Hope Recovery Pastor, Rev. Meg McBride, said this could be an opportunity for the community to rally, despite the odds.
Hope Recovery United Methodist Church hosts a mobile shower trailer year-round. But Pastor Meg McBride said it’s especially necessary during the holiday season to offer those in need a hot shower — along with a place to sleep as part of their overnight pop-up shelter, called the Warming Shelter.
The four-stall, mobile shower unit was stolen on the night of October 26, and the Hope Recovery community has been rallying to make things right ever since, McBride said.
“You know, there were so many comments on Facebook. It was shared over 1500 times on Facebook. I mean, I think almost everybody in Wilmington knows that this trailer is missing," she said.
The shower trailer was a donation from the United Methodist Church and many people came together to customize it and make it operable. McBride says the chances of making that happen again before the end of the year would be unlikely.
“The Warming Shelter for the past two years has been open over the Christmas holiday, which we'll see, but like, we're going to be missing that vital resource at our shelter," she said.
Prior to the incident, McBride said the organization was able to provide about 100 showers per week between their two host sites at St. Jude’s Metropolitan Community Church at 26th and Market Street, and Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church on Sigman Road.
She says the sites will continue to serve hot breakfast: Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to noon at Macedonia Missionary Baptist and Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon at St. Jude’s.
People can still go to Vigilant Help’s location sites for a hot shower at Lake Forest Baptist Church from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and First Baptist Church from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays. View more locations and times here.
McBride said having to rely on only one shower trailer will be more work, but she views this as an opportunity for people to reunite over an important cause.
“What I love about having to rebuild is that it's going to get together a whole group of people that have shared values, and that want to really be a service to loving their neighbor. And that opportunity could have never happened if it wouldn't have to be reconstructed, right? And so, not only is it a story about replacing a vital resource for an underserved and vulnerable population, but it's about people rallying together for something that matters," she said.
Donations to rebuild a new mobile shower are being accepted at www.thewarmingshelterILM.com.
