Lorenzo Liberti was volunteering with his church youth group at a shelter last Christmas when he met a homeless vet. "He thought to himself 'how could America abandon the people who fought for our freedom'? He wanted to do something to help but he was only 14 and thought he could never make a difference. Then COVID hit and he suddenly had a bunch of free time. He started tinkering with wood and made a flag. His brother showed it to a neighbor who asked if he could buy one. The idea for Heroic Flags was born right there.
The past few months Lorenzo has been hard at work in his garage hand-carving U.S. flags. The now 15-year-old central Florida boy uses pinewood his imagination and a lot of hard work to create incredible pieces of art then uses the money to help.
Lorenzo has made around 50 of the wooden flags that are between 3 and 7 feet long. He sells them starting at $400 a piece and donates the money to Turning Points a group that helps homeless veterans, and his newest mission, honoring medical workers. His goal is to raise enough funds to get one of his flags in a hospital in every state. He’s already got a seven-footer in Sarasota Memorial, where his mom works.
“I'm devoting myself to helping people. This is what gets me up in the morning and helps me sleep late at night.”