See It: The Community being helped

I am beginning a project. The project name is not set as of now, and probably won't be until it is finally complete. I have lived and visited many areas with an outrageous homeless population that is hated, ignored, and looked down on. I would like to start this project by getting a nice recorder (continuous recording, battery life, and direct computer upload) and recording life stories from homeless men, women, and children around the United States. I would like to be able to offer them some money but I really do not have the resources myself. I was thinking about $10 to each person who contributes. I'd like to get between 40 or 50 life stories to use at least. Then I would like to write them all down and have them published as a book called "Just Like You" or something similar. I don't think many people realize that all homeless aren't that way because of drug or alcohol abuse, and I'm hoping this book will educate the public, and create a more loving and accepting community. I got this idea when I befriended a homeless man in Waco, Texas who was living in a creek bed. He had no paperwork, so I helped him to attain a birth certificate from his home town in Indiana. He was a kind man whose mother had died when he was young and left him nothing. He taught me a lot and I still see him very often, but not on the streets! I go to a university and I am hoping to have them publish this book once I have completed it, but I'm taking first things first. Any grant money would only be used to pay participants and obtain a recorder. Thank you so much for taking the time to learn about my project.