Hot showers, fresh clothes, new hope

BEDFORD, VA – A hot shower and clean clothes – many of us don’t think twice about it.

“The only time I felt human was when I was allowed to shower once a week,” said Jenn Bowen, a volunteer at Shower-n-Suds.

But when you don’t have a home, showering can be a luxury.

Jenn Bowen knows this feeling firsthand.

“I became addicted to drugs when I was a social worker. And I went from being a child welfare investigator to being homeless in Las Vegas. I was actually on the streets for two years,” Bowen said.

What is Bowen’s best memory of that time? A free shower truck that came once a week.

“There were clean towels and people talked to you like you were human. It was just such a nice change from the normal hard life on the streets,” she said.

Now sober for over a year, Bowen remembers that kindness and wants to repeat it.

She volunteers for a new organization in Bedford called Shower-n-Suds.

“We hope to give people here the opportunity to prepare for the heat of the day by starting clean and having clean clothes to change into,” said founder Tim Brooke.

Brooke is a member of St. John’s Episcopal Church and one of the founders of Shower-n-Suds.

It’s still a new surgery, but Brooke says the few people who have gone through it so far are grateful.

“We are here to be good disciples of Christ,” he said.

For Bowen, it is an opportunity to come into contact with people who are facing similar difficulties to those she faced a few years ago.

“I think people feel more comfortable and it’s a safer place knowing that it’s not just people outside,” she said.

Access to the services is barrier-free. It is open Mondays and Wednesdays from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Everything you need is available, from hygiene products to towels and detergent.

“There aren’t many places where you can shower for free and especially wash your clothes for free? That’s great too,” Bowen said.

Bowen tells 10 News that the best part about volunteering is doing it with her mother.

“Oh God, it’s so wonderful to have a relationship with my mom again. It’s been really hard and it’s great to be back in her life because there were so many moments where she didn’t even know if I was alive,” she said.

Shower-n-Suds is open every Monday and Wednesday from now through August 26th. You can stop by anytime between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. at 112 Center Street in Bedford.

If you have any questions or would like to volunteer to host or donate money, contact Tim Brooke at [email protected]. They are also looking for donations of small, new toiletries.