Social Entrepreneurs Push Business Boundaries to Create Change

Eva Radke, founder of Film Biz Recycling, in her prop shop and drop-off center in Gowanus, Brooklyn, New York, on Oct. 30, 2014. The non-profit has reduced hundreds of tons of waste in New York City since 2008. Props, furniture, and wardrobe items donated from local film, television, and theater sets are given to charities, recycled, and sold for discount at Film Biz Recycling in Gowanus. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)

NEW YORK—Three years ago, Erin Dinan realized even one sandwich could make a difference in someone’s life.

Dinan had moved to New York City after traveling and working in Europe and Africa, and wanted to be in the kind of city that seemed to encompass the whole world. 

But almost immediately she was distraught by the prevalence of homelessness. Over 65,000 people go to sleep hungry every night, she quickly learned. And these people are often judged and ignored. Their fellow New Yorkers were numb to their existence.

As an artist, Dinan started out with the idea of using photography to create change. With permission, she took pictures and collected stories.

One of the first people she spoke to was a man in his 40s at Union Square.

“He was sifting through the garbage,” Dinan said. “He was a single father with two daughters, and had just lost his job. They were in the shelter system and he was just trying to do everything that he could to get out of that position.”

“Sometimes we just get down on our luck,” she said.

Erin Dinan, founder of the nonprofit organization One Sandwich At A Time. (Courtesy of OSAAT)

Volunteers make sandwiches for the homeless and hungry at an event hosted by nonprofit organization One Sandwich At A Time. (Courtesy of OSAAT)

Eva Radke, founder of Film Biz Recycling, in her prop shop and drop-off center in Gowanus, Brooklyn, New York, on Oct. 30, 2014. The non-profit has reduced hundreds of tons of waste in New York City since 2008. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)