Washing away a social stigma

Clean Start gives the homeless a chance
to restore their dignity and self-respect

Dressed in tattered clothing and often dirty,  the homeless live on the streets of virtually every city in America, outcasts whom many people would prefer not to see or get near.

This not only makes people who are homeless nearly unemployable, it robs them of the simple human dignity of walking down the street without others averting their eyes or quickening their steps.

But Clean Start, a ministry in Anderson, South Carolina, that is supported by Catholic Extension, is changing that by providing showers where men and women can bathe while volunteers launder their clothes. The hope is that this special ministry will enable those down on their luck to take back their lives.

“No one had really taken care of that first step,” said Pati Brosche, chairwoman of the all-volunteer group. ‘‘They have to meet these basic needs to help with the next step of getting work, feeling good about themselves and being presentable.’’

The ministry, which was started by a priest and parishioners from St. Mary of the Angels Church,  has been open for about five years and now serves an average of 25 people a day, Brosche said.

Clean Start leaders say theirs is a simple ministry, rooted in the Gospel accounts of Christ washing the feet of His disciples. But its impact was apparent from the first people who came to bathe.

“They left here with such a different walk, a different gait,” Brosche said. “I don’t think they had any idea what it was going to do for them, to restore their dignity.”

Cliff McLean, 52, knows now.

McLean said he has been on the street since he was 17 and has rarely had a place to call home. He has battled substance abuse and drifted here and there,  bathing in rivers when it’s warm enough.

“In the wintertime, you just did the best you could do,” he said. “I can remember times in my life–you just feel so shabby, so dirty, you just kind of fade out. You just don’t want to deal with society.”

Then he wound up in Anderson, and discovered it doesn’t have to be that way.

“Clean Start has been a blessing to me. When I came here, I could tell these people really care,” said McLean. “It’s hard to put into words, but it means a lot to stay clean. I’m actually wanting to go out in public more. I look better, and mentally it makes me feel better.”

Last year, the group was in danger of losing its lease and having to move elsewhere, a problem because the ministry was located near a soup kitchen and Salvation Army center where the homeless already congregated. There were no nearby sites Clean Start could use.

Given the chance to buy the building for $75,000, the group got to work raising money.

At first it looked easy. The group sent letters soliciting pledges to churches, civic leaders and individuals. Then the stock market plunged and the economy turned sour. The initial excitement turned to anxiety, and Brosche wondered where the money to buy the building would come from.

“How are we ever going to raise the funds?” Brosche wondered.

But by December 2008 they had received a significant number of pledges, and board member Tony Soignoli worked with the Diocese of Charleston on an appeal to Catholic Extension. As part of its Building Faith initiative, Catholic Extension agreed to provide $35,000 if the board could raise the rest by March 31.

Which they did, thanks to a blizzard of fundraisers and a perfect record of fulfilled pledges.

Children got into the spirit as well. One Anderson girl, Kendall Smith, asked her friends to bring supplies for the shelter rather than presents to her 10th birthday party. As the kids piled into a local skating rink, the donations they brought piled up, too: 10 cartons full of laundry detergent, soap, toothpaste and shampoo.

Some of Clean Start’s clients have managed to find jobs, many of them in landscaping, and one man
reclaimed his former position as a cabinet painter, Brosche said.

But it is the homeless men and women’s self-esteem, restored through these volunteers’ simple acts of kindness, that is perhaps most visible.

“We see a much brighter spirit in them,” Brosche said. “It’s just amazing.”