The challenges facing someone experiencing homelessness are numerous.
There is, obviously, the lack of shelter from the elements and of a bed to sleep on. There’s also typically a shortage of food, clean clothing and access to medical care.
But one aspect of homelessness that might fly a bit under the radar is not having a place to take showers.
While shelter, food, clothing and medical care are topics which local nonprofit groups have for decades worked to address, providing those experiencing homelessness with a chance to take a refreshing, rejuvenating shower has been a blind spot.
Not anymore.
At a ceremony Saturday at West Lawn United Methodist Church, the nonprofit group Refresh Berks unveiled its brand-new mobile shower unit. The trailer — which features two fully-functioning shower rooms and a pair of small multipurpose rooms — is only the second of its kind to be put in use in Pennsylvania.
The 7,000-pound trailer will officially go into service this fall, traveling with the Reading Hospital Street Medicine Team.
Charlotte Rismiller, a volunteer for Refresh Berks, said the unit is about much more than cleanliness.
“It’s about the belief that everyone deserves a fresh start and that we see you,” she said.
The idea to create a mobile shower unit for those experiencing homelessness was born in Berks County about a ear-and-a-half ago, said Refresh Berks chair Amy Stewart-Himes. A group was formed to tackle the challenge, which worked tirelessly to raise funds to make the idea a reality.
The group received a major boost when state Sen. Judy Schwank helped it secure a $250,000 state grant that covered the cost of the mobile unit, a pickup truck to pull it and the building of a garage where both can be stored.
Schwank said Saturday that she thought the idea was “amazing.”
“It’s not going to solve all the problems (of homelessness), but it will provide dignity,” she told the crowd gathered for Refresh Berks Kickoff Splash.
Schwank said that she hopes the shower unit will provide some needed relief for those experiencing homelessness, and that being able to get clean will help them become more ready to take the next steps towards getting off the street.
Jack Williams, executive director of the Berks Coalition to End Homelessness, said that’s the whole idea behind the mobile unit. He said it eliminates barriers, and provides those experiencing homelessness a resource they can take advantage of on their own turf.
“If you’re in a ight against homelessness, you meet them on the street,” he said. “You meet them where they are.”
Williams said that, along with the help of Schwank, Refresh Berks has also received an incredible about support from a variety of local organizations and individuals.
“The community came together and said ‘Let’s put our foot down — we care about this, let’s do something about this,” he said.
Rismiller is certainly one of those community members who care. She joined Refresh Berks when she was still a senior in high school, and said an internship at the Berks Coalition to End Homelessness put the importance of the mobile shower unit into perspective.
She said she was able to see homelessness face-to-face instead of through a car window, and those experiencing it as more than just statistics.
“I saw faces, I heard stories,” she said. “I met people and called them by their names.”
And those very real people deserve a hot shower, she said, they deserve to be treated with respect.
“We see you as human beings, as neighbors, as members of the community,” she said.
While Refresh Berks has received funding to get its effort started, more funding will be needed to keep it going. The organization will have ongoing operational expenses — things like gas for the truck and generator, soap and towels, maintenance — to make sure the units remain available.
Members of the organization said they would also like to expand the services provided trough the units to include things like hair cuts, clothing and food giveaways and a place to provide medical treatment.
“We have places to grow beyond showering,” Stewart-Himes said.
For more information about the unit or to donate to Refresh Berks visit refreshberks.org.
Source: Berkshire mont
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