A viral TikToker from Massachusetts, known nationally for his feel-good deeds, recently launched his own fundraising platform to further his quest in helping homeless individuals start anew.
Victor Oliveira’s Fresh Start Card is a crowdfunding website where donors can directly support people in need across the U.S. Current campaigns on the site include a single father rebuilding his life after several tragedies and a homeless man who was ready for help the moment Oliveira asked.
“I see it being a mega platform like GoFundMe,” Oliveira said.
Fresh Start Card is the next phase of the 36-year-old Saugus native’s philanthropic efforts under the name “victorthegoodboss.” Oliveira has gained widespread notoriety among his 4 million TikTok followers by drumming up support for the homeless and people struggling with addiction. He films their interactions and stories, then turns to the public for monetary donations.
Oliveira says he’s harnessed the good of social media to raise money for his nonprofit, The Good Project — which mainly provides recovery scholarships — and the GoFundMe pages he sets up for the people he meets.
Now he’s adding Fresh Start Card into the mix, a specialized fundraising platform he’s been working on for more than a year.
The Good Project started after Oliveira was released from Massachusetts state prison after serving nearly two years for selling drugs. Looking to spread some positivity, he started pulling over to the side of the road and offering homeless individuals jobs at his landscaping company.
Oliveira, who now lives in Wakefield, estimates he’s helped more than 100 people off the streets and into treatment through his personal outreach, which often begins through the driver’s side window of his car.
“That doesn’t even include the people that I’ve helped on social media,” he said. “That’s in the thousands. I just kept going with it strong and helping as many people as I could and changing their lives, giving them a fresh start.”
His efforts have grown beyond Massachusetts, too — he was recently doing the same work in California and Florida, where some people recognized him from social media.
Oliveira’s social media accounts recently spotlighted the story of a woman named Krista who was living in the area of “Mass and Cass,” the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard in Boston, known as the city’s epicenter of homelessness and open-air drug use.
Krista had been living on the streets for more than a decade, but she was “feeling amazing” after accepting Oliveira’s offer to enter a 60-day program at Sunrise Detox on a scholarshop.
“To be able to take this step forward toward being a mother and a good friend and a good family member…,” Krista said during a follow-up video on her progress.
Joining Krista in one video is Rob Demeo, a national outreach coordinator for Sunrise Detox. He’s usually one of Oliveira’s first calls when an individual he meets agrees to enter treatment. Sunrise Detox operates facilities in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia and New York.
In an interview with MassLive, Demeo said Oliveira personally brings each client to the front door and picks them up when the program is over as well.
“It’s super interesting to watch his success rate,” Demeo said. “He is able to check in with folks and follow folks. When people do relapse, which it does happen often, we work as a team to get them back into our facility or another.”
Demeo said Oliveira’s fundraising is able to provide people with “wraparound services” they may not get from a treatment center — clothes from Walmart, cigarettes or a cellphone bill paid. Those things are “crucial” to a person’s recovery success, he said.
Oliveira noted that everyone he films and posts on social media has given him their permission to do so.
“Social media is so powerful with what I’m doing,” he said. ”It’s really helping people. It’s allowing them to reach out and not be scared, which sounds crazy because people are going to be on video. But they like to see the transformation and the positive comments. Everyone that just shows up for them in the comments section is insane. It’s so helpful to these people that I help.”
He sees Fresh Start Card going beyond GoFundMe — the goal is to actively track and thoughtfully deploy the funds raised, meaning an individual won’t receive a lump sum. Rather, Oliveira and his team will use it specifically to pay for that individual’s treatment, sober housing, groceries and more.
Oliveira includes disclaimers stating that if the individual doesn’t pursue treatment, the funds will roll over to help the next person.
Because Fresh Start Card is set up as a for-profit fundraising website, Oliveira said he wants to use the money he earns to ultimately hire “an army of people.”
“I want to have boots on the ground,” he said. “I want to be paying them to go do what I do. The people that I get clean and sober once they’re at a good position in life, I want them to be helping me. And I have people that I’ve helped already helping me now.”
