By The Editorial Board
Just blocks from campus, Wacoans live without a place to stay, asking for money on the corner of every popular grease pit location. All the while, one of the state’s largest universities hasn’t done much to drive change.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 22.9% of Wacoans fall below the poverty line, a large jump from the 13.4% state average from the 2024 American Community Survey. That population has fluctuated over the past 10 years, with a high of 27.5% in 2018 and a low of 20.4% in 2021. In the most recent survey, 33.7% of the impoverished community consisted of children under the age of 18.
With a surplus of intelligent students, gifted professors and university resources, Baylor has a chance to make an impact on this community, especially with a noticeable number of homeless individuals close to campus under I-35.
Baylor’s mission is “to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community.” Through the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, the university has created a Public Health Fair and locals host Church Under the Bridge, which was highlighted in a Baylor study, “Belonging Under the Bridge,” to support the local homeless community.
There are clear efforts to bridge the gap, but we can’t help but feel there is more the Baylor community can do.
The University of Texas has set an example of service through its Hearts for the Homeless initiative, benefiting the homeless population in Austin. The group allows students to volunteer to help people without housing, primarily by providing free blood pressure screenings.
While Baylor has a philanthropy and public service program and several missions, service and public life groups, there isn’t a large one centered on assisting the local homeless community. Baylors’s Hearts for the Homeless chapter is relatively small and can only do so much with limited bodies. However, with so many groups on campus, a program that could blend student organizations and clubs into a year-round public service rotation would quickly make a difference.
Think about it: with over 400 student groups on campus, if a handful came together weekly and worked on team-building through volunteer service, the local homeless population would have more support to move forward. Eventually, with a university-wide all-hands-on-deck initiative, there could be real changes.
All of it already follows Baylor’s current mission.
Empowering students to lead a life of servanthood should remain a priority for any Christian university. Serving those in our communities should not be seen as another time commitment, line on a resume or something to stand out, but as an expectation. Living in the image of Jesus, one must embody service, and assisting the local homeless community encapsulates that.
Mark 10:45 reminds us that “even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
The people under the bridge and those asking for help when you walk into Chipotle are not the only people in our community who need help, but it’s a good place to start, since they interact with Baylor daily due to proximity.
Service work isn’t always easy, but it can provide you with the opportunity to make a life-changing difference. And at the end of the day, that’s what will make your experience at Baylor better, and it’s at the core of the university’s mission.
