Volunteers with a ministry in Dallas brought supplies to one of the city's biggest homeless camps Thursday. The National Weather Service forecasts high temperatures of 108 degrees Thursday and Friday with heat index values of up to 112.
Bring the Light Ministries brought water, ice and Gatorade to the camp under I-45 south of Downtown Dallas.
"We're excited to help these people out who are trying to help themselves," says Pastor Earl Fitzsimmons.
Fitzsimmons was loading eight pallets of water into his truck Thursday before going to the camp.
"We have a Biblical imperative, if we're going to call ourselves Christians, to go out and help the needy, help the poor," he says. "It's one of the top three topics discussed in the Bible."
Fitzsimmons says he became a pastor in 2015. He says he will be 17 years sober in October and spent two years living on and off the street.
"I come from a good, solid family, well educated. The disease of alcoholism and drug addiction catch up to you," he says. "I finally realized I need to get sober, and in that early time of sobriety, there was a strong-knit community of family, friends and resources I had, so I was able to submit to a solid 12-step program and get sober. Many people don't have that community, that safety net."
He says Bring the Light Ministries now serves 5,000 meals a month, and the need has grown as housing costs have increased.
"Dallas is always at the top of the list for a city that's suffering with affordable housing," Fitzsimmons says. "Also with the fentanyl crisis and opioid crisis, we are confronted with things as a society we've never had to deal with before."
Last year, Bring the Light Ministries bought an abandoned nursing home. Fitzsimmons says they are now raising money to renovate it for housing and also to give people healthcare and two and a half years of job training or an associate degree.
"It's just good business for Dallas to do what we're doing in the food desert of South Dallas and the homeless community in and around Downtown Dallas," he says.
While Fitzsimmons is now bringing water and ice to people in homeless camps, he says his organization is now starting to plan for cold weather, too.
"We're going to have clothing drives, glove drives, blanket drives. We just do the best we can," he says. "I would love to be done. I would love to work myself out of a job, brother. That would be a happy day."
Bring the Light Ministries plans an event in October Fitzsimmons says will raise about 60% of the organization's revenue. He says the organization now needs donations and volunteers. More information is available here.
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