HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – When you think of taking a shower, you may not think of it as a luxury but for the homeless it is.

The City of Refuge Evangelism has been helping the homeless in the area for about 15 years.

One thing they do is provide showers through their mobile shower unit.

After recently receiving a $25,000 grant from Community Aid, they can now expand their services with a new unit.

The new mobile shower unit has three showers.

The hope is that it will be able to give more than 20 people a shower in one day within a two-hour window instead of 12 showers in four hours.  

We talked with City of Refuge Evangelism Pastor Scott Heiland and Sonia Perez is a volunteer and used to be unhoused after her house burned down in a fire.

“I ended up living out of my car, you know, sleeping out of my car, eating out of my car, going to McDonald’s to try and freshen up,” said Perez.

“The only other way that they were showering and it’s only during the warm months. The city was opening up one of those fire hydrants with a meter on it and a short piece of hose,” said Pastor Heiland.

Pastor Heiland says the plan is to have the mobile shower unit up and running by Saturday, October 7^th.