 But it is like one in six elementary school kids goes home to a house without food in it That's the scary statistic like we deal with this in a very real way in America every day So I started thinking about what I could do like as one person as one homeless person actually like I had my dog In a suitcase and that was it my dog is easy. I've had her for 11 years So she's like always been there, but um I had my dog in a suitcase I was like what could I do like what can Shay Kelly do to make the world a better place and So I I came up with this idea to like collect canned goods And I collect them like a girl scout does like I go knocking on doors in different communities Like I go around neighborhoods, and I'm just like hey, I'm sharing I'm doing a food drive what you guys like to donate and then they do which is really incredible and I started practicing it and I started saving up my tip money, and I bought that truck in August and I moved into the pickup truck I've been I've been living in that truck since August 29th of last year So over a year which living in a pickup truck is a whole nother story That's really a complicated scenario, but it's worked And I live in there with my dog and we do these food drives every week And the goal is 200 canned food items a week In each state so that doesn't sound like a lot But it's amazing how a little bit will add up to so much 200 canned food items in each state each week 10,000 after a year so like that's crazy. That's a lot of canned food items for one person going door-to-door in a community So and then the sock drive started out as just Asking people as I was going door-to-door if they had any extra pairs of socks And it's turned into over 3,000 pairs of socks collected and distributed From coast to coast so I've been to 42 states actually 43 states, North Carolina is number 43 43 states in 43 weeks including Alaska And I left with $83 so on the first of the year when this project was Decided that this was gonna happen. It was gonna start. Um, I had no money. My friend called me. He was like He was like, are you really crazy enough to do this because I've been talking about it for a while Everybody thought I was going to take And he said are you really gonna do this and I said I said absolutely. I'm leaving. I have the truck I have the plan it's gonna work. He said do you have the money? I said I have 83 bucks But it'll work like I swear and sure enough 43 states later it has worked. I just lost my mic. Oh, no Does this one work? No, I Can yell really loud. Can you hear me? Okay, I'll just yell in the meantime. You guys can hear me, right? Okay, cool. I have a loud voice. I was I was born with it. It's a blessing okay, so 43 states in 43 weeks, which is like a mirror. I would say no nothing short of a miracle by itself It's pretty incredible. I'm still like blown away every day that it's I've made it this far I only have seven states left, which is like a really small like area That's I look at the whole u.s. And I'm like, wow, how did that happen and along the way because I'm living in a pickup Truck and I am basically like quote-unquote homeless myself. I don't have a house I don't have like a shower that I can like, you know, so I guess I'm homeless So since I'm in that situation myself I get a really unique perspective on the situation of poverty in America now along the way like I Started out homeless not by choice, you know So you can work on it along the way like I'm when I first started I wasn't choosing to be homeless. It was It was a series of unfortunate events Hello, okay, cool. Um, so like I said along the way, I wasn't choosing to be homeless It was it was a series of unfortunate events at first like in 2009 when the whole thing happened And I just lost it again. Oh wait, there it goes. It's gonna be on ice gonna play tricks on it. Okay So but along the way because of really awesome people all across the u.s It was actually made possible for me to get myself out of my situation like had I had I made the choice I was offered some really lucrative marketing jobs some other things happened where people stepped up and they were like if you Don't want to live in your truck anymore If you want to go back to working a regular nine to five like that option is available to you and I said no because This has changed my life like I'm a completely different person today in 2010 then I was in 2009 and it's it's because of the experiences that I've had Honestly, I've learned that I really don't need anything other than my truck and my dog the happiness is achievable without that $100,000 house and you know, and I It's just that happiness has nothing to do with stuff and I've I've met some of the most incredible people on the street I spend most of my time hanging out with homeless people and like learning why they're in their situations or what their perspective is on life and Just that alone has been earth shattering Like I would definitely encourage all of you to step outside of your your comfort level like step outside of your box I'm like approach people that you might be uncomfortable talking to you and find out more about them because that alone will change your life I'm gonna tell like do you guys have any questions just kind of about what I just said before I start talking about like about my life Where do I get gas money great question? Okay, cool Like I said, I left with 83 bucks and all of the gas is really expensive at times. Well all the time That was I was fully prepared when I left to like be that person with the cardboard sign I'm like desperate because I wanted so badly to like see this dream come to fruition I wanted my whole life to go to 56. Um, but this this project came to me like Like a vision like this is what I wanted to do I'd never I've never experienced like such a purpose in my life with such clarity and I just really wanted to do it And if you've ever like wanted something like That badly to where you're willing to do just about anything to get it. So I was prepared to like beg But by the grace of God, I haven't had I needed to ever like not once. Um, it's really surreal how People complete strangers that I haven't even spoken to yet will walk up and hand me $5 or they'll hand me $10 And so by the grace of God and five and ten and two and twelve dollar increments Given to me by thousands of people literally thousands of people from coast to coast I've made it from one state to the next. It's absolutely like I want to eventually write a book called the big book of thank-you's because so many amazing people stepped forward to help me get from one state to the next and Let alone the thousands of people who dropped a can in my bag when I was stating on their doorstep or gave me a bag of socks so like None of this would have been possible without Just thousands of awesome people kind of coming together. There's no corporate sponsorship. There's no one like writing me a big check There's there's nothing like that. It's just really awesome regular people that they wanted to see it get done So I think there's a lot of people out there in the world that would do this if they didn't have like kids Or a mortgage like and like you guys like I definitely be grateful for where you're at in your life because like you have an Opportunity where you have no anchors. There's nothing like hold you don't have the mortgage You don't have you know five kids and you don't you don't have these things that will like make you stay in one spot or like Outline your decisions for you Like that's a great place to be because you can kind of just like jump off a cliff like if there's a time to do something They might not make sense this this is the time to do it if you really believe in anything like you're supposed to So that's how I get my gas money any other questions My parents how do my parents was a really good question my mom it's actually my mom pretty much raised me by herself and It's been a metamorphosis with my family like when I Originally told them what I wanted to do and I didn't have anything. I didn't have a truck I didn't have a camera and had any nothing or anyway They thought I was crazy, you know someone someone told me once a very wise person said that The success happens in three phases that the first the first phase of success is when everyone tells you that you're crazy Because you know and you look at like the greats of of America and like they've they probably all got told that they were crazy You know like I like to talk about Nikolai Tesla because this is a guy that like figured out how to harness electricity They probably thought he was nuts We can't see electricity so people were probably like that's the craziest thing But he stuck with it and like changed the face of of the world, you know Like he changed the way we look at everything So the first phase of success is everyone saying like you're a lunatic and that definitely happened to me people were like You need to go like they they were telling me to go see like therapists Like they thought I had like on up because I'm home. I was a homeless girl They were like this person who has nothing like thinks that she's gonna Go to all the states and help people they thought I was nuts