We caught up with the brilliant and insightful MrPuckett a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi MrPuckett, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?
I was in active drug addiction for 17 years. The final four of those years I was homeless on the streets of Minneapolis with a small dog named MrPuckett. 12 rehabs across Seattle, Minnesota and Michigan before eventually ending up in jail.
I needed help from every person that knew me for so many years and I took advantage of every single one of them.
I got into addiction recovery in 2018 and everything got worse before it got better. I lived in garages and roach infested illegal dwellings, I worked overnights at gas stations and 4ams at grocery stores.
When I got back on my feet I started helping organizations that help people in positions I used to be in. I started helping humans who were going through the same struggle I did.
My generosity comes from an undying feeling that I’ve taken so much that I’ll never be able to make up for it, but I’ll never stop trying.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My paycheck and my work in the community have always been separate. I’ve never been lucky enough to do what I love and to help the community in employment form, it’s always been as a volunteer.
I do international fundraisers and Supply Drives for people and organizations in need. In the last 5 years over $900,000 worth of financial and in-kind donations as well as food sent across the globe.
The food part is a project I started back in 2019 called TheFreePizzaDude. Thousands of people across the world have been involved since and we’ve never even met each other. Once a week I make a post on Imgur as TheFreePizzaDude asking if anyone is struggling to buy food. All they have to do is comment, then me or one of my “Pizza Angels* will send them whatever they need.
12,000 meals and over 700 full grocery orders have been sent to dozens of countries all over the world.
My fundraisers and Supply Drives are mainly on Imgur, a meme and gif sharing website that has nothing to do with fundraising. I started telling my story there of addiction and redemption and grew the largest platform on that site. People now come to posts to help other people and to celebrate the work of others.
I’ve done these fundraisers and Supply Drives for such local non-profits such as Park Center (addiction and mental health support), The Mary Parrish Center (domestic violence survivors), Nashville Humane (rescuing homeless animals) and more.
100% of my work is on my cell phone, on my couch, next to my 3 rescue dogs. While I’m incredibly proud of all these projects and the good they’ve done all over the world, I can’t help but think that I’m never doing enough because it’s all so impersonal online.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Honesty. Everything is so anonymous online, I don’t know the first name of any of the thousands of people involved in any of the projects I’ve run. I’ve always been so personal on my platform, giving away my darkest fears and worst moments of my life. I think the main reason people gravitate to my posts is because they feel a personal connection digitally, and that is incredibly rare in 2023.
Personal experience over professional. I started a project called Puckett Week where one week every February I do an international fundraiser and Supply Drive for domestic violence survivors facing homelessness. I can speak openly and honestly about my experience with homelessness. Instead of saying “help these people because they deserve it”, I can speak on the horrors of homelessness directly from a first person perspective. Many fundraisers I see for non-profits in Nashville lack a personal touch, and instead focus on the work itself however amazing it may be.
Optimism. Even when I first started and was talking about the worst of my journey, I was talking about progress instead of regret. I was barely making rent and skipping meals while raising tens of thousands of dollars for others. When I spoke about how tough it was to be in recovery but still not having basic human needs met, I was speaking about how far I’ve come and how close I was to a better life. Everything I did was – “I may not have much, but my life is so much better than it used to be”
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
I feel like I live two different lives, and I’m only content with one of them.
Because all of my work in the community is digital, my professional life is completely separate. I’ve never been able to show a non-profit my employment worth by showing them what I do in the community with fundraisers and Supply Drives.
Because of this, and a terrible resume built up through a 17 year addiction, I consistently find myself in low-paying and non-fulfilling work. It’s not so much that I struggle financially every month, which I do, but I struggle more with the fact that 40 hours a week I do something that benefits nobody outside of my boss or their shareholders.
Perhaps adjacent to imposter syndrome, I feel like a good human being when I’m doing my projects and can often feel like a worthless person while doing the work I need to just to survive.
2 lives that I’ve always wished could become one.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://imgur.com/user/MrPuckett (desktop only)
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/twopucketts
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TwoPucketts
Image Credits
The Hero Of The Week image is from Mayor John Cooper The Champion of Hope image is from The Mary Parrish Center
