At 5:50 pm on a drizzly day in May, in the parking lot closest to the church's back entrance, backpacks held spots in line for the central Austin homeless who sat on a nearby patch of grass, waiting for dinner. Read More ›
Sunrise pastor Mark Hilbelink said its navigation center last year helped more than 800 people get off the streets. Michael Busby was typical among those who benefited. He told the press that Sunrise staffers "helped me out a lot. They helped me restore my sanity. They help out with housing, they help out with medication, they keep your meds for you, and they give them out to you every day or every week." Read More ›
Five miles southwest of "Church Under the Bridge" is Sunrise Community, a church that's part of everyday trench warfare against homelessness. At 11 am on Wednesday, May 22, 60 people (mostly in T-shirts and worn jeans, and carrying plastic shopping bags) waited patiently in two quiet lines. One line was for lunch: Two volunteers sat at a table handing out cups of cold water and plates of pizza and sandwiches. The other line was for everything else, including picking up ID cards and bus passes. One window was for getting mail — for thousands, it's their only address. Read More ›
Last month, starting on a Sunday morning, I learned more about the intractability of homelessness in my home city, Austin, Texas. During three decades of "Church Under the Bridge" Sunday morning services, some of the faces have changed but the overall tragedy of lost lives has not. Read More ›
I wrote last week about Community First! Village, located on relatively cheap land just east of Austin and getting national applause as the coolest homelessness project in what some call America’s coolest city. Read More ›
We’ll resume our march through homelessness history on August 12, but this week and next I’m taking an introductory look at Community First! Village in Austin. Read More ›