Student invents a portable shelter for homeless man

After reading an article about a homeless man who died because he could not find shelter during the cold winter, Madi Scheid, a student at Rowlett Academy in Florida, decided to invent a portable shelter as her science project.

The “Hobo on the Go” is like a mini home on wheels, it was designed to collect the heat from the sun through black rubber, a heating source, and it maintains the heat inside thanks to the insulating material. Madi also inserted a battery-powered light, plastic drawers, and a comfortable floor to lay on. There is also a basket on the outside to help homeless people with the collection of aluminum cans. “They try to collect cans so that they have money, and that is going to help to pay for the batteries and the lighting,” Madi says.

Madi’s dad helped her in the construction of the “Hobo on the Go”, that was given to Reggie, a homeless man living on the streets of Manatee County. “Right away I thought of homeless people because I have always thought about them and it makes me sad. So I decided to do this as my invention. It was just supposed to be a model, but it turned into this. I really did not think someone would be sleeping in my invention,” Madi says.
Laura Licoski, founder of Facing Homelessness, Bradenton, is very proud of Madi, “For an 11-year-old to come up with this idea and to design this to make sure it has heating panels, that it’s waterproof, that it’s comfortable inside and has lighting, it shows so much community respect and compassion it blows my mind.”

Madi wants to improve her prototype to help Reggie and other homeless in her area. “I hope my “Hobo on the Go” invention will help homeless people all around the world, because homeless people are freezing to death because they do not have a safe, warm place to sleep.”

Adapted from: https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article216878920.html
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