Portland poker player gives $21,000 to help the homeless
Portland poker player gives $21,000 to help the homeless
By Helen Jung, The Oregonian
December 27, 2009, 8:00PM
Dusty Schmidt of Beaverton donated about $21,000, which he won on the web poker game, to Transition Projects to help find housing for three homeless people for six months. When the mercury hit below-freezing temperatures in Portland, Dusty Schmidt hit the streets.
The former amateur golfer and online poker player decided the time was right to launch his own version of a "Pay it Forward" scenario. He called it "Playing it Forward."
Over the next few days, Schmidt spent 30 hours -- about half of it outside on a laptop -- playing online poker to raise money for Transition Projects, an agency that helps homeless people seeking housing. This week, the agency received the proceeds, just under $21,000, which will pay for six months' rent, furniture and basic supplies for three homeless people.
"I decided to do it shortly after my daughter was born," said Schmidt. The 2000 movie "Pay it Forward," in which a boy comes up with the idea to do something kind to three people who each have to pay forward the favor to another three people, had always stuck in his head, he said.
After the Oct. 9 birth of his daughter, Lennon, named for John Lennon, he felt that donating to help the homeless would be in keeping with the dead musician's legacy.
"I felt the more difficult it was to go out and play on the streets, the more a statement it might make," Schmidt said.
He went to O'Bryant Square at Southwest Washington Street and Park Avenue, setting up four signs that said "Paying it forward" and "Playing it forward." He answered questions from passersby about what he was doing.
Over the next four days, he won the amount that Transition Projects said it would need to put three people into housing and provide basic supplies. The agency, for its part, is pledging to provide necessary counseling, for mental health, drug and alcohol abuse or other support and assistance.
Schmidt said he himself has been close to homelessness, as recently as five years ago. He suffered a heart attack, and faced medical costs that weren't covered by his health insurance. Disability checks were running out and he needed to make his next month's rent, he said.
Schmidt had already won some money playing online poker before and decided to play in earnest. He played about 400 hours in his first month and said he netted about $7,000.
Since then, he has turned online poker into a profession and coincidentally, has just self-published a book on treating poker like a business.
Transition Projects has just received the money and will work with its case managers to identify three people from the waiting list to receive housing, said executive director Doreen Binder.
Schmidt's donation is a surprise, especially since he has not given to the agency previously, she said, and is "a very significant" contribution from an individual.
"It's extremely moving to see somebody who's come to an understanding or a realization that there are people in need," said Binder.
As part of Schmidt's Playing it Forward donation, the recipients are expected to repay the favor by serving as a mentor or similarly volunteer their efforts later in their lives, she said.
"He is donating money with the faith that this will change somebody's life," she said.
Helen Jung