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http://www.wickedlocal.com/northandover/homepage/x142934377

Shepard ended up at the homeless shelter as a safe haven during an experiment he set out on to see if it is still possible to find the American Dream. With $25, a sleeping bag and tarp, and the clothes on his back he set off by train from Raleigh, North Carolina and made his first mistake, getting off the train late at night in the very dangerous city of North Charleston, South Carolina.
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What in the world was he doing out there? Well, Shepard had read a book called “Nickle and Dimed” by Barbara Ehrenreich, who tried to live on the wages from one $7-an-hour job and failed. Shepard was determined to prove her wrong when she said it is no longer possible to climb out of one’s socioeconomic level.

“I was really looking for solutions in her book, but she just kind of *****ed the whole way through — no solutions,” said Shepard. “She had a victim mentality and a pessimistic approach, no question about it.”

So after his 2006 graduation from Merrimack College at age 23 with a degree in business management and Spanish, he set off on his quest on July 24, with plans to write his own book about improving your lot in life. He hid his education and background, and set the goal that in one year he would have $2,500, a car, a furnished apartment, and be in a position where he could continue to improve his circumstances by either going to school or starting his own business. He found his answer and more and published his story in “Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream.”

Settling in at the homeless shelter he was lucky enough to find on that scary first night, he was surprised at the unquestioning acceptance of him by the other residents.

“I didn’t look like a fat, hairy homeless dude,” says Shepard. “Not only did I blend in, but they didn’t judge. It was like ‘we’re all in this together.’”

Originally planning to dedicate a few paragraphs to his life at the homeless shelter, he ended up giving it half of his book.

“I was really impressed by the staff there,” says Shepard. “They are really there to help you get the heck out, and the characters you meet in a homeless shelter are fascinating.”

He was warned to guard his belongings and watch out for sexual advances. He managed to get a job with a moving company, and bought a secondhand truck for $1,000.

“Buying that truck and driving it off the lot was my first real feeling of pride,” says Shepard.

He eventually managed to move out of the shelter and share a $600 apartment with roommate B.G., who kept borrowing that truck.

“He’d tell me he was going on a short errand, and he’d be gone for three hours,” says Shepard. “It got old. One night I needed my truck and it was gone. When he came back we fought it out inside, and then outside, and then inside. He knocked me out and I hit my head on the windowsill and split it open. His cousin Derrick peeled him off me, but I jumped on him for round two and he beat me up some more.”

One of the fascinating characters Shepard met was Derrick Hale, who pulled his cousin B.G. off Shepard during that fight. Derrick was a coworker at the moving company, and Shepard was inspired watching him make all the right decisions with his life.

“Derrick is the hero of the second part of my book,” says Shepard. “You see the vitality of the American Dream through his life. He was a normal, every-day guy. He worked hard. He was strong and quick. He didn’t squander his money. He bought a house when his friends were driving Cadillacs with chrome rims. I was very lucky to meet a guy like him.”
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“Adam has been doing radio and print interviews all over the country — and has promised ‘The Today Show’ that they will have the first national TV interview,” says his PR person, Alisa Balterman. “He is also booked for ‘Inside Edition’ on February 27. Adam is, just as you might expect of a person willing to walk out to the unknown with only $25 to his name, gutsy, a visionary and yes, a bit of a character — but an intelligent, articulate and attractive one! He has many interesting stories to tell about his broad, multi-faceted experience.”

After almost 10 months of his projected one-year experiment, Shepard needed to return home to care for his mother, who had a cancer relapse and was out of unemployment money. He and his brother Erik split costs on a three-bedroom apartment and took care of their mom.

“Mom is doing very well,” says Shepard. “She fought through very triumphantly. She’s very energetic and independent.”

In 10 months Shepard managed to get out of a homeless shelter and into an apartment, get a permanent job with a moving company, buy a used truck, and save $5,500, far exceeding his original $2,500 savings objective. He then wrote and published “Scratch Beginnings” on these adventures.

He has returned to his alma mater this week for a scheduled book discussion at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 24 at the Rogers Center for the Arts. The event is free, with the book on sale for $14, “or $10 each for two,” says Shepard.

Shepard wants to share what he has learned, and hopes to become a motivational speaker in high schools.

“My whole message is, you’re getting ready to enter a world where you’re no longer little Johnny full of potential,” says Shepard. “It’s going to become, ‘Here I am on my own. What am I gonna do?’ I’m saying, if you make good decisions, your life will reap better results; poor decisions reap poor results.

“It’s simple and it’s not revolutionary, but I can use my experience of actually living it. The thing is, I learned so much more than I anticipated — how you can get by with the simple things. I’m still driving that same secondhand truck. I really appreciate what we need to live as opposed to what we want.”