He traveled the East Coast this past summer with a mission to help strangers, but Tyler M. Kellogg was just getting started.
"This has so much more potential that a summer project," Mr. Kellogg said.
Taking the name "Tyler Dogood," the Adams resident hopped into his 2000 Nissan Altima in July for a SUNY Potsdam school project. The communications major's mission was to help strangers along the way to his destination in the Florida Keys and record his experiences in a blog and a journal.
"I decided I was going to make my project more than words on paper" Mr. Kellogg said a few days before leaving in June. "I made a choice to sacrifice my summer of 'normalcy.'"
Mr. Kellogg, a junior, is doing a "project-based internship" based on his trip. Instead of working at a company, Mr. Kellogg is spreading the word about his summer travels and his theme of helping others to college, primary and secondary students and to anyone else who wants to listen.
He recently spoke to juniors and seniors in a media literacy class at the South Jefferson Central School District, where he touched on another topic besides helping others.
"It was about how to use technology in a positive way, instead of posting stupid pictures of yourself on Facebook," he said.
On Make a Difference Day, Oct. 24, he spoke to fellow students at SUNY Potsdam's student union. He said after such talks, inspired people come up to him and say they'd like to help his cause and say they plan to make an effort to help others.
"I figured when I came back from the summer trip, I'd be done with the project," said Mr. Kellogg, son of Lynn and Jeffrey D. Kellogg. "But it's had the opposite effect. If I'm sitting here and I see my neighbor raking, I can't sit here and not help him."
Mr. Kellogg's tasks of helping others included pulling weeds, putting down mulch, sealing a driveway and "talking with a grieving widow and splitting wood in Georgia."
"I did mostly yardwork, however," he said. "I wouldn't approach a house unless I saw a person there and so typically that meant they were already working on an outdoor activity."
But he said helping others can be as simple as opening a door for a person.
"It's the little day-in, day-out things we don't really think about that can make a difference," Mr. Kellogg said. "Anyone can be a part of it. It sounds cheesy, but if we all pitch in, we can make the world a better place."
Mr. Kellogg had a final destination of Florida for his summer trip, but he didn't know where he'd finish at, or care, as long as he found people to help and be back home by mid-August. But he almost didn't make it out of New York.
A few days into his trip, near Albany, his vehicle made it known that it needed a new muffler and catalytic converter. He had to spend $850 on repairs, using his debit card to pay the bill. His daily budget went from $40 to $19. He considered quitting, but drove on.
At the end of the trip, he exceeded his budget and debit card's limit by $3. He had to pay his bank a $30 overdraft fee.
"Not everybody is out to help the world," he laughed.
