By Hailey Andersen
Stepping out into hope and bringing people together from all walks of life is something Dan Kiniry, founder of Tiny Hope Village, and his team do every day as they work towards building a village of homes for homeless people in the Bryan College Station area.
On Sundays, Kiniry and his team host a potluck lunch at Neal Park where they eat a meal together and build relationships with people who are homeless in B/CS.
“It doesn’t really matter if you’re homeless or not or what race you are,” Kiniry says. “It has been a good way to get to know people who are homeless in the community and to live in a spiritual kind of community with them at these meals.”
The simplicity of coming together and eating a meal has given the Tiny Hope Village team the hope they need to continue working towards their future plan to build homes for the less fortunate. Kiniry and his colleague Brian Gibbs, who is an architect, wanted to pursue their vision of creating a village for the homeless after reading about students at Texas A&M University who were building tiny houses and sending them to a nonprofit in Austin called Community First! Village.
“That kind of gave us the idea of it being something we could maybe do around here locally that could take off,” Kiniry says. “About a year ago my wife went back to work so I could start establishing the nonprofit and working on that. … We have been doing all the paper work to file as a nonprofit, getting all the board members together, and trying to get the word out, look for land, get a plan together, and really just pray that God will send us the right people and resources we need.”
The Tiny Hope Village project is still in its infancy, but Kiniry and his team are 100 percent sold on pursuing it. Kiniry emphasizes that their top priority right now is finding land. He says he is confident that once they have the land on lock down, they will be able to move fairly quickly and start the developmental stages.
“Land is our biggest need right now, so we need somebody out there in Brazos County or within about 20 minutes of B/CS, who has some land and is willing to donate it to us, to reach out,” Kiniry says. “We are looking for about five acres, although we are willing to consider different sizes that will work well.”
The goal is to build more than just housing for the homeless, Kiniry says. The main priority is to build a community for the less fortunate. Giving them a home where they feel a part of a community and are surrounded by people who are there to support them and lift them up is the most important part of it all, according to Kiniry.
Kiniry is going into Tiny Hope Village with the same outlook he and the rest of his team have had when approaching their weekly meals. Kiniry says he has faith that they will find land and people will show up to help build homes for the less fortunate.
As Kiniry continues to grow in faith and do his part, he says he believes God will come through with the big things. Attending the Sunday potluck lunches in Neal Park and having a meal with the less fortunate in the community is the first step to making these dreams a reality. Spreading the word that Tiny Hope Village needs land and liking their Facebook page are the best ways to help.
“We are here every Sunday rain or shine, whether it is a holiday or not,” Kiniry says. “We can sit down and share a meal and meet some of the folks who might be living in Tiny Hope Village.”
