It's been raining a lot, lately, in Tampa Bay. That means muddy roads and dirty cars.
It sounds like the perfect recipe for success at the corner of Gandy Boulevard and 4th Street.
"We're happy to get whatever we get," said Jonathan, while scrubbing bird poop off the hood of black sedan.
It doesn't sound like a glamorous job but it is a job. It's something that everyone holding a sponge on that St. Petersburg corner is happy to have.
"I'm 78 years old and I don't know what it's like to be hungry," said Dr. Mentha Thomas, who started the car wash at the Mobil station parking lot two months ago to give homeless people a chance to make a buck. "To me, that hits your heart. That's a sad place to be unless somebody helps you."
In those two months, dozens of cars have rolled through. Most of them don't know the mission behind the scrubbing. Every $20 car wash, done by hand, is helping someone who was recently in jail, out of work or looking for a roof to put over their head.
All of those things are possible now because of Thomas' idea.
"I was homeless about eight months before I met her and I've been climbing ever since," said Ervin Ford.
A man named Ford should know his way around cars. Ervin and a small team detailed the 10 News Honda in about 10 minutes – with a smile on their faces the whole time.
"She told us that she was going to open a car wash and wanted to know if we wanted to work and I said, 'yes,' " said a man named Jerome as he wiped away dirt from the wheels. "I didn't mind. It's a job. It beats standing around on the corner or wasting time."
Thomas grew up in a family of 15 children. Now, as a church pastor, she "sees need" everywhere in her community. Offering to start a car wash and split money between the church and the workers, is the least she can do, in her eyes.
"It's more than a car wash," she said. "It's my mission in life. I'm just patient. You know, to see it develop into something."
Some days the car washers walk away with only a few dollars in their pockets but are grateful to have even gotten the chance to earn them.
"This is looking good," smiled Jonathan, admiring his work. "It's looking real good."
