ATLANTA — Every Saturday, on Joseph E. Boone Boulevard in Atlanta, you can always hear the music blaring.
A crowd of people nearby gather in an empty parking lot in the Vine City neighborhood.
“We play oldies. We play Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, [The] Temptations, Earth, Wind and Fire. The music is a big part of what we do as well. The music makes your soul feel good,” said Jason Winter.
If you’re driving or even walking by, you might mistake this as your typical weekly block party.
However, this block party helps fill a big need in the city.
“Me and some friends started collecting stuff and handing it out to less fortunate folks living on the streets. We asked what they needed and a lot of them said showers. So, I decided to put something together and bring showers to them,” Winter explained.
Winter says he started his efforts to help the city’s homeless more than two years ago.
He started parking his tinted trailer anywhere he could and providing hot showers.
He calls it “Hope Thru Soap.”
“We do it every Saturday,” mentioned Winter.
The operation eventually expanded to more than just showers. Hope Thru Soap now provides hot meals, haircuts, clothes and shoes for free.
“Then when you got a shower, you got a haircut, you got fresh clothes, you got food in your belly, the next thing is music,” Winter said.
“All of the donations are sorted. They are hung by size on the bus,” he said as he walked through one of the buses.
Atlanta Mission estimates 7,000 people in Atlanta are homeless. According to its website, on any given night 2,000 people sleep on the streets.
Winter says his group helps between 200 and 300 people each Saturday.
“A lot of them sleep in these abandoned homes [and] on the front porches,” he explained.
After bouncing from location to location, the organization has now found a permanent spot on Joseph E. Boone Blvd.
Recently, they moved into an office in Gwinnett County. It also serves as a warehouse where donations and even the mobile shower is stored.
“It went from a very small operation and it went to an operation like this. We provide showers and haircuts, but we provide a place for people to have a good time,” Winter explained.
He says he along with volunteers work throughout the week to plan for Saturday’s big day.
If you would like to help, click here, for more information.