The “Showers of Dignity.” How United Way created aid for SC’s homeless and hurricanes

Imagine a hurricane, a crippling ice storm or perhaps a tree taking down a power line leaving you in the dark.

You have no hot water.

Your cellphone is nearly dead.

You planned on doing laundry but who knows when the power will come back on.

Maybe an hour, maybe two?

Thanks to the new and innovative “Showers of Dignity” program that includes the Becky Francis Project trailer operated by the United Way of the Lowcountry, anyone who loses access to basic needs like a shower and clean clothes will have a place to turn for help. This includes people who are victims of a weather emergency or those who find themselves without a home for a short or long period of time.

“Showers of Dignity” - here’s a look inside:

“We can use it (the trailer) during hurricanes or we can just use it every day in the community” Angela Boswell, United Way’s community impact manager said of the donated, nearly $90,000 mobile unit.

A self-sustaining, 24-foot trailer equipped with with two bathrooms, each with a shower and laundry machines.

A dual-fuel generator sits at the front of the trailer that runs everything from the heaters in the bathroom/showers to the tankless water heater and the stacked washer, dryer combination.

If completely remote, the trailer holds 400 gallons of water that will allow for 18, 15-minute showers and one load of laundry. If there is a water supply that can hook up to the trailer, the trailer can run endlessly.

At one end of the trailer is a shower and bathroom facilities that conform to the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. A fold down seat allow those with mobility issues to sit inside with a wand sprayer. A lift brings users into the spacious room equipped with a sink, toilet and roll-in shower.

In the middle is a stacked washer/dryer unit to clean clothes and towels. People will be given a mesh laundry bag so guests clothes don’t get jumbled while being washed and dried. Organizers are going to ask that people bring the laundry bag for future visits.

Boswell said the plan is offering the trailer two days a week for about five hours a day between Beaufort and Jasper counties.

Meet Becky Francis and the Dignity Project: A voice for the unhoused

Upon moving to the Lowcountry, Becky Francis’ passion was caring for the homeless. According to Chrystie Turner, executive vice president of the United Way, Francis was a major force in getting services established for the homeless in the Lowcountry.

Turner said that Francis created a fund that the United Way could use for anything serving the homeless.

One of those needs involved creating a identification program. Francis found those unhoused were not receiving benefits either because they were unaware they were eligible or incapable because of a lack of connectivity to information - much of it online. She helped get people their birth certificates, Social Security cards and other necessary documentation so they could receive Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or veterans program benefits.

Francis was distressed watching the unhoused carry their belongings in plastic grocery bags, so the United Way partnered with Citypak, a backpack designed for the homeless by the homeless to offer an almost luggage-like solution.

At the age of 76, pancreatic cancer took Becky Francis’ life in 2023 but the backpacks continue. It was her husband, Charlie Francis, that donated the trailer in her memory and to continue Becky’s mission that humans care about each other, no matter the circumstances.

The backpack

The Citypak backpack offers a better way to carry around belongings.

It’s waterproof and water tight and has a built-in tarp at the bottom and while the agency currently doesn’t offer tents, they do provide sleeping bags.

Inside are about 100 items , suited differently for men and women. It includes toiletries, socks, first aid kits, notepads and even a deck of cards. In the winter, hats, gloves scarves and lip balm will be inside. In the summer they’ll include sunscreen, safari-type hats and bug spray.

Each person who comes to the trailer for a shower will receive a backpack.

Turner is confident that Francis would be ‘very proud’ of the continuing steps the non-profit organization continues to provide for the unhoused.

“She was a very understated woman” Turner said at the United Way office in Beaufort. “If anything, she might be a little upset that her name is on it.” Turner said with a twinkle in her smile.

This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 10:59 AM.