CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) - After going 96-hours without a shower to demonstrate how the homeless community in Champaign County feels without feeling clean, homeless advocates got to work.
Warren Charter and other homeless advocates are building a portable Homeless Shower and Laundry Trailer. The trailer is set to house 2 showers and larger 275-gallon water tanks. The trailer will also house a deck with 2 portable washer/dryer units, towels, and scrubs to wear while doing laundry.
Charter says this is a way to bring the basic act of showering directly to the homeless community, something they desperately need for both physical and mental health. Charter says, "Being unclean and not having that shower has such a big impact on everything else, that's where its important that we give them those opportunities and more opportunities to be clean and it has to be done on their level, we have to take it to them, we can't expect for them to come to us."
The portable unit is set to be ready in the summer, once temperatures rise. Charter says they may be able to enclose the unit for the fall and winter seasons. They have raised most of the funds they need, but they still need a bit of help to complete the project, click here if you'd like to donate to help the project.
Charter is also a part of the Street Outreach Movement and among the many things they do to help the homeless community, they work to pass out basic necessities like clothes and food on a daily basis. To see more of the movement and get involved, visit the Street Outreach Movement on Facebook.
