My comment mention "before getting known". The article only mention "familly and friends" help. That's quite a light justification, just getting food every day for a year before getting sponsors is quite a big sum of money.
I don't think we can say "The article explains this" while there is literally only one sentence in the article about it.
He started with $500. Friends and family helped. Got food on the road, from trees/etc. Also locals helped, hence his saying how good and helpful people are.