About Us

We're just two wise bums, trying to get by and help you survive the streets

This project was started by myself (Andrew) and Lisa as a way to help make our situation better and to have a creative outlet during a difficult time in our life. Lisa and I have dealt with a lot of difficult things from the time we first met and fell in love over three years ago, but we feel we have a strong relationship because almost everything has been a struggle for us. Whether we are facing turbulence or peace, we have always remained true to each other and ourselves. It is rare for us to not be seen together and we feel our love has only grown stronger for each other since the day we met. Our strong relationship has allowed us to grow with each other, hit rock bottom and bounce back up together, and it will take us into a bright future, whatever that means for us. We have learned many things about ourselves, life, and surviving on the streets - and we'd like to share our knowledge and experiences with you so you can help yourself, a loved one, or the next homeless person you see standing on a corner with a sign.

The Weisbums brand came about when we were brainstorming names for this blog and our print-on-demand Shopify store. Lisa and I were walking to go panhandle like we do every day and brainstorming out loud when the name came to me. We were talking about my old consulting brand, Weismind Consulting and I had an aha moment. Weisbums came about just like Weismind Consulting - a play on my last name (and Lisa's future last name) and the word wise. Just like you'd want a wise mind consulting your precious business, you'd want wise bums giving you advice on how to deal with the problem of homelessness.

The idea for the blog came long before the idea for our brand name however. We've been struggling with homelessness for about 15 months now and dealing with unemployment since July of last year for Lisa while I have been trying to get a job since losing my cyber security job back in November of 2021. Losing my job is really what started the journey to where we are at today and we have experienced a lot of really hard times in between then and now. We've lost all our pets, our housing, had our jeep stolen, had all our possessions stolen, had to build things up from ground zero, and had to learn how to survive with no income - there really isn't anything we haven't faced in the last few years. We feel blessed however - blessed that we have each other, blessed that we have people who love us, and blessed that we have had so many kind people help us along in this difficult path life has taken on.

Since Lisa lost her job last year, we have really had to learn a lot of things about ourselves, about survival, and about being homeless. We feel very fortunate compared to many people who we see struggling because we know they don't always have somebody by their side or the ability to adapt due to their own life experiences, disabilities, or whatever it is that has kept them homeless. We felt that we could help those people who are newly homeless or struggling on the streets by sharing the knowledge that we have gained over the last 15 months. We also saw this blog as an opportunity to capitalize on our creative abilities and experience, hoping that it may be a path forward to help us get into a better situation.

We don't expect anyone to have to give us anything to read our blog - we hope it can help as many people as possible. But we greatly appreciate any help and kindness that comes our way and ask for your help if you have the ability to. The way we look at it, you can give us money panhandling on the street and we can stand there and hold a sign or we can ask for donations to help us survive and that way we can spend our time working on productive, creative endeavors that can help other people. We can work on this blog that shares information on how to help the homeless; we can work on our Shopify store in which we plan on donating products to homeless individuals for every purchase you make; we can spend time making money and making our lives better rather than risking getting hit by a car or robbed by somebody who wants the cash we made flying a sign.

We hope that you find our blog entertaining, informative, and helpful in understanding homelessness better - whether it be for your own survival on the streets or for helping loved ones who are experiencing tough times. We've experienced people who have been really cruel to us and we have experienced even more people who have been really kind to us. There is a common misunderstanding that homeless people are just deadbeat drug addicts and alcoholics who don't want to do anything, so they just beg for money and stink. Our goal is to bridge this misunderstanding by helping homeless individuals help themselves and help those who are more fortunate understand how difficult it is to live on the streets and how they can help those in need.

Homelessness is a problem that we allow to happen by sheer ignorance and greed - we believe housing is a right and it makes us upset that there are 15 million abandoned homes in the United States, enough to house most of people who need a place to stay. Our society feels the need to be punitive to individuals who have made life decisions that got them to this point in their lives, not because they wanted to be homeless, but rather they made decisions based off their best understanding given their situation. You have no idea what anybody actually struggles with until you are in their shoes. Most of us struggle with mental health issues, crippling addictions that stem from trauma and abuse, and a lack of resources available to deal with the issues in our lives. Many of us aren't even who would expect to be homeless - we got here by the way of bad luck, trusting the wrong people, or because we had abusers in our lives that made it impossible for us to live normally.

I won't rant anymore about the problem of homelessness for now - I will do that more in the blog, but I want to introduce ourselves in the context of our current situation and from where this blog originated. If there is one thing to take away from this blog it is to be kind and compassionate to the people you see struggling on the street. Everybody is somebody's son or daughter, somebody's friend or family, and they are at the lowest point in their life when you see them. Think about how you would like your child, friend, or family member treated if they were to go through homelessness. If you take away the fact that we are all feeling, breathing, and suffering people, just like everyone else, then we have accomplished our number one priority. Any help from you is secondary to that goal as making an impact in the world means more to us than anything.

We want to thank you in advance for your help and support in sharing this project with others, donating your resources to help make our life better, and providing feedback to make this project better for everyone who touches it. I hope you enjoy reading our content, watching our videos, and purchasing the products we affiliate for or sell on our store. We enjoy every moment of working on this and are excited to bring you the creative endeavors of the Weisbums!