Francis Fund Recipient: Bethesda Project

For those who find themselves homeless in Center City, it’s difficult enough to figure out where to sleep and where to find a decent meal.   But it’s even tougher to find a place for a good hot shower .

The Bethesda Project  aims to change that soon –  with the help of a $100,000 donation from the Francis Fund, the fundraising effort by the World Meeting of Families’ Hunger and Homelessness Committee and Project HOME in honor of Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia in late September.

The idea is to have a bus retrofitted with showers and available to go to places across the city, especially shelters and nonprofit organizations where the homeless already get food, health care or other services.

“This has been a back-of-my-mind idea for a very long time,” said Misty Sparks, director of entry-level programs for the homeless at the Bethesda Project, a nonprofit organization that serves more than 2,500 homeless and formerly homeless men and women each year at 13 sites throughout Philadelphia.

The proposal in keeping with a program at the Vatican, begun shortly after Pope Francis’ election, to allow the homeless to use showers when public events are not taking place.  It also is part of a growing trend in places such as Hawaii and San Francisco, where shower buses already are in use.

Sparks said that all they need now is a bus.

“We’re begging,” said Sparks, who said the Francis Fund contribution would get the bus outfitted and pay for staffing as well as the operation and maintenance of the bus.

“There’s a lot of moving pieces to actually see it to the end,” said Sparks.

Tina Pagotto, chief operating officer of Bethesa Project, said that most people have little idea how hard it is to find good bathroom and shower facilities if you are homeless – especially if it is obvious that someone is badly in need of a shower.

“It’s just something that you really take for granted,” said Pagotto.

Sparks said that the homeless will often plan their days and even weeks around how and where to get services.  In the quest for a good cleanup,  she said, it could mean a quick dip in the pools at LOVE Park or Logan Park if the weather is warm, maybe a sponge bath in a bathroom at a train station. 

“It’s difficult,” said Sparks. “They plan their day around where they can shower, where they can sleep.”

A safe place for a nice hot shower would really provide a major improvement in the day-to-day lives of people who are struggling to find a home, she said, by making conditions more pleasant at crowded shelters and by helping those struggling with homelessness look more presentable  for job interviews and other meetings.

Pagotto said the organization, in turn, might find more people in need of services.

“It’s a building block for establishing those relationships and connecting people to the existing services they need,” said Pagotto.

“It’s a really innovative project,” said Sparks.   “It gives us an opportunity to reach out to folks we might not encounter.”

Making people feel better about themselves is a powerful motivator, she said.  “Finally being able to offer someone something they have needed for so long can open the door to engaging around other issues.”