Volunteers with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief are helping to address Austin’s rapidly growing homeless problem through food donations. According to a release, the group has been directed by request of the Texas Department of Emergency Management to provide three meals per day for a homeless campsite just north of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention is a coalition consisting of more than 2700 Southern Baptist churches in Texas. SBTC Disaster Relief consists of more than 6000 trained volunteers who deploy to help their neighbors all around the world recover from natural disasters.
The issue of homelessness has remained among the biggest debates across Austin in 2019. The city council recently approved the purchase of the Rodeway Inn motel near I-35 and Oltorf to be ocnverted into a homeless shelter. Earlier this year, the city council sparked widespread outrage with its decision to relax enforcement on public camping, which led to a sharp increase in the number of tents and sleeping bags on Austin streets.
The Texas Department of Transportation has since begun routine weekly cleanups of campsites at the direction of Governor Greg Abbott.
