Meet Luis

Luis came to The Lamb Center in 2025, but his path here started on an ordinary Sunday afternoon at a local homeless shelter, where he’d gone just to take a shower. He was living in his car at the time, after first trying the Fairfax County shelter system. Standing there that day, he remembers thinking to himself: there has to be something better. 

So he called his nephew in Long Island, New York, and told him he needed help. His nephew had an answer ready. “There’s a Christian place I searched up,” he said. “It’s called The Lamb Center.” 

Around the same time, Luis met a friend named Jeff, who filled him in on how things worked. “Check in at the line at the front desk,” Jeff told him. It was simple advice that changed the course of his life. 

“The first thing I saw was the long table,” Luis recalled, tears running down his face as he told the story. “I didn’t know that the long table, where Bible study is held, would bring me joy.” 

That table has become the center of Luis’s life at TLC. “I’ve been sitting at the table long enough,” he said. “I met different people. We shared Bible stories. We hear each other, and it’s a space where we get guidance.” He’s quick to point out that the table isn’t just comfortable, it’s honest. “At the table, you can agree and disagree. But it keeps you from getting away with trouble.” And, he added with a smile, “it’s the cleanest one.” 

Luis found more than community at TLC. He found people who listened. His case manager, Jen Edwards, and Deacon Chris both walked alongside him early on. “Both of them heard my suffering,” he said, “and they gave me a lot of hope.” Later, his housing case manager, Yaya, helped place him into housing. Along the way he came to know Mark and others on staff too. “Everyone is and was good to me,” he said. 

Luis speaks with clarity and compassion about what homelessness actually looks like. “Many people who are homeless are not addicts and are not on drugs,” he said. “The homeless do not have a place to lay down, to sleep, after a long day. You live in a car. You don’t sleep well. Any crack or noise, you wake up.” He believes the struggle runs deeper than most people realize. “I think homelessness has to do with your mental health, and then society looks at you different. Society isn’t ready for people experiencing homelessness. Homelessness is tough.” 

Even while he was still finding his own footing, Luis looked out for others. On Sundays he’d pick up burritos at Home Depot and coffee at Wawa, small routines that got him through. One day he noticed a man sitting alone, looking scared. “Are you hungry?” Luis asked him. The man said yes. Recalling the moment, Luis broke down: someone experiencing homelessness, stopping to help another person experiencing homelessness, someone the world so often overlooks. 

“Everyone is treated equally at TLC,” Luis said. 

Today, Luis is housed. He cooks his own meals, gets ready for the gym, and has taken up bike riding. Looking back on everything TLC has given him, he doesn’t hesitate. “TLC taught me to treat people better than I used to treat people. I’ve learned a lot at TLC. This is my second school.” 

And then, the words he wants to leave people with: 

“You all fed me. Washed my clothes. Being homeless doesn’t mean you have to stay dirty. TLC cleans you.”