Scratch Beginnings

Scratch Beginnings is a book by Adam Shepard, a graduate of Merrimack College.

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It is an experience report. Shepard wanted to investigate whether it is possible in the U.S., work your way up out of poverty on their own. He had the following plan: He wanted to go outside his home state of North Carolina in a homeless shelter. He had $ 25, a sleeping bag, a bag and the clothes he wore. His goal was to have at least $ 2,500, a car and an apartment for a year. His book is a response to Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. He wanted to check whether Ehrenreich's statement that the poor can not free themselves from poverty, true.

Shepard lived in a homeless shelter in Charleston for the first 70 days of his experiment, involving food stamps. Then he found a job as a day laborer. Later he found a steady job at a moving company. After ten months, he had to stop the experiment because someone was seriously ill from his family. At this time he had managed by its own account, however, to move into an apartment, buy a pick- up truck and save almost $ 5000.