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Case Study: Kevin Adler

Kevin Adler founder of Miracle Messages and UCL alumnus talks about the important work of his organisation to reconnect homeless people with their loved ones and recalls his time at UCL.

Kevin Adler

7 August 2018

Miracle Messages was founded by UCL Alum Kevin Adler (Affiliate Political Studies, 2005) in 2014. The organisation was founded to help people experiencing homelessness to reconnect with their loved ones and to rebuild the sense of community for those affected. For Kevin, it was all about having difficult but important conversations - we don’t define ourselves as homed so why should we define others as homeless. As he explains, it was his time spent studying at UCL and living in London that shaped his ideas about what was important for him.

Kevin grew up in Livermore in the San Fransciso Bay Area and by his own admission, didn’t realise the homogenous nature of his upbringing until he left for college. It was the move to London however in 2005 that really shaped his understanding of multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism. He moved to London in the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings when fifty-two people lost their lives in the deadliest terror attack Britain had seen since 1988.

Recalling his first day in London, Kevin said “I identified as a progressive guy, I had been to Occidental College, one of the most progressive liberal arts schools in the US and there I was on the tube feeling anxious. I caught myself and asked why I was feeling like this and I couldn’t really answer.” Navigating the unfamiliar London tube network with suitcases proved to be overwhelming however it was two women dressed in traditional Islamic clothing that came to his rescue. They took Kevin around London, lent him their phones and eventually put him on a London bus to his final destination. It called into question any preconceptions about London that Kevin had and meant that from then onwards, he decided to tackle any anxiety head-on and to have the courage to have open conversations. “It made me realise that you have no reason to fear what you know, and the fear of the unknown was driving my anxiety but by getting to know people you can overcome this. To be truly open-hearted, I had to connect with people different to myself.”

Kevin recalls his time at UCL fondly: as one of the top 10 Universities in the world, studying at UCL was the perfect opportunity for him to broaden his outlook both academically and culturally in a very short space of time. A particularly fond memory is the Art in London class which studied 19th and 20th Century art and meant that each week, Kevin and his classmates would spend 2-3 hours in a different museum dissecting and analysing different pieces of art. Living in halls residence was also a chance to make friends that he is still in touch with and he says “I ended up making friends from all over the world.” Spending his time exploring London’s parks and museums as well as going further afield to Europe was “a really enriching experience.” Kevin went on to do a summer internship in London and then onto a Master’s degree in Sociology at the University of Cambridge examining how disasters and shared traumas can bring us together or tear us apart. He describes this period as “a truly formative experience that opened up my world. Since then the UK has been like a second home to me.”

So how did Adler get from UCL student, to Silicon Valley entrepreneur to founding Miracle Messages?

Kevin had been working in education technology in Silicon Valley with the goal of making the world a better place whilst also succeeding on an individual level. He worked in a couple of start-ups but had grown tired of walking to and from the office and having to step over human beings to get there. His experiences at UCL and in London had taught him to never fear having a conversation with someone – be that engaging with an academic in the margins of their book, or with a neighbour who is experiencing homelessness. He says “I started talking to people to try and understand their stories. My uncle had been homeless but I had never thought of him like that, he was just my Uncle. I spent some months talking to people and was surprised to hear the same version of the same story – they said they never thought of themselves as homeless when they lost their home, only when they lost their family or friends. So I decided to walk up and down my street asking people if they wanted to reconnect with loved ones and record a message for their family for the holidays.”

It was at this point that Kevin met Jeffrey. Jeffrey hadn’t seen his family in 22 years and had been officially a missing person for 12. Jeffrey recorded a message for his niece, nephew, sister and father which Kevin posted on a Facebook group connected to Jeffrey’s hometown. Within a few hours, the video had been shared hundreds of times, it made the local news and his sister was tagged in the comments. It amazed Kevin just how many people must have walked past Jeffrey in the time he was missing yet here was a community that remembers him fondly and were reaching out with offers of support, employment and healthcare. It struck him that Jeffrey wouldn’t be the only one in this situation and that just because they didn’t have housing doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be seen as human beings worthy of help.

Following his encounter with Jeffrey, Kevin quit his job to set up Miracle Messages and hasn’t looked back. For him, the values of a community transcend his work with Miracle Messages and go right back to the alumni community he is proud to be part of at UCL.

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“I think you can either see the world as dog-eat-dog where everyone is out for themselves and see how that works out for you, or we can look at the whole of human history with trust and interdependence, and the idea that we are all in this human experience together. We shouldn’t focus on the minute details of difference and miss the broad experience of being humans that we share. We are all going through the same experiences of loss, anxiety, hope, joy, curiosity and discovery. As a UCL alum we have these same experiences in a hugely diverse community and it is this that brings people together."
 

Adler recently hosted a group of UCL MSc Entrepreneurship students in San Francisco which brought together a dynamic group of students who asked the thoughtful and challenging questions about society that Kevin thrives on. Dara Alsulayman who attended the event said that she found Kevin “charismatic, inspirational and engaging for the whole group”. Welcoming a group of students to Silicon Valley was also hugely rewarding for Adler: “it was great for UCL to say they are coming to Silicon Valley and that we should include a social innovator because even if a few students decided on this career path, every entrepreneur needs to be a social entrepreneur too. It is becoming the social norm where people expect their companies to do more than just return a profit to their shareholders.”

And what advice would he give to UCL Alumni? For Kevin it is all about connecting with each other and challenging ourselves: “Find your passion, and find yourself and you will find your career. Don’t worry too much about trying to make yourself fit in, take small steps in the direction that feels right rather than trying to have it all worked out in advance. More than anything, be in touch and don’t be afraid to reach out.”

Miracle Messages is a programme model that has been designed to work anywhere. The organisation runs primarily on volunteers and you can find out more about how to get involved via the website.

Want to connect with fellow alumni and share your story? There are opportunities to connect, network and volunteer here.