The man entered Connecting Grounds Outreach Center Monday afternoon smelling like soap and shampoo, water still dripping from the ends of his curly brown hair.
He couldn’t stop smiling.
“How was it?” the center’s director Dena Lantz asked him.
“One-hundred times better,” he replied.
The man, whose name is John, was the seventh person to use the new shower trailer at the Connecting Grounds Outreach Center.
John said he’d been sleeping in the woods for the past three weeks and figures it had been at least a week since he showered.
“Finally getting a shower,” John said, “I can’t even put into words how great that is.”
Now that he’s showered and his clothes are laundered, John said he feels confident he’ll find work.
“I look forward to getting a job,” he said. “Now I can get my tools and get a job.”
John’s girlfriend, Crystal, also took a shower on Monday.
“It was very nice. That was awesome,” Crystal said. “It’s been a while.”
A fresh restart for a better way forward
The Outreach Center is located at 3000 W. Chestnut Expressway and offers a variety of services for Springfield’s unsheltered community.
Lantz explained that showers are free and available pretty much anytime the center is open. People can access them on a first-come, first-serve basis. There are two regular showers and one wheelchair-accessible shower.
Soap, shampoo and conditioner dispensers are mounted on the shower walls and fresh towels and washcloths are provided. The shower trailer has air conditioning and heat.
The showers are sprayed down with a no-wipe disinfectant between each use.
At this time, Lantz said she doesn’t plan to impose any sort of time limit on the showers.
Monday was the first day the shower trailer was in operation. By noon, at least one person told Lantz they hadn’t showered in a month.
“I’ve heard lots of ‘thank yous.’ There’s been tears today,” Lantz said. “I’ve heard, ‘You don’t know how amazing this is for us.’”
Connecting Grounds purchased the shower trailer using American Rescue Act Plan (ARPA) funds. It cost about $50,000, said Christie Love, pastor of the Connecting Grounds Church.
“It’s barrier reduction,” Love said of the showers. “It’s health care. You know, this morning I went and picked up a gentleman that had a really severe wound. And the first thing we needed to do was get access to a shower. So the ability to be able to bring him here, get him showered, dress that wound and actually get him over to respite care — those are huge barriers.
“This is breaking down barriers to employment,” Love said, motioning to the shower trailer. “We’re incredibly excited and very honored to be able to have this.”
The Connecting Grounds also received ARPA funds to convert the church building into a transitional shelter, to purchase a second respite house and to build 10 drinking water stations that were placed all over Springfield.
Sacred Heart Catholic Church to offer shower, laundry
Connecting Grounds isn’t the only organization in Springfield working to help unsheltered persons address their hygiene needs.
Sacred Heart Catholic Church in north Springfield recently spent about $35,000 to build a new wheelchair-accessible bathroom with a shower in its parish hall. The church also purchased a washer and dryer so men can have the clothes they are wearing washed while they are there.
Bishop Edward Rice blessed the bathroom in late June. Shower and laundry services will be available for unsheltered men beginning next week.
To start, the church will offer these services 1-4 p.m. on Tuesdays, said Father Ray Smith.
Since there is only one shower stall and one washer and dryer set, Smith expects to be able to serve about 15 men per day.
Depending on the demand for services and number of volunteers willing to help, the church might eventually expand the hours.
On the winter nights when the church serves as a men's cold weather shelter, the men seeking a warm place to sleep will be allowed to use the new shower and laundry facilities.
“It’s really kind of beautiful that different groups came together to do this,” Smith said of those who donated to the church’s bathroom and laundry project, including the Knights of Columbus, Bishop Rice, Bishop John Leibrecht and several Sacred Heart parishioners.
When men come to the church on Tuesdays, they will put their clothes into a mesh bag while they shower, explained parishioner and volunteer Marianne Jones. Volunteers will put several of the mesh bags into the washer and dryer. When men get out of the shower, they will be given scrubs to wear while they wait for their clothes.
Jones was a major driving force behind the church joining Springfield’s Crisis Cold Weather program. She hopes Sacred Heart can be open a few more nights every week this coming winter, but that will depend on finding enough volunteers to staff it.
“Everybody that shows up to volunteer always comes back because they realize that these guys are not dangerous, that they’re extremely thankful,” Jones said. “The volunteers will sit down and talk to them, and everybody gets something out of it.”
Father Smith allowed the Connecting Grounds to place one of the water refill stations on the Sacred Heart Catholic Church’s property. The church is located at 1609 N. Summit Ave., across the street from Washington Park and in an area that often sees unsheltered people traveling through or hanging out.
“We’re putting together all these pieces. I mean, we are a small church,” Smith said. “If this little church can do this, anyone can, right? You have much bigger churches that are not doing anything. And if we can do something, everyone can do their part.”
Other places unsheltered people can shower
Showers services at the O’Reilly Center for Hope are 9 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m. Monday-Thursday. Showers are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis (15 shower slots in the morning and 15 shower slots in the afternoon). The O’Reilly Center for Hope is at 1518 E. Dale St.,
The Veterans Coming Home Center, a day-time drop-in center at 806 N. Jefferson Ave., has one shower stall available. An issue with the shower at Vets is that there are almost always more than 100 people at the center and it closes at 2:30 p.m. People are allowed 15 minutes to take a shower.
Freeway Ministries recently purchased a shower trailer. A volunteer with the church comes to the Veterans Coming Home Center on Tuesday and offers to bring people to the shower trailer.
