Harry Homeless Hippie passes through Dubois County on 92-county, 100-city mission

Timothy B. Watt arrived in Dubois County on Tuesday and added this to the Harry Homeless HIPPIE’s Hike 2 Benefit Hoosier Homeless & Hungry Facebook Page he operates, “Jasper Dubois County 76th Week 75th Hoosierton 68th County.”

Watt, who is homeless by choice at this point, has made it his mission to visit every county in Indiana to combat the public’s image of homelessness.

“People don’t realize how close they are to homelessness,” he said. “So many are just one missed payment or paycheck away from it. I just want people to understand that stereotypical image of worthlessness and laziness of the homeless is just not true.”

Watt described his life leading up to homelessness. He was successful and lived well but a bout of depression brought the three-year Marine veteran to the streets of Indianapolis after his wife of 22 years left him. On the way down, he sought services through Veteran’s Affairs in Indianapolis for several months. “When I got tired of all the games and headaches, I just thought I would be better off on the streets of Indy,” Watt said. “I dropped out of their program and claimed my little piece of real estate at Illinois and Market just a block down from Monument Circle.”

According to Watt, he was panhandling and made so much money each day that he began to share it with the other homeless he met on the streets of Indianapolis. “I began to talk with them and hear all their stories,” he said. “It was so heartbreaking.”

He was struck by the lack of services available for the homeless compared to what he had experienced as a veteran. “It was totally heartbreaking. So many of them were not veterans. The services that exist for veterans, as poor as those services are, at least they exist,” Watt explained. “For non-veterans, there is almost nothing.”

Watt figured he didn’t necessarily have the answers, but he had the ways and means to bring the conversation up everywhere he went so he decided to set out on a journey across the state. He put his Facebook post up as Harrie Homeless Hippie on Halloween of 2014 and set out on his journey with Dolly, his trusty cart, three weeks later during National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week.

His plan was to visit each of the state’s 92 counties and 100 of its cities. He usually stays about a week at each location except in the cities the Gary native has lived and the ten largest cities in the state where he plans on staying at least two weeks. He’s in Jasper until next Tuesday.

Along the way, he’s met some great people but with some hiccups that have occurred like a library filing charges of criminal trespass that got him put in jail for about five months last year, it’s taken him longer than he expected. “It was supposed to be a 104-week journey that has taken me three years to complete,” he said.

So, back to the post, Dubois County is the 68th county he has visited, Jasper is the 75th city and this is his 76th week on his journey. He’s hoping to finish his tour of the state by October of this year.

He usually stops in at local libraries to take advantage of the free internet — what he was doing when he was arrested — and updates the Facebook page for his followers. On Wednesday, he was at the Jasper Library updating the donations he had made to various organizations in the last county he was in. That’s right, Watt takes a portion of all the donations and tithes it to organizations at least nine organizations. The more generous a county is, the more he donates; over $400 and he gives away 90 percent, according to his Facebook page.

He’s met a lot of great people as he has made his way around the state. In Shoals about three weeks ago, Watt was able to update his cardboard sign announcing his mission with a more durable banner donated by Chastain’s Flowers and Gifts. In addition to money and food, he has a new flip-phone that was donated by folks he met in Washington. Employees at a Pizza Hut there just added another month’s worth of minutes.

Patting his potbelly, Watt admitted he has eaten well on his journey. “I don’t ask for anything at all but people like to feed the wildlife,” he joked while admitting the journey has worn on his 58-year-old body.

In Dubois County, Team RWB, a veteran’s organization, has already collected enough money to pay for a hotel for Watt for at least four days.

Over the next couple days, Watt will be parked up at the Dubois County Courthouse raising awareness. A devoted Christian, he plans on attending a service around here for Easter and then returning to the library next week before heading to his next county.

“Every county I have been to has had good people,” Watt said. “There’s been a little bit of bad but it’s like a pebble on the sidewalk. I kick it off the curb and just look around and see all the blessings.”