Learn about how Flowing with Blessings, an Atlanta-based nonprofit, and Georgia Tech students are providing showers and other resources to help the city’s homeless population feel refreshed and proud.
Stone Mountain resident Nicky Crawford sets up operations for the Mobile Laundry Bus, a collaboration between Crawford’s nonprofit organization Flowing with Blessings and Georgia Tech. (Courtesy of Georgia Tech)
Original post of WABE 90.1
This story was updated on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 1:23 p.m.
An Atlanta-based nonprofit organization and a group of Georgia Tech students are allowing Atlanta’s homeless population a better chance to have washed clothes and a refreshed feeling of pride.
Flowing with Blessings has assisted thousands of unhoused Atlanta citizens with showers and other resources since Stone Mountain resident Nicky Crawford established it in February 2022. The group offers 60 free showers and 60 loads of laundry daily on a first come first serve basis.
Crawford says that the organization’s newest innovation, a Mobile Laundry Bus, is “a crucial step in helping these individuals regain their dignity and begin the process of rebuilding their lives,” according to a press release from Georgia Tech.
Flowing with Blessings has long provided showers and new clothes for its clients, but noticed that they wanted to keep the unwashed clothes they had on when they arrived. So the nonprofit bought a school bus to convert into a mobile laundry service.
But Crawford needed help figuring out how to bring the project to life, so he reached out to Georgia Tech for assistance. Five industrial design students took on the project under the guidance of Professor Steve Chininis.
The team brainstormed concepts and developed 3D sketch models, aiming for a design that was “practical and user-centered,” according to the press release.
One of the biggest challenges was figuring out how to store large tanks of clean water since there was no guarantee of water at the locations where the bus stopped. So they designed a layout for the washers and dryers that would be effective regardless of where the bus stops.
“It was so exciting to be able to have our students work on this amazing project,” said Chininis. “It allowed students to make an immediate and direct impact in our community. They were instantly engaged because they were working with an amazing client who was helping real people.”
A BIT ABOUT US
Restoring Dignity and Hope
We are a non-profit Agency of Compassion to the unhoused in the Atlanta area founded in February 2022. Our desire is to bring mobile showers and compassionate services to those in need. The primary focus is to offer exceptional care for our clients, restore dignity, personal hope, and health consciousness to metro Atlanta’s underserved community.
OUR VISION
To encourage proper hygiene, restore dignity, and to offer fresh hope through hot showers. It is our intent to connect the unhoused community with needed resources to restore shelter, improve the conditions and quality of life for the unhoused.
OUR MISSION
- FLOWING WITH BLESSINGS, Inc. intends to offer much needed sanitation and dignity to the unhoused community in the Atlanta area through the mobile Shower Project.
- Spread compassion, and love of mankind to all our sisters, and brothers (no matter color, race, gender, sexual orientation, Veterans, and non-Veterans)
- Bridge the gap between the housed community and unhoused.
- Decrease the risks of communicable diseases.
- Partner with community organizations: Churches, Social Agencies, Hospitals, Health Dept, Law Enforcements, and Thrift Stores, etc. to support our efforts.
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