Catholic Charities

Catholic Charities of South Carolina brought their ‘Clean of Heart’ mobile shower unit from Greenville to the Our Daily Bread soup kitchen in Seneca and with the help of volunteers from St.Paul the Apostle Catholic Church and Our Daily Bread, set up for free showers for homeless from about 11:30 to 1:30pm on Saturday Sept 19th. Shower recipients were provided with fresh towels, soap, shampoo for their shower as well as other personal hygiene amenities to take with them and information on where to turn for help in Oconee County. 

Gracie Ortiz is the Catholic Charities Regional Coordinator in Greenville and has led efforts to help homeless with the mobile shower unit in the Upstate, using it in Greenville, Spartanburg and now Seneca. She and April Bittner, Catholic Charities Client Advocate, coordinate the Clean of Heart shower schedule and organize the transportation of the unit including a ‘dry run’ to make sure the actual event goes smoothly. She and April also provided towels and masks for participants, took care of the shower hook up equipment, cleaned showers between uses, welcomed and registered participants, and offered Christian support to those interested in a free shower.  

Saint Paul the Apostle Catholic Church helped sponsor the event by covering the cost of bringing the mobile shower to Seneca, providing the soap and personal hygiene amenities and providing volunteers. Saint Paul member Steve Finger pointed out “the Saint Paul Social Outreach Ministries have been working with Catholic Charities of South Carolina for several years on things like immigration issues and setting up a Senior Companion program locally. More recently, we’ve gotten Catholic Charities help with tornado relief repairs and with Gracie’s help, we’ve been able to bring this wonderful mobile shower unit to Seneca.” Also volunteering from Saint Paul were Benevolence Ministry lead Jim Corey and Knights of Columbus President Brian Lamb. 

Our Daily Bread Board Chairman Richard Ledford, who was also instrumental in helping bring the Clean of Heart unit to Seneca, confirmed that many of those of who come to Our Daily Bread each day for a meal are homeless, noting that some take the CAT bus, while others walk. Since Covid19 restrictions have been in place, Our Daily Bread has been providing ’to go’ lunch meals Monday to Friday to over 100 people each day. On Saturdays they work with Christ Central Ministries who uses the Our Daily Bread facility to provide bag lunches along with an outdoor church/prayer service.  Ashley Williams is Director for Oconee Christ Central Ministries in Walhalla which also operates Ash Tree men’s substance abuse recovery program and the Oconee Resource and Solution Center (the old Oconee county Jail) to provide a solution for homeless who are suffering from mental and substance abuse issues. 

The mobile showers were a big hit, with the first shower recipient saying afterward, “I feel human again”. In addition to showers and bag lunches, counseling was provided on finding jobs and other help in the area. Volunteer Stephanie Blake, an Our Daily Bread board member, is also a Workforce Consultant at SCWorks and was able to guide people on job openings in the area and invite them to SCWorks to help with job placement. 

The current plan is offer these free showers monthly at Our Daily Bread with the next Clean of Heart Mobile shower unit visit to Seneca on Saturday Oct 17th at 11:30.