Students join efforts to end local homelessness

Last semester Caleb Fitzpatrick, a senior at Liberty University, started to get more involved with the community of Lynchburg as he ran for student body president. Through his efforts, he realized the vastness of the homeless population, so he decided to do something about it. 

“The goal is to get to a zero percent homelessness rate in the city of Lynchburg by 2020, and past that to maintain that zero percent rate,” Fitzpatrick said. “It is bare bones at this point, but that is the vision.”

Fitzpatrick started forming a team of people. He talked to The Lighthouse Community Center, a ministry that helps homeless people in Lynchburg, and then Project Zero was born. The idea is that churches would collaborate with this non-profit and by giving $550 per month they could cover the cost of living for one homeless person. 

“Being a citizen of Lynchburg, I have fallen in love with it, but I have also seen the hurt,” Tessa Wienholt, associate director of Project Zero said. “When there is over 100 churches in Lynchburg, the amount of hurt that is here is a problem.”

Wienholt said this is an opportunity for her to give back to the city where she has lived in for the last four years. Getting to meet people around her and better serve them. 

“For students who live on campus, it is hard to remember that there is a whole community outside of Liberty,” Wienholt said. “I hope that when we start reaching out to the student body, they would see it as something that is urgent and necessary.”

Fitzpatrick said it is important to serve community, and that is the motivation for creating this project for homeless people to have clothing, food and a roof over their heads.

“It feels sometimes as if everybody wanted to be the hero, and we lose sight of the fact that is not about who gets the credit,” Fitzpatrick said. “It is about making sure that each and every person has their necessities covered.”

Even though both Fitzpatrick and Wienholt are graduating soon, their hope is to set a system in which other student leaders can come and help Project Zero continue their labor of eradicating and preventing homelessness in Lynchburg. 

“I think that the cool part about being part of the founding team is that we are able to recruit people that are going to be here longer and who have leadership developing skills,” Wienholt said. 

Fitzpatrick hopes this project could open the eyes of the community at Liberty to get involved beyond Liberty’s campus with Lynchburg’s community and necessities. He points out that the 24.8 percent of people in Lynchburg live below the poverty line, and 30 percent of those people are children. 

 As Project Zero finishes establishing its roots and paper work, Fitzpatrick said he would advise students to get involved, meet people outside Liberty and serve in the organizations around Lynchburg. 

“If you just look, there are so many organizations that need help, and that would gladly take help, Fitzpatrick said. “If you just say you want to help, no one is going to say no because everyone needs help.”