A former student is helping to raise money for a cause he is involved in. I offered him a few dollars to write blog posts about his cause. Find their group on Facebook to connect with him.

Here is his first update:

Hello, my name is Eric Henriquez, and my journey with helping out the homeless in Down Town Los Angles came by surprise. A student and future good friend Kris Dowling was the one who opened my eyes to extreme poverty. My sophomore year in High School Kris, screened his Santa Susanna senior project at my youth group. Kris's project was a fifteen minute documentary on Skid Row and the situation in the area. I was involved in many city and school community service clubs yet Skid Row seemed like an interesting cause to take on. I was moved by his documentary and i want to make a big impact on something that wasn't in africa or india.

Extreme poverty was only thirty minutes away. Skid Row can best be described as its own third world country. The dirty streets, drug/domestic violence problems on every block, and let us not forget the dense streets filled with homeless people. Kris wanted to bring awareness to Skid Row. Many are unaware of the area. He asked if anyone wanted to help him bring change to this needy cause. I meet with him and together, we started our group known as Skid Row Update.

Since then we have been working on helping out the area. It was something I never saw myself doing. Managing my local High-school clubs, and sports was enough for me. Yet something about this cause made me feel like I could inspire and truly impact someone's life on a whole different scale. To help a little homeless girl turn her life around and see a brighter future all because she had someone that really cared about her by her side made me wonder who else I can inspire. As cliche as this statement may be, it all starts with the children. I am not doing this for my own self , but to help a cause, that I feel is worth the effort.