Acountryvibe.Com Introductions and Fundraisers.
My name is Matthew, and if you’re reading this, I want to start by telling you a little about who I am, where I’ve been, and why this website means so much to me.
For close to ten years of my life, I experienced homelessness on the streets of North Philadelphia.
I know what it feels like to wonder where you are going to sleep. I know what it feels like to carry everything that matters to you because you don’t really have a place to leave it. I know what cold nights feel like when there isn’t a warm house waiting for you at the end of the day.
And even today, after my life has changed in so many ways, I have never completely forgotten that feeling.
There is still a thought that lives somewhere in the back of my mind:
One wrong move and I could be right back there.
Maybe that sounds strange to somebody who has never been homeless. But when you have lived without a safety net, you learn how quickly life can change.
A job disappears.
Your health changes.
A relationship falls apart.
Money runs out.
One bad decision turns into another.
Sometimes the difference between being secure and having nowhere to go is much smaller than people realize.
That is why the phrase “There but for the grace of God go I” has always meant something very real to me.
When I see somebody sleeping underneath a bridge, sitting outside a store, or carrying everything they own through the streets of Philadelphia, I don’t automatically see a stranger.
Sometimes I see myself.
I see someone whose life may have looked completely different a few years earlier.
I see someone whose life could look completely different a few years from now.
And I’m reminded that I could have easily still been there.
I Shouldn’t Have Made It This Far
My life has taken some unusual turns.
I have survived multiple near-death experiences—moments when, for one reason or another, I came frighteningly close to not being here anymore.
Experiences like that change you.
They changed the way I look at life, time, purpose, faith, and the strange roads we sometimes find ourselves traveling.
I don’t claim to understand everything that has happened to me, and I certainly don’t pretend to have all the answers.
But after surviving things I probably shouldn’t have survived, it becomes difficult not to wonder whether there is a reason you are still here.
Over time, I began to feel increasingly led down the path I have traveled.
Maybe some people would call it destiny.
Maybe others would call it God.
Maybe it is simply what happens when you survive enough difficult experiences that you finally start paying attention.
Whatever it is, I feel like I have been given more chances than I had any right to expect.
And if I have been given those chances, I want to do something meaningful with them.
Then Came the Farm
Eventually, my road brought me here.
To a farm.
After years surrounded by concrete, traffic, sirens, addiction, homelessness, chaos, and survival, suddenly I found myself surrounded by fields, trees, wildlife, animals, old stone, open sky, and quiet.
That change affected me more deeply than I expected.
There is something about watching the sun come up over a field that changes your perspective.
There is something about sitting outside with a dog, listening to birds instead of traffic, watching deer cross a field, or simply standing somewhere quiet enough to hear yourself think that reminds you the world is much bigger than the problems consuming you that day.
This farm became more than somewhere to live.
It became somewhere to breathe.
Somewhere to think.
Somewhere to recover.
Somewhere to create.
Somewhere to remember who I was and begin figuring out who I still wanted to become.
And somewhere along the way, the idea for A Country Vibe began to grow.
What Is A Country Vibe?
A Country Vibe is something I am still building.
And in some ways, I hope I never completely finish defining it.
I want ACountryVibe.com to represent country life, nature, animals, wildlife, humor, creativity, recovery, storytelling, books, art, unusual ideas, and the simple things that make life worth slowing down for.
I want it to be a storefront.
I want it to be a blog.
I want it to be a place for stories.
I want it to be somewhere people can laugh.
Somewhere people can think.
Somewhere people can discover something interesting.
And somewhere people who have been through difficult chapters of their lives can be reminded that the next chapter does not have to look like the last one.
I don’t have a giant company behind me.
There isn’t a massive marketing department somewhere building this.
It’s me.
I’m trying to take the things I have experienced, the ideas in my head, the land around me, and the things I am learning along the way and turn them into something real.
Rebuilding the Farm
Part of this dream is also about the farm itself.
I want to put time, work, and resources back into this property.
I want to restore things.
Improve things.
Create new possibilities here.
And eventually, I would love for the farm to become something that represents the same thing it became for me:
a place where life can begin again.
I don’t know exactly what that will look like yet.
Maybe it becomes a place connected to recovery.
Maybe it becomes a creative space.
Maybe it becomes somewhere people can reconnect with nature and animals.
Maybe it grows into something I haven’t even imagined yet.
Right now, I’m simply trying to build the foundation.
I Haven’t Forgotten Where I Came From
While I’m trying to grow the website and rebuild the farm, there is another part of this project that matters just as much to me.
I want to give back to people who are still living on the streets.
Especially in North Philadelphia, because those streets were once my home too.
I remember the winters.
You don’t forget them.
A pair of socks might not seem like much when you have a dresser full of them.
They mean something completely different when your feet are wet and you are going to be outside all night.
Gloves matter.
A winter hat matters.
A blanket matters.
Food matters.
Hygiene products matter.
Hand warmers matter.
And sometimes simply having another human being look you in the eye and treat you like a person matters more than people realize.
One of the things I want to do, hopefully before winter, is begin putting together care packages for people experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia.
Warm clothing.
Socks.
Gloves.
Hygiene supplies.
Food.
Blankets.
Whatever practical things we can put together that might make somebody’s day—or night—a little easier.
I know a care package doesn’t solve homelessness.
But when you are the person receiving it, sometimes knowing that somebody remembered you matters.
The Distance Between Us Isn’t Very Far
One thing homelessness taught me is that there often isn’t some giant dividing line between “us” and “them.”
People like to imagine there is.
It makes life more comfortable.
We tell ourselves that the homeless person made completely different choices, lived a completely different life, or exists in a completely different world.
Sometimes that is true.
And sometimes it isn’t.
Sometimes life simply falls apart.
Sometimes addiction gets involved.
Sometimes mental health gets involved.
Sometimes family disappears.
Sometimes money disappears.
Sometimes several things go wrong at exactly the same time.
And sometimes somebody wakes up one day and realizes they have nowhere left to go.
I know because I have been there.
That is why, even today, part of me remembers:
One wrong move.
One wrong turn.
One stretch of bad luck.
One serious health problem.
One disaster.
And the life you take for granted can change.
That fear never completely left me.
But maybe it isn’t entirely a bad thing.
Because it keeps me grateful.
And hopefully, it keeps me compassionate.
Recovery Is Part of This Story
Recovery is also a major part of what I want A Country Vibe to represent.
Recovery isn’t always a straight road.
Rebuilding your life isn’t either.
Sometimes you move forward.
Sometimes you fall backward.
Sometimes you have to start over.
Sometimes you discover something completely unexpected that gives you another reason to keep going.
For me, this farm became part of recovery.
Nature became part of recovery.
Animals became part of recovery.
Writing became part of recovery.
Creating became part of recovery.
Building something became part of recovery.
And now, A Country Vibe is becoming part of that journey too.
Maybe some of those things can eventually help somebody else.
Turning Survival Into Purpose
I have spent enough of my life simply trying to survive.
At this point, I want to build.
I want to create something that lasts.
I want to turn the experiences I have lived through—the good ones, the terrible ones, the strange ones, and the ones I still don’t completely understand—into something useful.
I want to build ACountryVibe.com into a successful business.
I want to restore this farm.
I want to create products people enjoy.
I want to write.
I want to tell stories.
I want to make people laugh.
I want to talk about recovery.
I want to explore nature.
I want to help animals.
I want to help people.
And whenever possible, I want some of whatever success comes from this project to circle back toward people who need a hand.
Because I remember when I needed one.
This Is Only the Beginning
I don’t know exactly where all of this will lead.
And maybe that is part of what makes it exciting.
A Country Vibe is going to grow as I grow.
There will be products.
There will be stories.
There will be country humor.
There will be animals and wildlife.
There will be books and unusual ideas.
There will be conversations about recovery and rebuilding your life.
There will probably be plenty of mistakes along the way too.
But there will also be a mission behind it.
To take a life that could have ended many times over and use whatever time remains to create something positive.
To take a farm that gave me a place to rebuild and breathe new life into it.
To take a business and make giving back part of its identity from the beginning.
And to remember the people who are still sleeping on the streets where I once slept.
I have been incredibly fortunate to make it from there to here.
And I never want to forget that.
There but for the grace of God go I.
This is my story.
This is the beginning of A Country Vibe.
And I hope you’ll come along for the ride.
— Matthew
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