The Internet and the Homeless

“Online and off the street” – An inspiring account illustrating how computer technology can help even the hard-core homeless find their way.Homeless man reboots his life

By Karen Samples
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        For six years, Mark Pierce lived under a piece of canvas near the Ohio River. He slept on a foam mattress retrieved from a Dumpster. He kept clean with jugs of water. In his own words, he was “tired, depressed, resentful and hateful” – just one of the region’s estimated 1,400 homeless. Then Mr. Pierce found the Internet, and everything changed. He became a man with a home page, if not a home.

        Using the free computers at public libraries, Mr. Pierce, 43, learned the code for creating Web sites. He made friends through e-mail and shared his expertise with them. One woman, a grandmother from Tacoma, Wash., was so grateful for his help that she shipped him clothes and money.

        Today, Mr. Pierce talks of applets, shell systems and proxy servers. He works part-time at a computer lab. And three months ago, he took his biggest step yet, leaving the sketchy woods between Eastern Avenue and Columbia Parkway for an apartment in Covington.

For the remainder of th story and photos visit
http://enquirer.com/editions/2001/02/18/loc_online_and_off.html