Project Description:  

This grant will provide $50,000 to purchase a new three-stall shower/bathroom combination trailer and $15,000 to upgrade the previously purchased truck.

The larger capacity of the new mobile unit will allow Showers of Blessing to reduce wait times and increase the number of showers by 50%. They will also add new sites and expand hours of operation providing better access to homeless people who are working and those who live in cars.

Showers of Blessing has formed partnerships with 14 local social service agencies including Doctors Without Walls, the Foodbank and Americorps. These agencies meet clients and provide assistance in a non-threatening environment when people arrive for showers.

Founded in 2014, Showers of Blessing is the only local agency to operate a mobile shower unit for people who are homeless. Volunteers manage the showers and provide other needed services like haircuts. Formerly homeless people are employed to drive the truck, and currently homeless people work as facilitators who greet clients, clean stalls after use and distribute towels, soap, new socks and underwear. Demand for showers exceeded the capacity of the aging two-bathroom trailer which often has equipment malfunctions.