Minibus bought for second Cleansing Hope Shower Shuttle for homeless
Church in the Park has purchased a minibus to create a second Cleansing Hope Shower Shuttle to serve the homeless population in Modesto.
The church paid just $100 for the bus at auction, said President Dean Dodd, and having it shipped on a trailer from Sacramento cost an additional $600.
“We didn’t know too much about it, but it ran and drove, so we picked it up,” he said, “It turns out it has some blown head gasket or something. ... But the body is in good condition, and the (wheelchair) lift gate is fine.”
To date, we have provided over 2,500 showers to those in need. However, with only one bus we can access just a very small percentage of Modesto. We want and need to do more, which is what we will be able to do with a second bus.
Dean Dodd
in a letter to Church in the Park members and supportersThe donor of the first bus turned into a shower shuttle, Tradeway Transmissions, and church volunteer Doran Ott of Ott’s Auto Sales are looking for a new engine for the second bus, Dodd said.
The setup of the second Cleansing Hope Shower Shuttle will be the same as the first, including two shower and changing areas, and an outside basin and mirror where men can shave. “We don’t want to reinvent the wheel,” Dodd said, “but the bus is 18 inches longer, so it’s a little more spacious inside.”
Church in the Park hopes to have the shuttle in operation by July or August. The first one took 11 months to build, Dodd said, and required “a lot of mental gymnastics.”
But church staffers are now over the learning curve, so the second shuttle hopefully will take five or six months, he said.
“Our guys are prepared to do the work, but we do need to fundraise because we’re not expecting everybody to do everything for free as they did last time,” Dodd said.
The fundraising goal for the second shuttle is $30,000 because the church doesn’t know what in-kind donations it will receive.
The church just received a $100 donation from a Modesto Girl Scout troop, Dodd said Tuesday. It has a gofundme.com account set up, and supporter Tina Castro is holding a “Cookin’ for a Cause” fundraiser in which she’s raffling off homemade meals for four. Learn more at www.facebook.com/showershuttle.
Links to the gofundme page are included at showershuttle.com and churchintheparkmodesto.org.
Donations by check also may be mailed to Church in the Park, 236 S. Santa Cruz Ave., Suite A, Modesto, CA 95354.
With the second shuttle, Church in the Park will offer showers three days a week at six spots, Dodd said. If volunteer support allows, it could expand to four days a week.
Deke Farrow: 209-578-2327
This story was originally published January 31, 2017 at 12:37 PM with the headline "Minibus bought for second Cleansing Hope Shower Shuttle for homeless."