I’m an idea person! I see a problem and I come up with an innovative way to solve it, -fix it, make it better, whatever…

I have no trouble breaking my ideas into steps, writing a proposal, and even inspiring others to sign on to the project. Where I fall short these days is on the follow-through. Especially if it involves asking people for money. Not good at that part at all. But I also have to accept the fact that I just don’t have the energy to do the things I used to do.

We all know we are terminal, but when we are younger we always think we have plenty of time to finish things or to start doing all of the stuff we planned on doing someday. Then, like milk starting to curdle when we pour it into our coffee, something happens that makes us realize our expiration date could be sooner than we thought. Suddenly it’s time to focus on what’s doable and to pass the baton to someone else with the brilliant ideas you probably won’t see to completion — someone younger, with more energy and technical savvy, who doesn’t spend an hour looking for their glasses when they are on top of their head.

That spoiling milk moment

Recently, I was watching a report on the local news about a fire in my neighborhood. Earlier in the day I had heard sirens and watched a helicopter circling overhead, so I was paying closer attention than usual when the news anchor said that they had rescued a 65-year-old woman from the burning house. “Oh no!” I gasped, “That poor old lady!” In my mind, I pictured an elderly woman too frail to get out of her burning house on her own. Then I realized that I am older than 65! The was the moment when I came to terms with my own mortality! Even hearing the doctor tell me I had breast cancer at age 55 didn’t smack me on the back of the head the way that image of some poor dear woman hobbling out of an inferno, did that night.

So this is my “Pass the Baton” page, where I’ve listed links to projects I started over the past few years, which I know I can’t finish. If anything strikes your fancy, please send me an email and I’ll be happy to hand you everything I’ve got on the project so far. Click on any title for more details:

We’re All In – A PR campaign to change the way we think about un-housed people, by changing the language used to define them.

Remarkable Renter Certification – A program that provides tenants with an opportunity to overcome bad credit and eviction history barriers to renting; to make more rentals available to low-income tenants, and to provide landlords with reliable, responsible tenants.

Find My Food – a website where groups who provide food and other donations can post the time and place and any criteria, and people needing a meal, or food or clothing can find what’s available in their neck of the woods. I had built this website on WordPress but couldn’t keep it up. I could easily put it back online if someone wants to run it.

Bridge Housing Communities with Sleeping Cabins – A proposal to build communities of sleeping cabins as temporary emergency housing for the most vulnerable people without housing until permanent housing is available. Juan and I traveled to 12 tiny shelter communities in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California to see what works and what doesn’t. Here is what we found.

Common Credits – A Local Currency that would facilitate creating a local alternative economy, relying on exchanges of services and goods among both individuals and cooperatives and businesses, where these services or goods can be traded, using “Common Credits” as a mean of tracking the flow of value.