50 sandwiches, so many stories

Local author’s journey puts faces on homeless Americans

Local author, wanderer, and social justice activist Justin Wilder Doering traveled more than 14,000 miles in a 1990 GMC Vandura to document homelessness in the wealthiest country in the world.

In mid-December, Doering published “Fifty Sandwiches,” a book born from his continental traverse. The book presents portraits and interviews with 50 homeless people from Los Angeles to New York City.

The Well-Read Moose in Coeur d’Alene recently hosted a book launch from 6 to 7:30 tonight. Doering will present his book and hold a Q&A with the audience. He will also present his project on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. at the Community Library Network in Hayden.

“It's important to put faces to the homeless population in our country,” said Melissa Demotte, owner of The Well-Read Moose. “It's so important to recognize that there are so many folks living amongst us and we don't know their story.”

When Doering departed Coeur d’Alene in 2016, he intended to buy each homeless person he interviewed a sandwich. But that proved difficult as he navigated shelter regulations and street dynamics where homeless people were hesitant to leave their belongings.

The name, however, stuck. After the trip, Doering felt an obligation to continue the project. He founded Fifty Sandwiches, a nonprofit “dedicated to presenting the public with a rare glimpse into the lives and experiences of America’s homeless,” according to the website fiftysandwiches.com.

Doering aimed to create an emotional bridge to the struggling strangers people walk past every day. He continues to travel the country for speaking events to spread the reality of homelessness.

Doering partnered with the Salvation Army Western Province, giving a portion of his book sales to directly fund homeless services. He also worked with Volunteers of America, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, and the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ activist group. With these additional partners, Doering focused on homeless services.

“I originally had the idea for this project when I was 15,” Doering said. “I was in Seattle trying to give a homeless person a dollar.”

His parents berated his decision to give someone a handout. But Doering couldn’t shake the idea that there was something more there, a story that needed to be told.

“People have a natural instinct of apprehension toward the homeless population based on stereotypes that they are dangerous,” Doering said.

After graduating with a degree in journalism from Boise State University, Doering started a Kickstarter campaign to fund the trip across the country to document the often silent experience of homelessness.

“I began the project trying to collect a collective face for homelessness,” Doering said. “I interviewed five people in Portland and realized I needed 5,000 interviews to have a collective face. Now, this project is an attempt to capture the diversity of homelessness, to show just a sliver of the reality of their lives.”

Each interview began casually and transformed into an intimate discussion between two strangers, a back and forth, where Doering found himself revealing things about his own life to form a trusting conversation.

“I think a lot of people found great value in being able to share their stories with a stranger,” Doering said. “Usually they are ignored by the general populace.”

Doering spent 30 minutes to five hours in each interview, taking the time to let people tell as much of their story as they needed or wanted to tell.

“There are people that I can’t wait to send this book to,” Demotte said. “[Doering] did such a great job. I want people in North Idaho to look.”

Doering sought to create understanding for the homeless experience. He created a platform that continues Fifty Sandwiches beyond the cover of the book, where anyone can volunteer to go out and document homeless people’s stories. Volunteers can join the effort online at Handshake (for students) and VolunteerMatch.

“An issue cannot be solved until it is understood,” Doering said.

Doering began his project trying to empathize with the people he met. In Portland he encountered a man who became homeless after the loss of his daughter.

“He basically gave up on his life,” Doering said. “At that moment I felt I couldn't empathize with him. I had never suffered something like that.”

Doering had to find a way to present the man’s story honestly, without trying to inhabit it.

“It's difficult to say there is some underlying cause of homelessness,” Doering said. “Overall, homelessness is the consequence of failed social structures … It is an incredibly complex and diverse issue.”

The book took more than three years to edit and lay out. It ends with an empty 51st profile that readers can fill in for themselves.

“My final interview question was, ‘If you could say one thing to society about homelessness, what would it be?’” Doering said. “People’s response, ‘We are all homeless and it can happen to you.’ That was the common thread of the book.”