Eric "Protein" Moseley, the first homeless person to have his films screened on both coasts of the United States, has a challenge for Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn. He has challenged the mayor to spend 24 hours on the streets of Seattle to better understand homelessness in the Seattle region and the issues homeless persons face.

The title is, fittingly, "A 24 Hour Challenge to Mayor Mike McGinn."

Before beginning his documentary, Moseley lived for a few months at Grace Lutheran Church in Des Moines and Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in SeaTac.

His stays at these two churches "opened my eyes," he claims, relating how he found people who genuinely care about the homeless.

He described other situations where the homeless are "shuffled around." They receive their food, and are expected to move on. However, Moseley was pleased to find that during his stay at the two churches, people sat down with him after he got his food and engaged him in conversation. They were interested in talking with him, not just giving him meals.

His stay at Grace Lutheran also got him talking to Pastor John O'Neil about his plans to film his documentary.

O'Neil said that he supported the challenge to Mayor McGinn, and thought the idea was a good one. After his meeting with Moseley, O'Neal thought that Moseley was approaching the situation from a positive angle, and that he "had it in his heart to try and inform Mayor McGinn, but not in a mean-spirited way."
Though he only talked that once with O'Neal, Moseley left Grace Lutheran with an optimistic impression about the attitudes people in the Seattle area feel towards the homeless. He moved on to stay at Seattle's Union Gospel Mission for most of the duration of the filming.

After producing movies in New York and Los Angeles, most recently his film "A Cry Out to Obama," Moseley decided on the Pacific Northwest so that he could, as he said it, "corner the market."

He did not know if the conditions of homelessness were different in the Seattle area than elsewhere in the country, and, in terms of what he had done so far, Seattle seemed to be an unexpected choice.

With the help of University of Washington students Benjamin Anderson and Sawyer Purman, Moseley hit the streets of Seattle and started interviewing those who had experienced homelessness.

During these interviews, Moseley found that many people were happy to give suggestions to Mayor McGinn on how the conditions for the homeless could be improved, such as turning a local peanut butter factory into a homeless shelter.

Overall, Moseley believes that there needs to be more support and social security for the homeless as well as for those who happen to be unstable, mentally or emotionally.

By raising awareness about homelessness, he thinks that we can start to see change that will allow for that support. He also believes that you cannot understand someone's situation unless you have experienced it for 24 hours.

Moseley is still working on his documentary, but one message he wishes to send to Mayor McGinn and to politicians in general is his motto: "Continue to be white collar, but be blue-sleeved." Laws and legislation are important, Moseley agrees, but he would also like to see politicians roll up their sleeves more often and become involved on a one-on-one basis.

Put another way, he says, "Show me the labor you can do."

As far as the challenge to Mayor McGinn goes, Moseley hopes that the mayor will respond positively. Whether or not Mayor McGinn accepts, Moseley will continue to finish his documentary for all of those who were involved, and all of those who wanted to be.