People who lost a job, got pregnant, or evicted, and are forced to live in their cars, face many threats. One of the greatest dangers is finding a place to park at night that’s safe for them to sleep. Parking in a populated area raises the risk of police telling them to “move along” in the middle of the night, while parking in an isolated place can lead to rape, robbery, abuse, or even death.
James Charles, Kiplin Automotive Group’s general manager in Charlotte, North Carolina, understands the dangers some of these people are going through. He turned his car parking lot into a safe place for people experiencing homelessness to park their cars and sleep for the night. The parking lot has security cameras and is well lit to protect them while they sleep.
James announced in a Facebook post:
We know that some families are struggling and in a tough situation. Yea, whole families, are sleeping in the car. We will provide a safe place to park at night. As this service to the community develops, we will look to help these families in other ways, but right now, a safe place is what we can offer.
In 2015, James and his six children were forced to live in their car for more than 90 days. Ever since then, James has been dedicated to helping people who are experiencing homelessness out of force. Those who are working their way up, whom may not have enough money to afford a place and are stuck in this middle stage sleeping out of their cars, are the people he is trying to help.
James recalled:
In 2015, we were homeless, I’d like to say displaced, for 90 days. We didn’t have a place to live because the owner sold the house we were renting, and we were unaware that it was being sold.
Once James announced on social media that the car lot was helping the homeless, donations began flooding into the dealership. People donated blankets, hats, coats, and a port-a-potty. “Hundreds of messages on our Facebook page, people saying thank you for what you’re doing. We’ve had an enormous amount of people responding, which lets me know people care about this issue tremendously,” he said.
James started a GoFundMe campaign to help the increasing amount of homeless people who parked in his lot at night. In one month, the campaign raised up to $32,000! Following the success of the campaign, James established a non-profit organization called HALO Now.
The organization plans to expand the project and provide families $2,500 to assist them with renting an apartment.
The GoFundMe page wrote:
The reason why we set a goal to raise 250K is because we believe that the average family will need about $2500 in housing assistance and other resources. We anticipate that the $250K will cover the first 100 homeless families and individuals in need.
HALO Now means Helping and Leading Others Now.
