On October 6, 2025, we celebrated the groundbreaking of our new building at 4009 Murray Place in Lynchburg. We opened our doors at 9:45. At 10:05 a.m., the event officially began with prayer led by Tommy Clark, Founder of Mission House Coffee and FIVE18 board member.

Speakers Inspire Mission Furtherance

Following our prayer of dedication, FIVE18 trustee and managing partner of Dominion Seven Architects, Blair Smith, took the stage to remind attendees of who we are poised to serve in this new building: broken families needing refuge and healing from life’s hardships.

Following Blair’s comments, Brandon Osterbind, president of FIVE18 board and co-founder of Osterbind Law addressed our guests, sharing the unique value of the new building. It is central to the population we serve and close to transportation routes that allow those who need our services to access us. It also offers space and design possibilities for community and organizational collaboration in new, purposeful ways.   

Next, Jeff Nitz, FIVE18’s chief executive officer (CEO) offered an overview of where we come from as an organization, where we are now, and where this new building will take us. Specifically, the building will centralize our staff and community to advance the Vision30 mission of providing a safe home within a faithful community for all children in the Lynchburg and surrounding areas. 

He said, “Because Vision30 and our mission are way bigger than what FIVE18 can accomplish alone, it will take a massive community response of non-profits, churches, government agencies, businesses, and other community partners coming together around our children to create a thriving future for them.”

He then offered a call-to-action: Dream with us, and pray with us for a community that embraces God’s heart as One who sets the orphan in families (Psalm 68:6). He concluded by challenging guests to explore how they can get involved to make this dream a reality by using their gifts to advance the mission. 

The Sledgehammering Begins

In the spirit of this challenge, Nicholette Antoniuk took the stage to offer an opportunity for guests to come together to begin breaking down the barriers that hinder healthy families. She invited all present to take a sharpie and write on a wall concepts they personally have observed or experienced that hinder healthy, thriving families — things that have harmed our community’s most precious resource: our children. From there, she invited guests to write on the floors — which would remain in the design of the new building — the concepts that strengthen, reconcile, and develop healthy families.

Guests then went to work, identifying barriers to healthy families, such as addiction, unemployment, mental illness, and poverty. They also covered our floors with concepts that strengthen healthy families and surrounding communities, including love, secure attachments, advocates, and biblically-supported guidance. 

All guests were then invited to participate in sledgehammering the walls where they had recorded concepts that harm families. Those who chose to participate were provided with a hard hat, goggles, and, of course, a sledgehammer. By breaking down the first wall, community members and FIVE18 staff and board members alike all came together to begin the construction of a new building that would break down these barriers.

Join Us

In the spirit of this event, we invite you to get involved. Explore in prayer how you might get involved in furthering our community’s mission of every child in a safe home surrounded by a faithful community by 2030. What gifts can you bring to the table? Let us know so we can get you plugged in: [email protected]. 

We also ask you to pray with us that: 

• Our community will come together around the mission of every child in a loving home surrounded by a faithful community 
• Building decisions will be infused with God’s wisdom regarding how to use the space for His heart’s mission 
• Funding will be provided for us to do all that God calls us to do 
• More churches, companies, individuals, organizations, and civic agencies will be inspired to join the Vision30 mission
• More families and children who need us will find us 
• God will reveal in each supporter the personal gifts they can dedicate to this mission
  

Contribute to Mending Futures
If your gift is giving, we invite you to donate here so we can put your resources to work to heal our community.