Two men traveling from one side of the United States to the other in 40 days with a truck, building supplies, a couple of tents and a dog are working together towards the common goal of volunteering to help the average American by making the lives of those in need a little easier.

Sean Filzen, a 26-year-old student at Marylhurst University in Oregon, and his uncle Doug Francisco, a contractor in

Washington, are traveling around the U.S. for a project they call “The Great American Bailout,” which helps people with home improvements and a variety of other projects for the small price of a smile and a thank you.

Filzen, who leads the team, is turning their cross-country outreach project into a documentary for his senior project. He said that he hopes The Great American Bailout can turn into a larger non-profit organization.

“It’s a bailout from the bottom up, not from the bank down,” Filzen said. “In essence, I feel that we need each other to bring America back to Americans. If we want to rebuild and move past this economic downturn, I think we all need to take a step back and reevaluate the way we live our lives and interact with our neighbors.”

Filzen said they don’t have a driving route or a plan of who they are going to help. He said they have been calling each state’s Chamber of Commerce asking them for suggestions of potential people to help.

“This is a new, fresh idea,” Filzen said. “We are kind of inventing it as we go along. We are volunteers doing what we can.”

The volunteer duo made a three-day stop in Chicago and left on Sept. 10, after working in the Humboldt Park neighborhood at a house that had been abandoned for 10 years.

Cynthia Schroeder, an unemployed teacher and owner of the newly-purchased house, welcomed the two workers into her home with a day’s notice after a mutual friend told the team about a woman in Chicago who had just purchased a house, who could use their help with construction projects.

“I didn’t really understand what they are doing,” Schroeder said. “I thought, ‘Oh great, these people are coming to work on my house, I’ll pay them $10 an hour or whatever they want.’ I didn’t know Sean was doing this as a school project. I didn’t know this was all volunteer [work] until later.”

Filzen and Francisco, along with two other volunteers, semi-remodeled the bathroom, put a new ceiling in the kitchen and notified Schroeder of a natural gas leak.

The previous owner of the old house put drywall in the shower, which rendered it unusable. She said Filzen and Francisco helped her out a lot because they installed a concrete board, which can be tiled. The new board is waterproof, so she can now use the shower.

Schroeder said the formerly abandoned house is 101 years old and in need of a lot of work in the future.

“Doug Francisco said that there was so much work to be done that if I wanted to call him, he would come and work for free,” Schroeder said. “All I would have to pay for is the materials, which is amazing.”

Filzen and Francisco said they refused to take any money for the work they have done even though they only have a $5,000 budget which isn’t much money for a 40-day trip across the nation. Only $1,200 was donated to their cause after a month of raising money, the rest of the funding has come out of Filzen’s pocket.

“We are always prepared to pay our own way because we don’t want to expect anything from the people we are there to help, because it’s not so much a barter system,” Filzen said.

Francisco said he left his contracting business in the hands of two other employees, while he is traveling around and working with his nephew.

“I just gave up my pay just to do this,” Francisco said. “I figured this was my donation to The Great American Bailout.”

Schroeder said she also offered to give them a donation, but the team refused and told her to “pay it forward.” She said The Great American Bailout has made her more aware of the people in need and how she can help.

Schroeder also said it’s her responsibility now to help out someone else and has already contacted the Neighborhood Housing Services to volunteer.

“It’s changing my [mindset],” Schroeder said. “Now that I don’t feel so down trodden about the house I think it makes me more alert and aware about what I might be able to do for other people. For example, I have friends or people who are down on their luck come and stay in this house because this is a big house for one person.”

Filzen and Francisco’s main goal was to help as many people as they can and perhaps inspire other Americans to start helping out their neighbors.

“We aren’t a part of any religious organization or government organization,” Francisco said. “We are just two guys who are trying to make a small difference, and the smallest [differences] are sometimes the biggest.”