WCWE - We Care, We Engage

My name is Tim Staerz, an international student from Germany majoring in International Business. This is my fifth year living abroad, and I have lived in three different states in the US. Especially through my work at an emergency company in Germany and many previous volunteering engagements, I recognized a big potential of improving homeless' lives in the Bay Area through my idea.

I realized that many people living in the Bay Area suffer due to the consequences of the housing crisis and have very little money left to feed themselves. Especially homeless people do not always know that they can take advantage of certain food kitchens. I would like to create an opportunity or application, in which Bay Area restaurants and hotels can participate to do good for the community. Restaurants can donate food that is about to expire, or leftovers from the day. Hotels can provide designated empty rooms temporarily to homeless people. In return they get different levels of WCWE certificates. The level will depend on the regular basis and general length of the engagement to fight some of the above mentioned issues. In return, companies can publish/market that they are engaged and involved in improving their very local community.

I am fighting a huge problem of homelessness in the US. Bay Area's homeless crisis ranks among the worst in the United States. The Bay Area specifically has the third largest population of people experiencing homelessness (28,200) in the US. I read through surveys that almost 50% of homeless people became homeless after age 50, which is likely due to rising housing prices and loss of safety nets. Section 10 of the Constitution explicitly states that "Everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected." Do we honor that by leaving them on the street, without food and any opportunities to get better? I hope WCWE can at least fight hunger and shelter issues so they can focus their strength and energy to get back on track to a better life.

WCWE is an application and online platform that offers local companies, especially Restaurants and Hotels, to fight hunger and the shelterless. In return they get Certificates so they can not just feel, but also show that they impact people's lives on their media platforms.

My project serves the homeless and people with low-income who struggle to find and afford shelter and healthy food options. They are people who need our support to get back on their feed again, because the system and other factors left them hanging. I understand their needs, because I spent a lot of volunteering hours working there to get to meet them and know them a little bit. They are smart people and I realized even though talent is universal, opportunity is not. I will engage them by working with current food drives that already support them to spread the word and reach an extended base.

My project relates to a global problem, homelessness. It is connected to an increasing standard of living, and often times people who do not have access to resources cannot keep up with it. I also want to fight the attitude that society thinks homeless are lazy and just want to sit on people's pockets. They are traditionally left behind and I see my project as a responsibility to build awareness and drive action that not all, if any, homeless people are lazy and can be successful in their very own ways without suffering, but living with dignity. 

I often drive past homeless people with signs showing something like "Please spare some money, I am starving". It does not just happen in the Silicon Valley, as I have also seen whole streets in San Francisco filled with people living in their tents or an overused mattress. This does not align with what our constitution meant with dignity, and I hope my project can impact those lives, even if it is just a little.

I have met homeless people who could not enjoy a safety net. Some of them had to fight for every little thing they own and nothing came to them easily. I was fortunate enough to have been born into a family that had stable income and in a supportive country like Germany. People that are not born into a supportive environment are kind of trapped there, and I know in a different live I could have easily been in their situation.

I have worked for an emergency company in Germany, and I know how just a little bit of support can heavily impact lives of many. I also spent lots of volunteering hours that enabled me to get a good feeling to see if there is room for potential, which I totally see. Through my bachelor's degree in Management, current work in Sales and the ongoing trend of CSR, I can really see that companies would participate in it.

2015/16 was a huge stream of refugees coming into Germany. I worked at some camps to support my emergency company in accommodating them and providing any necessary help they need. It is an exception, but they are also homeless in a different way. I realized that many of them were frustrated and sad that they had to leave the communities they grew up in to go to a different unknown future because of war. I bought two pop-up goals from our limited budget and realized how Soccer did just eliminate their fears and thoughts, even just for one afternoon. My supervisor told me that a lot of them signed up for local soccer teams in Germany. It showed me that sometimes people in need just need something small to believe in, and it will make a huge difference.

I think the above mentioned example was a good way to describe my leadership ability. It required initiative to just call 30 random refugees who do not know each other to ask them to put all their current actions beside to play.