Modesto’s Cleansing Hope shuttle looks 10,000 mobile showers back, and countless more ahead

Dean Dodd and his What Would Jesus Do Ministries team had three big reasons to celebrate Friday:

• Their first Cleansing Hope Shower Shuttle, dubbed Grace, recently surpassed the milestone of 10,000 showers provided.
• Grace’s shuttle sister, Mercy, just had a soft launch, providing 25 showers without a hitch. She’ll go into full service in little more than a week.
• The campaign has begun to turn a third shuttle, Faith, into a mobile laundry, with four washing machines and four dryers.

Cleansing Hope was begun by WWJD, which operates as Church in the Park Modesto, in August 2016. With Grace, it has made four stops a week, giving about 500 showers a month to those in need, Dodd said.

Adding Mercy means three stops for each shuttle. “We could step this up to 1,000 showers a month. That’s 1,000 pairs of underwear and 1,000 pairs of socks, too,” he added, noting that shuttle users also receive new undergarments.

The Cleansing Hope Shower Shuttle schedule

Once Faith joins the team (there’s no strong timeline in place because much fundraising lies ahead), those freshly showered won’t have to put dirty clothes back on over their clean underwear and socks.

The Cleansing Hope team received Faith as a donation from Ceres-based Bronco Wine Co. and got a great deal on a gently used 10,000-watt generator. It cost $1,000 (new, it would have been about 10 times that, Dodd said) and was to be picked up in Santa Cruz over Father’s Day weekend.

The nonprofit now is seeking contributions to purchase LG brand appliances to furnish the laundry shuttle. Dodd was excited to announce Friday that a generous sponsor has pledged to double up to $10,000 in donations.

Friday’s celebration at Cleansing Hope, 236 S. Santa Cruz Ave., Suite A, included recognition of volunteers and staff. Dodd and his team also received certificates of recognition from the city of Modesto and staff of state Sen. Anthony Cannella, Assemblyman Heath Flora and Rep. Jeff Denham.

Among the volunteers was regular Cleansing Hope client Steve Camillo. He briefly spoke to the audience about the importance of the mobile shower, and talked more about his life in an interview with The Bee.

Camillo said he worked for Stanislaus Food Products in Modesto for 26 years until his crystal meth habit caught up with him, costing him his job as a forklift operator in August 2014 and, consequently, his home.

He started using when he was about 35, he said, and he’ll turn 54 in July. It used to feel good, Camillo said, but in recent years, “it makes my bones hurt the next day. I thought, ‘I gotta stop this. I’m getting older.’”

Through willpower and the program Changing Echoes, he quit and has been clean for three months, he said. “Now my bones don’t hurt. There’s no aches and pains.” His wife of 27 years wasn’t eager to quit meth, he said, but has been clean almost as long.

They’ve been homeless since sometime in 2016, Camillo said, and he discovered the Shower Shuttle when it was in service at Vine House Ministries. He now uses the shower every day it’s in service, he said, following it from stop to stop. He said he can’t understand why homeless people who could walk just a block or two to use it still won’t.

Before the shuttle, he said, he’d take “bird baths” in restrooms, but that’s nothing like getting a hot shower. As he works to reclaim his life, he said, he recycles bottles and cans to pay for food and necessities, including doing laundry. Wearing clean clothes at Cleansing Hope on Friday, Camillo said, “I don’t look homeless, but I am.”

Camillo regained his forklift license in May, he said, and has gone to Stanislaus Food Products to seek a second chance. He said he was told that if he could pass a drug test, he could be rehired.

A Stanislaus Foods human-resources staffer on Friday confirmed Camillo had been employed and said when hiring starts in July, he’s added his name to the call list of possible employees. There’s no guarantee, but there’s no mark against him, she said.

Dodd said he’s seen changes for the better in Camillo. The man used to be “rough around the edges” and had a bad attitude, at least toward Church in the Park, he said.

So when Shower Shuttle was approaching its 1,000th shower and planning to give a small gift to that client, the team was a bit disheartened when the person turned out to be Camillo, Dodd said. “We second-guessed, should we give him this? He doesn’t really have it coming,” he said, noting that no one could have proved Camillo was 1,000th as opposed to 999th.

But they did the right thing, Dodd said, in giving the man the prize of a $25 gift card to Jack in the Box. “He lit up, and little by little we started to gain his trust.

Camillo began helping out, doing things like setting up or breaking down the shuttle service sites. “He ended up being very polite and respectful, and he pulls his weight when helping out,” Dodd said. “We became friends.”

For more information on Cleansing Hope Shower Shuttle to donate or offer volunteer time, visit www.showershuttle.com or call 209-496-4894.

This story was originally published June 17, 2018 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Modesto’s Cleansing Hope shuttle looks 10,000 mobile showers back, and countless more ahead."