. The only difference would be the system generating the electricity.
Established Support
National Coalition for Homeless Veterans
This week I connected with the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans on Twitter and found out about their upcoming meeting. I learned about the organization on Tuesday and attended their webinar on Thursday…
This organization is already very much involved in working on a big part of what we are trying to do. The connections to already established national support systems from construction to funding to process and planning support are very well established at this time.
One of my favorite things I learned because of the webinar was related to the NCHV’s podcast, The Road Home, about homeless veterans and programs that are already working to build support systems.
The Road Home Podcast
In just a week or so of listening to their coverage of programs and how they were funded, developed, planned, and implemented, I feel far more informed about our future and what we need to do to be able to create a system that can help veterans like we want to.
I am hoping that perhaps we can do a cross-podcast episode that brings The Road Home and Balanced Exchange together in one amazing episode. I haven’t heard back from them but I believe they are taking a little bit of time off right now. If you are interested in our mission, The Road Home is a podcast you really should be listening to.
The Perfect Fit
The Home Depot Foundation
The Home Depot Foundation is one organization that has been repeatedly mentioned when supporting solutions to help homeless veterans. A long-term supporter of programs, Home Depot Foundation has been providing grants and other support since 2011. There are a few key limitations to their grant program for us. They require any nonprofit they support to have been in operation for 5 years or more. They also require organizations to have operating budgets greater than $300,000 and financial statements from the last 3 years.
It seems like we can meet all the other requirements but we are not able to get beyond those hurdles ourselves in the immediate future. This is where it may be possible to find another nonprofit that could possibly serve as the primary partner on our plan and we could just be the execution arm of the agreement. Connecting this back, I am going to see if NCHV would be at all interested in partnering with us for this purpose as well.
NCHV seems willing to work with Service Providers like us.
Just in case, I emailed the Home Depot Foundation and explained our mission and our plan. I asked if there is any way to request waivers for any of the requirements. I am sure that they will say no but… I had to ask. You always miss the shots you don’t take.
Made it all possible…
Score.org website
We met with Paula Acosta, our Score.org mentor on Monday, and we plan to continue to do so on the first Monday of each month until we all agree that we are fully up and running.
I can’t say enough positive about Paula and what it means to us to have connected through Score.org. When the idea for this particular flavor of support for homeless veterans started coming together, I wasn’t really sure of how solid of an idea it was. Through Score.org I was assigned a mentor for both the nonprofit side and a legal advisor. The advice and support that has been provided have constantly reinforced our belief in our plan and helped to steer us in the right direction.
Thank you again for all of your support, Paula. It is deeply appreciated.
