Every year homeless women, sometimes with children, come to the Fr. Bradley Shelter for Women and Children and get their lives back on track. Many eventually move into their own apartment or house.
Once they are ready to get out on their own, most need couches, coffee makers, pillows, pots and pans, food containers and much more.
But most don’t have them.
That’s why shelter officials for the past four years have held the Fr. Bradley Shelter Drive-Thru Shower when they gather donated items to be given when a woman moves out on her own.
This year’s shower will be 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday at the shelter at 530 Klutey Park Plaza Dr.
Fr. Bradley Shelter board member Sheila Beaven said that those donating can drive into the shelter’s parking lot and workers there will take the donation and then write down some information. A thank you card, along with a tax-deductible donation form, will be mailed to the person later.
The donations are then taken to a storage unit, waiting for when the next woman is ready to move into her own place, Beaven said.
Last year, the shelter helped 12 women transition to their own place, and that has depleted the stored items, Beaven said.
“We’re about out of everything, including gift cards,” Beaven said.
In addition to physical items, the shelter accepts gift cards (often from Walmart) and vouchers from the Habitat Restore, where many of the women go to buy furniture, Beaven said.
The shelter has served 3,555 residents since it was founded in 2001, and it can house 22 residents at a time, according to information compiled by Beaven and Denise Roethemeier, another board member.
For a woman to move into her own home, she must complete a 3- to 4-month program, pay past dues in utilities and rent and save enough for both a deposit and the first-month’s rent, according to the shelter information.
Below is a list, provided by shelter officials, of the items it’s seeking at the drive-thru shower:
- Pots and pans, skillets, bakeware
- Pyrex type bowls for use in the microwave
- Food containers
- Dishes and glassware
- Queen size sheet sets
- Twin size sheet sets
- Pillows
- Blankets and comforters
- Shower curtains and hooks
- Dish towels, dish cloths, pot holders and dish detergent
- 13-gallon trash cans and liners
- Small trash can and liners
- Laundry baskets, detergent and dryer sheets
- Mop and buckets
- All-purpose cleaners
- Coffee makers
- Microwaves
- Vacuum cleaners
Cash and gift cards for these items are also accepted.
Vouchers from Habitat Restore to help with purchasing furniture are also an option.
