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Mobile shower service builds mini-unit for churches hosting homeless

  • No Sweat Mobile Shower Service in York County, is building...

    Judith Lowery / Daily Press

    No Sweat Mobile Shower Service in York County, is building a smaller version of its mobile shower facility for churches hosting homeless people during the winter to use. It's almost finished, here, is the opening to the women's shower area. The goal is for it to be ready the week before Thanksgiving and to be used at Williamsburg Community Chapel.

  • Jim Clayton, owner, No Sweat Mobile Shower Service in York...

    Judith Lowery / Daily Press

    Jim Clayton, owner, No Sweat Mobile Shower Service in York County, is building a smaller version of its mobile shower facility for churches hosting homeless people during the winter to use.

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Jim Clayton is hoping the latest offering from his No Sweat Mobile Shower Service will be able to do some good for a population in need.

Clayton recently completed a smaller version of the mobile shower units that he rents out. He made it specifically for churches that take turns hosting homeless people during the winter.

“It’s a four-unit shower trailer,” Clayton said. “And the reason that we built the little four unit was because of the homeless situation primarily in the Williamsburg area, but really Peninsula-wide.”

All churches have a kitchen, fellowship hall, and sleeping spots and bathroom, Clayton said. The one thing they usually cannot provide is a shower.

“So we can take the shower trailer to whichever specific church is housing the folks this week,” Clayton said.

No Sweat Mobile Shower Service in York County, is building a smaller version of its mobile shower facility for churches hosting homeless people during the winter to use. It's almost finished, here, is the opening to the women's shower area. The goal is for it to be ready the week before Thanksgiving and to be used at Williamsburg Community Chapel.
No Sweat Mobile Shower Service in York County, is building a smaller version of its mobile shower facility for churches hosting homeless people during the winter to use. It’s almost finished, here, is the opening to the women’s shower area. The goal is for it to be ready the week before Thanksgiving and to be used at Williamsburg Community Chapel.

Though an entire group hasn’t committed yet, a church group in Williamsburg is considering it. Clayton will rent the units at a reduced rate for the churches, but they will be available to all customers at regular price.

The mobile shower unit uses a propane-fired system to heat water from a standard garden hose.

The small unit has two showers on the men’s and two on the women’s. Each has a bench for sitting and changing clothes, and there is one sink in each unit for personal hygiene needs such as brushing teeth and shaving.

“Typically our larger units are designed for a larger number of people, but even this can bathe 20 to 30 people an hour,” Clayton said. “So if you have 60 or 70 being housed by a church, everybody can get a shower within a three-hour window.”

More than 100 people trying to shower in a short window probably requires a bigger unit, he said.

“This one is designed to do 50, 60 or 70 people at any given time,” Clayton said. “That’s the intent of it, to be able to go from one church location to another church location. And that way the shower can follow the group, and all the normal services befitting anyone will be available at whichever church they might be at.”

Clayton expected the mobile unit to be in operation in November at Williamsburg Community Chapel, with other churches participating in the shelter program invited to check it out to decide if they want to use it as well.

“Most people already know about it, but want to see what they’re getting into,” Clayton said. “Make sure it’s something they’d be comfortable using themselves, so to speak.”

Other uses of the rental unit during the rest of the year may include small groups on short-term mission trips, he said.

“Big rigs are overkill for 60 kids — it’s just way too much,” Clayton said. “This little unit would be perfect for that. It’s small, concise, clean, brand new. [For] anything up to 100 people, this shower trailer would work very nicely.”

Williams can be reached by phone at 757-247-4644.

More online

See video of the No Sweat Mobile Shower Service unit at dailypress.com.