I was the editor of the Street Sheet in San Francisco, where I led a project to re-launch the paper for its 25th anniversary. We re-designed and re-branded the paper and executed an ad campaign, which allowed us to double the price of the paper without decreasing circulation. The vendors of the paper keep 100% of the proceeds, so we effectively gave 250 poor and homeless people a 100% raise. We also gave away free t-shirts and aprons, to help the vendors look more professional and make it easier for them to interact with people like Justin.

I worked for the Coalition on Homelessness for 15 months, where I earned a salary of something like $10,000 a year, working nominally half-time but actually well over full time. I'll leave it to you to calculate the opportunity cost.