Our Founder
Our founder, Kenny Thomison started Building Bridges Life Restoration Center in 2021 after he felt called to minister to the unsheltered community of Fort Worth, Texas.
Kenny's Story
From Burning to Building:
A Story of Redemption and Watermelons
“Most people never really sat down and got to know a homeless person, but every homeless person is just a real person that was created by God and it is the same kind of different as us; they just have a different story.”
— Ron Hall
Picture this - you’re a Freshman, you’ve got your learners permit, you have your whole life ahead of you, and the sky’s the limit. What could go wrong?
The short answer is: everything.
At 15 years old, our founder Kenny Thomison was starting down a path that would consume his existence for the next 3 decades. While he should’ve been playing sports and studying for his next math test, he found himself making the sorts of bad choices that resulted in a long term struggle with addiction.
Throughout the next 26 years Kenny tried multiple rehabs, the 12 steps, meetings, etc. with little in the way of results. He hurt the people he loved and burned lots of bridges in those dark days. By the time the new millennium rolled around, he had lost all hope and found himself living on the streets. Addiction had taken everything from him except his life and he often wished for death.
Then in 2006, he became critically ill with sepsis and the attending doctor told him that they were going to turn the machines off. No one was sure if he would live or die, but God had a plan for Kenny’s life. It was nothing short of miraculous for him to walk out of that hospital, and from then on Kenny knew his purpose: share the gospel with those who were experiencing homelessness.
One day, he felt lead to go share the gospel with some of the folks on East Lancaster in Fort Worth. As he was speaking with them he found that they were too hungry to listen, so the next time he went out he brought a trunk full of watermelons with him. God's gift of salvation had helped Kenny to start building bridges instead of burning them, and with that, Building Bridges Life Restoration Center was born.