An organization in Carbondale helps people who are homeless shower at the local recreation center. Now, Carbondale Homeless Assistance could receive financial support from the town to help fund the program.
Lynn Kirchner started Carbondale Homeless Assistance five years ago. After working with the area’s homeless, she found that one thing they wanted the most was a place to shower.
“Many of the people we were dealing with were trying to get jobs to get back on their feet, and they needed a place to go get presentable for an interview,” she said.
She says one formerly homeless man came back to tell her how the program changed his life.
"Your showers helped me get the job, go to work every day, save up my money and transition from living in my car to getting a place of my own again," she said he told her.
Kirchner says the organization thoroughly vets people who use the recreation center’s facilities, and that they’ve provided 578 showers since the program's inception.
Earlier this month, she asked the town of Carbondale for fifteen hundred dollars to help pay the recreation center memberships for the program. The town's trustees agreed to set aside the money in next year’s budget, which has yet to be finalized.
