April 2023 Topic: Tell us your “BIG DREAM” story in present tense.
By Wil Becker with Turning Leaf Solutions
It is October and we are finishing up our third facility. This one is in Georgia. It has been five years since we launched TFP and brought over 300 homeless men off the streets and back into society as productive citizens. Our company mission is to give homeless men a warm bed, good food, and purpose. This little venture of mine is a large part of my personal mission in life, and it is my honor to bring these core values to a large number of our country’s struggling men.
It all started near Martinsburg, West Virginia, United States when we partnered with House of Hope in Hagerstown and developed the first-ever working farm and rehabilitation center. We began with six men, ages 35 to 60, and brought them out to the property. Naturally, these folks all have different work and life experiences, as well as a variety of medical needs.
With the help of House of Hope, homeless men are screened to establish which of them is most likely to succeed in our program. We construct homes for them and for our staff, all of whom live together and work onsite 24/7. We model our facilities after the Booker T. Washington Tuskegee University campus.
Once on our premises, we offer an opportunity to rest, re-evaluate, and re-engage – a chance to get back on their feet. This process starts with running water facilities they may not have had consistent access to, accommodations for nights of safe and needed sleep, and the nutritional and medical requirements they may have been lacking. We expect this process to take anywhere from three months to over a year, depending on the individual’s needs.
Next, the men have the opportunity to get involved in the community. We help them determine their interests, and we bring in skilled tradesmen to facilitate training. Barbers, electricians, mechanics, and dozens of other partners are there to teach and assist with applying their newly developed and practical skills. It is our mission to help these individuals find employment after training with us in their field of interest.
When we obtained rights to it, the land was wild and hadn’t been farmed in a decade. We cleared the land, built homes and facilities, and worked hard to build the vision of these men helping themselves and others like them to get off the streets and become productive members of society.
I am so grateful for the community support and financial partners that have come on board to help our program lift our homeless citizens from the streets and give them a warm bed, good food, and a purpose.
