Bridge City Community Church in Chattanooga will soon offer a mobile shower experience to the city’s homeless population with a program called Shower with Hope.
The trailer will include 3 full toilets, hot showers and a range of grooming services.
The goal is to connect 45 to 50 of the city’s homeless neighbors with access to sanitation resources.
Bridge City Community Church runs a youth group with more than 40 students from Howard High School.
It was an idea developed by students who wanted to make a lasting impact on the Chattanooga community.
Thomas and Pastor Ryan Perry say when the students presented the idea, they couldn’t ignore it.
“Kids who don’t have much of their own say, ‘Hey, let’s forget each other for a moment and help someone else,'” says Mark Thomas, executive director of Bridge City Community Church.
Daveon Dupree, a senior at Howard High School, is part of this group whose passion for service is always at the forefront.
It is important for us to do this as many homeless people do not have access to portable showers and I think if we do this there will be an impact on the community. You can have portable showers for free,” Dupree said.
“We’ve actually been to homeless camps and we’ve been interviewing and talking to the homeless about what they want and that’s top of the list,” Thomas said.
Pastor Ryan says while these are privileges people can take for granted, it is a resource that means the world to our homeless neighbors.
“To see them with the dignity that they have and how we can offer them something that will help them grab something that is already theirs,” Pastor Ryan said.
The Church works with several local organizations, such as the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition, to support this resource.
A trailer is currently under construction, the completion date is set for May. If the need arises, executives say they could expand to include more followers in the future.
“And we hope that something like that will really be a picture of the heart of Chattanooga, the spirit of Chattanooga,” said Pastor Ryan Perry. “There are so many programs and people doing great work and we hope this will be a straight line connecting these people to walk by our side.”
To learn more about Showering With Hope, contact Bridge City Community Church:
