Homeless people are at high risk of catching the coronavirus because they have no way to protect themselves, and most likely, they don’t have robust immune systems. One man, who was once homeless, is taking action to protect those living on the streets of Atlanta.
Terence Lester, with the help of others, is placing portable sinks equipped with soap and water around Atlanta, where homeless people like to gather. “All the news reports are saying, wash your hands. But the homeless population often can’t,” explained Terence.
Terence knows the challenges of living on the streets because he was homeless as a teenager. However, he turned his life around and now is currently the executive director of the non-profit “Love Beyond Walls,” which is devoted to helping homeless people. The challenges he faced as a teenager don’t even come close to those the homeless face now with this pandemic.
Terence said:
I was trying to think of how they will survive. How can they get through this when they can’t even wash their hands? So, I decided to start there.
His solution was simple: portable washbasins that are typically sold for RV’s and camping. These basins have a foot pump to push the water from a 5-gallon tank up to the faucet. Each station has a soap dispenser built into it.
As Terence was almost finished assembling the first sink, a homeless man walked right up to him and asked to wash his hands, only reaffirming how much the basins are needed in the city. “Dimitry lives on the streets around our center, and he came up and asked if he could wash his hands. He hadn’t washed them yet because he hadn’t had any water,” Lester commented.
Dimitry understands the importance of clean hands:
You have to wash your hands; if you don’t, you are going to get sick. If you touch anything, then wash your hands.
Terence didn’t install these portable sinks alone. Reach Records and Grammy-winning hip-hop artist Lecrae, are providing the first 15 sinks and the artist even joined Terence to help assemble them and place them around the city of Atlanta. “It is encouraging to me that someone like him and the platform he has, that he is willing to roll up his sleeves and serve alongside you,” Lester said.
Terence hopes other states will follow suit:
I hope this catches on and spreads across the country. Even more than that, these sinks can spark the conversation of what else we can do to help the homeless facing this pandemic.
The team from Love Beyond Walls picks up the sinks every day to clean them and refill each unit with soap and water. The team hopes to raise enough money to place more sinks in the city and to ship them off to other homeless communities across the country.
