When Chrissy Jenkins heard the lofty dollar figure required to purchase the trailer she’d dreamed of, she never felt discouraged.
“I believe that if God really wants it to happen, it will happen,” she said in October 2017.
Jenkins started the Showered and Empowered nonprofit group. She needed $24,000 to pay for a mobile shower trailer.
A year of fundraising and prayer led her to an exciting delivery Tuesday afternoon.
“This is it!” she shrieked as she opened the door to the first shower stall. “I can’t wait to get it loaded up!”
A brand new, custom trailer sat in her driveway. It was designed to allow space for a mobile shower and stackable laundry unit. Jenkins will drive it around town to help an under-served section of her hometown.
“It’s bigger than I thought it would be,” she said with a smile.
Last October, when we first met Jenkins, she knew all of the grim homelessness statistics.
“There are approximately 1,800 homeless people in Hillsborough County and approximately 2,500 in Pinellas County,” she said then. “God laid it on my heart to start this ministry.”
Jenkins hopes to have the trailer up and rolling by the fall. Dozens of organizations, including 10News and the TEGNA Foundation, all helped raise the money for Jenkins’ trailer. 10News donated a $2,000 grant to her project in May 2018.
“I’m ready to go! Let’s get it done! Let’s get started!”
The first event with what Jenkins plans to call ‘The Clean Machine’ is Sept. 18 at ACTS Fireman’s Hall, at 201 E. Yukon St. in Tampa. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will operate in conjunction with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and Tampa Police Department.
Jenkins is still in need of propane tanks and donations of toiletry items like razors, toothpaste, and toothbrushes. A local organization gave her a stackable washer-dryer set in order to wash the clothes of homeless men and women who come to the trailer. She’d like to add another washer-dryer combo set.
Donations can be made at Showered and Empowered’s website.
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