Adam Bruckner has stood on Vine Street in Philadelphia’s Center City, armed with a clipboard and two checkbooks. At four p.m. two lines begin to form. One line receives food and the other line needs help getting ID.
Bruckner is the founder of Philly Restart, a nonprofit he created to help Philadelphia’s poor and homeless get the legal ID they need to start new lives. While other volunteers serve food, Bruckner writes checks to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and the Division of Vital Records , state agencies that charge a fee to produce photo IDs and birth certificates.
Charging fees for photo IDs sounds like a poll tax.
Every Monday since December of 2002, a group of volunteers has met on Vine Street in Philadelphia to provide a dignified meal to the homeless and hungry. While the food line serves between 150-300 plates, another line begins to form, consisting of desperate men, women, and children who are in need of obtaining identification.
Over 170 shelters, halfway houses, and rehabs refer their clients to Restart for assistance in obtaining proper identification. You cannot get a job, cash a check, receive medication, obtain housing, or vote, without proper state identification.
In 2013, they helped over 5,000 Philadelphian's take a step toward independence by helping them get proper ID.
CLICK HERE for more information about Philly Restart.
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