Tom Baum, left, of the Homeless Coach project, takes time out with Avon Owens, a former homeless man who now serves as a volunteer for Xstream Makeover.

Those driving around area streets may have noticed a curious addition to the hot Westbank traffic congestion – a huge silver RV with bright red lettering on the side that says, “Xstream Makeover!”

No, it hasn’t been sent by ABC to target out a family in a gut-wrenching situation for a home renovation. The once-dilapidated recreational vehicle has itself been renovated and put back on the road by Barton Creek West resident Tom Baum as part of his Homeless Coach project aimed at connecting Austin’s homeless with other members of the community through technology.

A former Texas Instruments man and a former project manager for an Austin semiconductor company, Baum has been pulling the Homeless Coach project together for the last nine months, searching for companies to contribute funding, products and volunteers.

The Homeless Coach premise is simple – find local members of the homeless population who are committed to finding a better life and invite them into the repurposed RV for a meal. Volunteers across Austin join in the meal by streaming live interactively over the Internet.

“In short, it will enable social networking for the homeless to lift them off the streets into shelter and a purposeful life aligned with their individual gifts, talents and interests,” Baum said from his temporary parking location at Austin Ridge Church last week.

The idea of exploring the potential of social networking and interactive Internet contact as a means to address homelessness came to Baum after a 40-day volunteer project through Mobile Loaves and Fishes. Baum spent those 40 days living on the streets of Austin with homeless men and women.

“God put it in my head to start this,” he said. “It’s a way to combine some of the unique things Austin has to offer – food, entertainment and things – with a chance to coach the homeless on how to get back up on their feet and back into life.”

Local volunteers guide program enrollees through a process that helps uncover skills and interests, translates those into job qualifications and connects them with people who could hire them or offer low-cost shelter.

“We want to take them through as much of the process as possible,” Baum said. “Underlying that, we want to engage them, connect them with as many community members as we can. We want to help people who are truly, earnestly trying to get off the street that have come up against challenges they can’t overcome alone.”

The Homeless Coach currently operates under the umbrella of the Austin Community Foundation, a nonprofit public charity. A local church donated the RV Baum renovated and uses as his mobile headquarters. The Eanes school district has donated seats and other supplies from buses they must destroy to comply with funding regulations.

Baum hopes to eventually reach a funding and technology stage where he can send volunteers out onto the streets with portable live-streaming computers. He wants to add more vehicles to the project and franchise it for use by other cities.

“We want to lift people off the street and catch people who are falling before they hit the street,” he said. “We want to turn poverty into a purpose, lives into legacies and homelessness into homes.”

For more information on Baum and the Homeless Coach project, visit homelesscoach.org.

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