Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Wash. Rinse. Boost dignity and outlook. Repeat.
For the homeless, mobile shower project offers a fresh start
For thousands of homeless men and women in South Florida, a shower can provide a sense of dignity that can be critical to survival on the street.
“I felt like I was in heaven,” said Peggy O’Neal, her blonde hair dripping as she exited the blue and white mobile shower trailer in the parking lot of St. Christopher Episcopal Church near downtown Fort Lauderdale a few days ago.
Make no mistake. O’Neal was homeless when she stepped into the shower. She was still homeless when she stepped out. But she felt the difference.
“I feel refreshed,” said O’Neal, 61, a former Hollywood resident who has been living on Fort Lauderdale’s streets
“A clean towel. A sink. A clean, clean shower. Wow.” Peggy O’Neal, 61, after using one of the showers for the homeless
and in shelters for months. “A clean towel. A sink. A clean, clean shower. Wow.”
O’Neal and thousands of other men and women are homeless in Broward and Palm Beach counties, sleeping outdoors in the 90-degree heat and steamy humidity or cycling through overcrowded shelters when beds are available. They struggle to stay clean every day. The West Palm Beachbased non-profit Live Fresh Inc., is doing its best to shower the community with encouragement.
Eighteen months after Live Fresh founder Chris Bentley put the first six-stall mobile shower unit on the road in Palm Beach County, a second trailer is now operating in Broward County through HOPE South Florida, a Christian-based charity that runs a homeless feeding program. The mobile showers are available two days a week.
On this Monday afternoon a pickup truck towed the 30-foot shower trailer into the parking lot of the church, at 318 NW Sixth Ave., where about 150 people were lined up for a meal provided by HOPE South Florida.
Each of the estimated 20 people who chose to shower before or after eating were given a clean towel and wash cloth rolled around toiletries that include deodorant, lotion, toothbrush and paste. “Everything you need,” O’Neal said.
At most stops, the homeless can also pick up clean underwear and socks, Bentley said
“In the homeless community, we were ecstatic about this; showers, what a great thing,” said Robert Burton, 53, who has used the shower trailer several times.
“Nobody wants to run around for long days” without getting clean, he said. “After a short while that starts to bother people. ”
For those struggling to find their way off the streets after life dealt a blow that knocked them out of their comfortable existence, something as routine as a shower can represent a step back toward what’s been lost.
After he took a six-minute shower in the mobile unit, Lon Garvais said a short time in a clean bathroom equipped with a toilet, vanity and running water provided a welcome alternative to the outdoor showers at the beach or splashing through a “bird bath” in the sink of a public restroom.
“You can’t really wash your hair with a ‘bird bath,’ ” said Garvais, 56, who lost his sales job with a roofing company when a DUI conviction sent him to jail for several months. “You have to keep your dignity out here, and the shower helps.”
Among the many who appreciate the difficulty of staying clean and presentable when homeless is David Tirrell, who works freelance jobs as a television camera operator. For more than a year he has been skipping from shelter to shelter, and sleeping outside, while trying to get his life back on track.
“At this time of year, it is really difficult,” said Tirrell, 58. “I can take a shower at the beach early in the morning, but by the time I walk to the bus station, I’m already a sweaty mess.
“People riding around in cars all the time are not aware of how it is to be without air conditioning.”
Before the mobile trailer debuted, there were few places for the homeless to grab a shower. In central Broward, there are two showers at LifeNet4Families, 1 NW 33rd Terrace, but Tirrell said the demand is high and the wait time long.
“Being homeless is a fulltime job,” said Tirrell. “You’ve got to be creative; you live by your wits out here.”
On Thursday Bentley trucked the Palm Beach County shower trailer to St. George’s Center in Riviera Beach, where dozens more were waiting to shower. Among them was Freddy Cooper, who said his spiral to homelessness was hastened when his wife died of breast cancer three years ago.
“Knowing that my appearance, my hygiene, is not what I want it to be … well, that’s a sad situation,” said Cooper, 56, who has worked in fast-food restaurants and in manufacturing.
“I don’t want to be out here, and I don’t want to use my hygiene as an excuse,” he said. “So I really appreciate Chris and these showers. Because if somebody reaches out to give me a chance, I want to be ready.”
Bentley said he hopes to put shower trailers on the road in the Glades, to serve the western Palm Beach County communities of Belle Glade and Pahokee, and in Miami.
Bentley, 34, who was born and raised in West Palm Beach, said he was motivated to improve the lot of the homeless while working at Columbia University in New York City and then earning a master’s degree in conflict management. He wrote a business plan that was originally funded with a $100,000 grant from Impact The Palm Beaches, a venture philanthropy organization.
HOPE South Florida bought the Broward trailer with a $50,000 grant from an anonymous donor.
“I truly believe that a fresh shower can restore dignity in a person,” said Bentley. “Something as simple as that shower can be the first step towards a new job, building better relationships, and feeling confident of who you are.”