Pastor Corey Brooks is spending the next few months camping out atop a building on Chicago’s South Side, braving the frigid, unforgiving air and foregoing the comforts of his home—all for an incredible cause.
Brooks, who runs Project H.O.O.D., an organization that seeks to empower and equip individuals and families, is on a mission to help curb chaos, gun violence and death, embarking on a faith-fueled mission to raise $35 million to create a youth and opportunity center.
Why Brooks Is Camping Out
“We have a very unsafe environment, especially for kids,” Brooks told Faithwire from atop the roof on which he’s camping out. “They can’t even go and play in parks and outside. Just before we took this call there was a shooting in some projects that are right behind me, and it was on the playground.”
The preacher said a 30-year-old man was shot and others were wounded in an area where kids should be laughing and playing; instead, tragedy has overshadowed the should-be sacred place of childhood joy.
“That’s the type of environment we’re living in. We need a safe place for kids. We need a safe place for young adults to go,” Brooks said. “Not only just a safe place, but a place where they can learn a trade, a place where they can get counseling for trauma, a place for arts and theater and sports and entrepreneurship and tech classes.”
And that’s precisely why Brooks is spending 100 days living outdoors in the cold, raising awareness and attempting to bring in the tens of millions needed to create this community center—a location he believes could help transform the lives of young and old Chicagoans, alike.
Watch Brooks speak with Faithwire from a frigid Chicago roof.
Brooks started his “Tent-A-Thon” event on Nov. 20, and plans to continue through Feb. 28, spending both Thanksgiving and Christmas camping out for the cause.
But he’s not doing it alone. The preacher is rallying CEOs, celebrities and other interested parties from all over America to come together and help him raise the money needed to launch the center.
Brooks, who is hoping to leave the roof Feb. 28 with all $35 million raised, is even inviting some of these people to camp with him during the effort, with news outlets continuing to take notice.
“The center is going to cost $35 million, and that’s what I want to raise,” he told Faithwire. “I want to raise it all, and the reason why I say that is I don’t want us to be in any debt … and our community needs to have a place that doesn’t have debt, so we don’t have to worry about sacrificing programs and people to pay for mortgages.”
He concluded, “Whatever you do, don’t stop believing.”
For the rest of this article, visit our content partners at faithwire.com. {eoa}
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