St. Francis House resident Scott LeValley has two things that show who he is: a social security card and a driver’s license.
“I don’t keep any documents,” LeValley, 53, said. “I think very few people around here do.”
He has no birth certificate. No voter ID. No insurance card. No picture of him with his children.
“It’s hard to get those documents if they were lost along the way,” said Mark Watson, the social security and benefits advocate for the homeless at Three Rivers Legal Services, which helps the elderly, homeless and poor.
Watson is raising money on IndieGogo, a crowdfunding website, for a project that would help homeless people scan and store their documents and information on a cloud-based storage system, such as Google Drive or Dropbox. If the project raises enough money to cover the cost of a laptop and a portable scanner and laminator, LeValley would be able to scan his social security card into a personal, online account.
Secured there, it wouldn’t get wet, wrinkled, lost or stolen.
Three Rivers Legal Services’ executive director, Christine Larson, said that identification is often required for assistance programs, such as social security disability, unemployment and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.
“(Not having documents) can be a huge impediment for people,” she said. “How do they get a bus pass if they can’t prove who they are to get the bus pass?”
Documents are essential to go anywhere and do anything, Larson said.
“Without identification, you can’t access really any services in our society,” she said.
The project was posted on the website IndieGogo on Feb. 14 and will continue to collect donations until April 15. To make it successful, Three Rivers needs to raise at least $6,000, Watson said. If that goal is surpassed, Three Rivers will put the money toward other projects that would benefit homeless, such as buying food.
Watson said he hopes to help people upload their files to a cloud service so that they can be accessed at any time. With the project funds, he would also type and laminate cards with directions for accessing and downloading documents.
By using portable devices, Watson said he would be able to go anywhere to meet those who need the service.
“That’s the beauty of it,” he said.
The stored scans of documents may not fully replace original documents in all cases, Larson said, but they will aid in replacing stolen or lost originals.
Those participating in the project could also scan personal photographs or write down memories, Watson said.
LeValley said he wishes he had pictures of his three children because they are the best thing that happened to him. He said he cherishes his memories of their births.
“But I don’t want to write that down and keep it — I know I got it here,” he said, pointing to his head.
Trevor Parish, who has been living with LeValley at St. Francis House for about three weeks, said he would have to keep his documents on him if he didn’t have a friend close by who was willing to help him.
Parish, who said he became homeless after he was unfairly arrested and put in jail, is working on getting back the house that he owned, along with his business, Parish Framing, LLC.
“I came out here with just what I had on my back,” the 45-year-old said. “I had to find out how to get around this. I didn’t even know Gainesville, and I had to find out what I had to do to start getting help.”
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 3/18/2015 under the headline “Project crowdfunds to store homeless identifying documents”]
