Man Pretends To Be Homeless In Grand Central For A Week

Yusef Ramelize (via Facebook)

It's not as gimmicky as it sounds: Queens-based artist and activist Yusef Ramelize is spending the week of August 21st as a homeless man in Grand Central in an effort to raise money and awareness for the issue, in a campaign he's calling, appropriately, Homeless for One Week. We spoke to Ramelize, a creative manager at a publishing company by day, about the project.

Ramelize is bringing virtually nothing with him—"water and a digital camera," he says, to document his experiences on his website. He hasn't talked to the MTA, which prohibits people from sleeping at Grand Central. "I don't think they'd like the idea too much. But I've seen people do it, and if I can't sleep there, I'll find someplace nearby," he said. His boss has been "very supportive" of the project, giving him the days off separately from his vacation allotment.

It's not the first time an artist has played homeless, but Ramelize insists his week is no stunt: "Homeless for One Week is an annual project, and every year I pick a different charity to donate to," Ramelize told us. In previous years, Ramelize has spent a week homeless in Union Square and in various subway stations, with money going to the Food Bank. This year, the money is going to CAMBA, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit. "I don't just want to go around telling people about [homelessness]; I want to do something, make a sacrifice, and inspire people to make their own sacrifice," he said.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jamie Feldmar in Arts & Entertainment on August 5, 2011 5:00 PM

Comments [rss]

Jacob Pinchas

At least he's doing it for a good group. CAMBA has loads of homeless services around bklyn.

bklyntom

Tehching Hsieh did this for a year on the streets without the publicity or a "digital camera." BORING, unimpressive, sorry.

dogbertt

Why doesn't he do it at Penn Station, fer Christ's sake.

AndySydor

Ironically, back in the days when GCT actually had long-distance travel, they also had shower facilities, rental lockers, and long benches you could sack out on. It was expected (and enabled) that some long-distance travelers who had to wait a few days for their next trip could sack it out right there. This only became a problem after the end of long-distance travel from GCT in the late 1960s, which coincided with the turning out of our mentally ill from institutions out onto the streets.

Investigate-NWO-globalists

I hope he's not beaten nor tased by our fascist, police-state cops!

LiberalGirl

May the gods bless him.

americaonline

If he really didn't want the MTA/Grand Central to know, and wanted to live like a homeless dude, he wouldn't have gotten word out to the press until after he did it. also, I bet its really fucking easy to be homeless when you know that come Saturday, you have a nice shower, bed and meal to go home to.
Cool that he's donating money to charity though.

SPsGhost

"I bet its really fucking easy to be homeless when you know that come Saturday, you have a nice shower, bed and meal to go home to."

I bet you wouldn't last one night. STFU already.

LazyNanny

Well once the Apple Store and Shake Shack open up, I might just move in there myself.

T. Funke

Hopefully his message will be something like "donate to homeless organizations, not the homeless themselves".

Other cities like Baltimore have parking meters around the city that are donation collectors for the cities homeless shelters. Better than giving it directly to a homeless person.