HELP JIMMY AND BOOTS GET OFF THE STREETS
Donation protected
Sometimes, all people need is a chance to make a life for themselves.
When a teenager raised in a troubled home is brought into the system, it is not always in their best interest. This is the story of Jimmy and Boots, told by Jimmy (James Michael Nicholos), himself:
“I don’t even know how to start this bio thing. I haven’t had to do anything in 30 years or more. I keep trying to start. When you are homeless long enough, time passes and it all just seems to melt together in a blur. I’ve had no real jobs. I’ve never even filed a tax return or had an ID.
It all started in 1981. The parents were going through a divorce, a nasty one. There was a lot of fighting. It got so bad… and family services put me in a juvenile detention center because they couldn’t find foster parents for me. I had never gotten in trouble before, and here I found myself in a detention center.
After six months my social worker came to take me to some kind of meeting or appointment. She stopped at a red light. When I looked around everything was so beautiful. I had spent the last six months locked up in a two-man cell. And there I was, looking at all the colors, smelling the fresh air and feeling the heat in it. I got a cold feeling because we were on our way back to the detention center. I couldn’t stand it. I opened the door and I ran. As I did this, the social worker started yelling at me to come back. I just ran until I saw a house that I was able to dive under and hide. After some time I could hear the social worker yelling for me to come back. I could see the street from my hiding place. She was not alone; she had a police officer with her. After a while I fell asleep, and when I woke up it was dark and I was cold.
I had to survive as a juvenile and I didn’t want family services to get me again. They had locked me up, not because I had done anything wrong, but because they couldn’t find me a foster home at that time. Once there I think that they stopped trying, because it was just easier for them. To this day I still wonder how long they would have left me there if I hadn’t run that day. By 15 I was labeled and I hadn’t committed a single crime. That was the beginning.
I spent the next years hitchhiking around the country. I got to the point where I had hitchhiked to every state except Alaska and Hawaii. I need to tell people that if you build a bridge to Hawaii I’ll be the first person to hitchhike across it.”
Boots is a six-year old chocolate Labrador retriever raised by Jimmy since he was a puppy, and registered as a service dog: "He is my baby. I got two kids I never got to raise and when that happened he was the only thing that kept me sane. He never asked for anything, only a little love.”
Today, Jimmy and Boots are residents of the streets of Sherman Oaks, and are well-known and liked by the local community.
I have known Jimmy and Boots for years now. I worked many years with the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council and I met them one night after one of our board meetings, delivering the food we over-ordered to our homeless. Over the years, I developed a friendship with Jimmy and came to adore him. In time I learned that many others in our community shared my fondness for him. Knowing Jimmy, it did not surprise me.
I felt helpless at the end of every visit to Jimmy and Boots. I could only do so much on my own. Here and there I would bring them clothes, food, items for Boots, sometimes a little cash. Jimmy never asked for anything, not even once. One night I insisted on wanting to know what he would like, and his answer was books. Books! That made me adore him even more.
Boots was stolen on New Year’s Eve by a person offering to take him to be groomed. After several very stressful days, and with tremendous support from the local community, Boots was returned. It was the support and love shown by the Sherman Oaks community throughout these tough times that inspired me to start a non-profit to help our neighborhood. The vision behind this non-profit is to bring assistance to individuals, small businesses, rescue organizations and others, helping overcome our neighborhood struggles together, from the inside out.
As we go through the process of getting HelpOurHood.org established, we want to start working right away. Our very first initiative is to help Jimmy and Boots get off the streets.
We are looking to raise $20,000 to acquire a camper van for Jimmy to have safe shelter for himself and Boots. This van will also serve as a vehicle for a sustainable mobile handyman business. We want to ensure his mobile home is cost-free for a year, and we want to provide him with training and assistance inserting himself into society for the first time. Jimmy has a talent for repair and maintenance work which could easily help him earn a living, and in time allow him to find a permanent home for himself and his loyal Boots.
This is how we will put your donations to work towards Jimmy's new life:
Van/camper including Registration Fees: $15,000 (based on current local offerings)
Auto Insurance for 1 Year: $2,400 (up to $200 per month)
Gas/Auto Maintenance for 1 Year: $1,200
Handyman/Maintenance Business Tools: $500
Business Registrations/Set up costs: $500
Reserve/Emergency fund: $400
TOTAL: $20,000
Please help us gather the resources to find Jimmy a home off the streets, and help him establish his own small business. With our help, he will get the chance at life he was not given as a young man.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE, AND EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS.
Thank you for your help!
Jolie Salter
Founder, Help Our Hood, Inc.
Help Our Hood, Inc. is a CA 501c3 organization
TAX ID # 86-2180043
All donations are tax deductible.
Watch the news stories covering Boots’ disappearance in Los Angeles TV:
https://www.foxla.com/news/homeless-man-reunited-with-allegedly-stolen-service-dog?fbclid=IwAR0Pwec2exv92HfsXzSLkmIZgfjpS5b9QHB0AHryg46lIKw7KtjTRB-wR4Q
https://www.foxla.com/video/888726?fbclid=IwAR2R2R2VVfpzk1JoCcMcSshNxQKuZsYdK4L2ZGgzoiFfzsppt5-XqivzhNg
When a teenager raised in a troubled home is brought into the system, it is not always in their best interest. This is the story of Jimmy and Boots, told by Jimmy (James Michael Nicholos), himself:
“I don’t even know how to start this bio thing. I haven’t had to do anything in 30 years or more. I keep trying to start. When you are homeless long enough, time passes and it all just seems to melt together in a blur. I’ve had no real jobs. I’ve never even filed a tax return or had an ID.
It all started in 1981. The parents were going through a divorce, a nasty one. There was a lot of fighting. It got so bad… and family services put me in a juvenile detention center because they couldn’t find foster parents for me. I had never gotten in trouble before, and here I found myself in a detention center.
After six months my social worker came to take me to some kind of meeting or appointment. She stopped at a red light. When I looked around everything was so beautiful. I had spent the last six months locked up in a two-man cell. And there I was, looking at all the colors, smelling the fresh air and feeling the heat in it. I got a cold feeling because we were on our way back to the detention center. I couldn’t stand it. I opened the door and I ran. As I did this, the social worker started yelling at me to come back. I just ran until I saw a house that I was able to dive under and hide. After some time I could hear the social worker yelling for me to come back. I could see the street from my hiding place. She was not alone; she had a police officer with her. After a while I fell asleep, and when I woke up it was dark and I was cold.
I had to survive as a juvenile and I didn’t want family services to get me again. They had locked me up, not because I had done anything wrong, but because they couldn’t find me a foster home at that time. Once there I think that they stopped trying, because it was just easier for them. To this day I still wonder how long they would have left me there if I hadn’t run that day. By 15 I was labeled and I hadn’t committed a single crime. That was the beginning.
I spent the next years hitchhiking around the country. I got to the point where I had hitchhiked to every state except Alaska and Hawaii. I need to tell people that if you build a bridge to Hawaii I’ll be the first person to hitchhike across it.”
Boots is a six-year old chocolate Labrador retriever raised by Jimmy since he was a puppy, and registered as a service dog: "He is my baby. I got two kids I never got to raise and when that happened he was the only thing that kept me sane. He never asked for anything, only a little love.”
Today, Jimmy and Boots are residents of the streets of Sherman Oaks, and are well-known and liked by the local community.
I have known Jimmy and Boots for years now. I worked many years with the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council and I met them one night after one of our board meetings, delivering the food we over-ordered to our homeless. Over the years, I developed a friendship with Jimmy and came to adore him. In time I learned that many others in our community shared my fondness for him. Knowing Jimmy, it did not surprise me.
I felt helpless at the end of every visit to Jimmy and Boots. I could only do so much on my own. Here and there I would bring them clothes, food, items for Boots, sometimes a little cash. Jimmy never asked for anything, not even once. One night I insisted on wanting to know what he would like, and his answer was books. Books! That made me adore him even more.
Boots was stolen on New Year’s Eve by a person offering to take him to be groomed. After several very stressful days, and with tremendous support from the local community, Boots was returned. It was the support and love shown by the Sherman Oaks community throughout these tough times that inspired me to start a non-profit to help our neighborhood. The vision behind this non-profit is to bring assistance to individuals, small businesses, rescue organizations and others, helping overcome our neighborhood struggles together, from the inside out.
As we go through the process of getting HelpOurHood.org established, we want to start working right away. Our very first initiative is to help Jimmy and Boots get off the streets.
We are looking to raise $20,000 to acquire a camper van for Jimmy to have safe shelter for himself and Boots. This van will also serve as a vehicle for a sustainable mobile handyman business. We want to ensure his mobile home is cost-free for a year, and we want to provide him with training and assistance inserting himself into society for the first time. Jimmy has a talent for repair and maintenance work which could easily help him earn a living, and in time allow him to find a permanent home for himself and his loyal Boots.
This is how we will put your donations to work towards Jimmy's new life:
Van/camper including Registration Fees: $15,000 (based on current local offerings)
Auto Insurance for 1 Year: $2,400 (up to $200 per month)
Gas/Auto Maintenance for 1 Year: $1,200
Handyman/Maintenance Business Tools: $500
Business Registrations/Set up costs: $500
Reserve/Emergency fund: $400
TOTAL: $20,000
Please help us gather the resources to find Jimmy a home off the streets, and help him establish his own small business. With our help, he will get the chance at life he was not given as a young man.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE, AND EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS.
Thank you for your help!
Jolie Salter
Founder, Help Our Hood, Inc.
Help Our Hood, Inc. is a CA 501c3 organization
TAX ID # 86-2180043
All donations are tax deductible.
Watch the news stories covering Boots’ disappearance in Los Angeles TV:
https://www.foxla.com/news/homeless-man-reunited-with-allegedly-stolen-service-dog?fbclid=IwAR0Pwec2exv92HfsXzSLkmIZgfjpS5b9QHB0AHryg46lIKw7KtjTRB-wR4Q
https://www.foxla.com/video/888726?fbclid=IwAR2R2R2VVfpzk1JoCcMcSshNxQKuZsYdK4L2ZGgzoiFfzsppt5-XqivzhNg
Organizer
Patricia Carr
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA