(audience applauds)
- Most of us use old change to ride the bus.
Our next guest uses old buses to make a change in the world.
See what we did there?
She converts used school buses
into housing for the homeless.
Please welcome the founder of Vehicles For Changes,
Julie Akins, y'all.
(audience applauds and cheers)
So,
it is such a beautiful thing.
We just moved here from Nashville
and homelessness is a huge issue there in Nashville.
What drew you to this cause?
- Well, what drew me to the cause
is I'm a journalist.
So I started looking at homelessness--
- We're just full of journalists today.
- I know, what's up?
I started looking at homelessness back in 1986.
- Wow.
- And I saw the changes over the years.
And I started seeing,
even in my little town,
whole families out on the street,
living in the backseats of cars.
Just in terrible conditions.
So I wanted to know what was going on.
So I traveled the West Coast
all the way down to Slab City,
which is a super cool place,
very interesting what's going on there
in the homeless community.
Interviewed over 1000 people.
And when I was out there
I started talking to families
about what they need.
What would they want?
And I met a woman who was living in a school bus
with her seven kids.
Her husband was in the process of dying.
And they ran out of money to finish their bus.
I'm sad to tell you she lost her children.
And her story stuck in my mind.
And I kept thinking about it off and on
and then one night
I had this dream
and I pictured a bus
with these beautiful window boxes with red flowers.
And I woke up excited about that,
and I wrote a blog saying this was my dream.
And then next day I got an email
from a woman I had never met.
Who promised $25000 a year for five years.
(audience applauds)
- What?
Isn't that funny?
One little blog on something that's going on in your world
and like,
what that does.
The ripple effect of that.
And how many lives that woman's gonna change now
because of you.
Because of this whole idea.
I think it's amazing.
And how do you,
how do you select who gets the buses?
Who gets the homes?
- Okay, so we look for people,
we do want people who have some income,
because we want them to have skin in the game.
So there's a lot of working people
who just can't afford first, last, and deposit.
So we're looking for folks like that.
You gotta be clean and sober 'cause you're on a bus
so you can't be like drunk-driving your house down the road.
So we needed--
- You're looking for people that are really wanting,
wanting to get out. - Really wanting a hand out.
And so to be honest, there's no shortage.
And that's how we qualify them.
And then if they live in that bus for a year,
and like they it,
we have a buyer's program.
So they can buy that bus
and never have to worry about being homeless again.
- Wow.
(audience applauds)
We actually have some surprise guests on Skype for Julie.
Please say hello to David Flood,
his wife Jennifer,
and their three children
Riley, David Junior, and Noah.
(audience applauds and cheers)
They are the first family
to live in a schoolie.
Hello Flood family, how y'all doing?
- Good, how are you? - Hi.
- We're doing awesome.
Oh my gosh, okay.
David, you were homeless before the schoolie, right?
Tell me about that.
How did that happen?
- Well we were living in the same place
for about ten years.
And the person we paid rent to
was always very kind and gracious to us.
But our income changed so drastically
and all of a sudden that we ended up out on the street.
At first, we lived in a very beautiful camp ground.
We had a great tent and a lot of nice camping stuff.
But then they closed the camp ground down for renovations
and we really didn't know what to do.
So all five of us ended up living in our car.
When the weather started getting a little colder
I didn't really know what to do.
Maybe drive further down south
where it would be warmer.
I don't know.
But my wife Jennifer had seen Vehicles For Change
and so we put off calling her for a while
but when Jennifer finally called her
and talked to her a couple of times
it just seemed to take on a life of its own.
And we got picked as the first family
for Vehicles for Change.
- [Kelly] That's so great.
(audience applauds)
What do you say?
I've had those people in my life
that I definitely thank.
Our family had hard times
and it's usually,
it came from our church.
Our congregation usually came together
to help people in need.
And I always love to be able to run into those people again
and say, "Thank you."
So what would you like to say to Julie?
That really changed your family's life.
- I would say,
Julie, we were all incredulous when you picked us
as the first family to live on your yellow school bus.
We are deeply grateful to you.
I think that your vision is a wonderful one.
And empowering to people.
It certainly has empowered us.
You gave us a safe space for our family.
You kept out family together.
And you gave us the breather and the rest that we needed
to take the next step.
That's really all people need.
I know I'm speaking for all of us
when I say we'll be forever grateful to you.
Julie, I love you.
- I love you! - I love you!
(audience applauds)
- Anything you wanna say to them?
- You guys know I love you, right?
We talk about this all the time.
Thank you so much
for representing Vehicles For Changes so well
by being just an awesome family.
And I'm so happy that it's working for you.
And you know,
you know I love you back so much.
Thank you guys,
- This is so beautiful! (audience applauds)