Focusing on the homeless

For a man who drives two top-of-the-line Mercedes, owns three homes and serves as CEO of a Fortune 500 company, Lynn Blodgett seems an unlikely advocate for the homeless. But when your brother has died at your side and two other siblings have died young, the empathy for others' misfortunes is genuine and hard-earned. Acquaintances say he has a heart of gold, which is ironic because the heart that beats in his chest is so flawed.

A tall, slender man with glasses and thinning black hair, he was a dedicated amateur photographer when he turned his lens on the homeless. After business meetings in cities around the country, he would remove his coat and tie, untuck his shirt and journey into the haunts of the homeless with a wad of $10 bills in his pocket and $30,000 worth of camera equipment on his shoulder. He did this for three years. The result: A 138-page book filled with his starkly beautiful black-and-white photos of America's homeless.

"Finding Grace / The Face of America's Homeless" has sold 10,000 copies and won critical acclaim (American Photo included it on its list of the top 10 photo books of 2007).

"I was just glad when we found a publisher," says Blodgett. "Now it's become a brand."

The book has become, if not the impetus, then the face of major fundraising efforts. "Finding Grace" was co-opted by United Way of Greater Los Angeles earlier this year for its HomeWalk event, which raised $1 million in a single day for the homeless. Prints from the book were plastered on the sides of buses and along the walk route.

The book was part of two homeless fundraising events in New York City that included an auction of Blodgett's prints at Sotheby's. The book was used in another fundraising event in Boston, with the prints being a stage backdrop for a concert that featured Bruce Springsteen, Natalie Merchant, Bonnie Raitt and Jon Bon Jovi (who has one of Blodgett's prints hanging in his recording studio). The book was also used by an event in Dallas to raise funds for a homeless shelter. More fundraising events are being planned that will continue to use the book as a marketing tool.

"These organizations have turned it into something meaningful, to raise funds," says Blodgett. "It was more than I ever expected. Now I think there's a lot more we can do."

Blodgett donates proceeds from the book to the Finding Grace Initiative, an organization created to assist the homeless. So far, the combined sales of the book and donations have raised $6 million.