Had Mobile Loaves & Fishes only delivered meals of nourishment for area homeless out of the back of their trucks, that would have been enough. Had they only developed Genesis Gardens, supplying both food and jobs, that would have been enough. Now, they near completion for Community First! Village (truly deserving of that exclamation point), a holistic facility luxuriously spread out over 27 acres. Homes, yes, but also medical facilities, wi-fi, walking trails, on-site employment initiatives with Bunkhouse and Alamo Drafthouse, and gardens with chickens and bees for Austin's disabled and chronically homeless population. The site also includes a columbarium, insisting on an ineluctable dignity that extends far beyond our plane. We hope that Community First! Village is only a prototype of what communities can do when homelessness is finally recognized as a multi-faceted issue that demands significant resources, innovation, and most of all, heart. We would say that this might very well be enough, but given what we know about Mobile Loaves & Fishes and their tireless CEO Alan Graham, there's always something higher than “enough.”
