The story of
Refresh Berks
Where did the shower trailer idea start?
We started meeting in the fall of 2023. We decided that we needed to pursue a way of providing showers to people who for any reason did not have regular access to showers. We considered different places where we could build extra shower facilities and then we realized that we needed them at many places. The best way to get showers at many places was to have showers that could travel to many places.
So, in that moment, the idea of a shower trailer was born. We needed showers that could travel around the city of Reading and also around Berks County.
People need showers for many reasons: maybe they are homeless, or their water isn't working in the home they do have, or maybe there is a place where they could get a shower, but the vetting process is difficult. We will be providing showers to anyone that needs a shower, no questions asked.
Is anything funded yet?
We decided that we needed to do three main things to get this idea off the ground:
1. Get serious and become a 501(c)(3).
2. Purchase the shower trailer, the truck, find a garage and also supplies.
3. Hire a person to operate the truck and trailer and hire a person to help people as they come to take a shower and to organize our trips out to locations
As we started fundraising, we were able to get major sponsorships from Trinity Lutheran Church, West Lawn United Methodist Church, Atonement Lutheran Church, West Berks Mission District, Coalition to End Homelessness and Common Ground Recovery Missions.
Then, in addition we received amazing support from a grant provided by Senator Judith Schenk's office. With that grant, we were able to pay for the truck, the shower trailer and also some of costs for the building of the garage.
What's Next?
Since we have already received the funding to purchase the truck and the trailer, we are now free to raise funds to keep this organization operational.
We will need funds to pay the 2 people we spoke of above:
1. A person to operate the truck and the trailer as we travel to different locations
2. A person to be the face of our organization as people come for showers and as people contact us about having the trailer come out to locations.
We are having our Kick-Off event this May. It will give current sponsors a chance to see the new trailer. We are also excited about gaining new sponsors that can keep Refresh Berks going for years to come.
Please see the events page and sign up to come to our KICKOFF SPLASH!
Then, in September of 2025, we expect to have our first trials of operating the trailer out in the community. We did purchase a trailer that works in temperatures above freezing, so we should be able to try out the trailer in the months of September and October, house it for the winter, then resume again in the spring of 2026.
Let’s Work Together
If the idea of helping those in need appeals to you, please reach out to us.