Sammy Stell is able to relate to the homeless neighbors he serves.
The reason? He was once homeless. Stell lost everything while experiencing a relapse into drug use and going through a divorce before the COVID-19 pandemic.
He was eventually able to find employment through Cloud Covered Streets, a former nonprofit that offered showers, laundry and haircuts to homeless people for free — all from the back of a trailer towed by a truck. Through that organization, Stell was able to find a job while supporting community members who needed basic support.
“It allows me to connect with them, and it allows them to know that they can trust me,” Stell said.
When Cloud Covered Streets, a national organization based in Phoenix, decided to stop providing services in Fort Worth, former members of the organization wanted to continue being there for neighbors.
All that was needed was a clean start — literally.
Clean Start Outreach, a nonprofit providing the same services as its predecessor, is set to launch Friday. The nonprofit, fully led by locals, has already begun parking its trailer in church lots and offering neighbors hot showers, clean clothes and haircuts. Leaders of Clean Start Outreach are using this week’s kickoff event to officially announce itself as a community resource.
Sarah Daniel, the new nonprofit’s treasurer, said continuing this work was never a question. At the tail end of Cloud Covered Streets’ time in Tarrant County, the organization was providing about 5,000 showers a year, she said.
If you go
What: Grand Opening of Clean Start Outreach
When: 9 a.m.-noon Oct. 23
Where: Broadway Baptist Church, 305 W. Broadway Ave.
If you go
What: Clean Start Outreach benefit
When: Noon Oct. 25
Where: Longhorn Saloon, 121 N. Exchange Ave.
“Seeing that impact of not just getting a shower but restoring some hope to some people that maybe haven’t had a shower in a week or several weeks, and having them come to it and connect with them while they’re there, was a big part of it,” Daniel said.
Daniel and co-founders Gina Barton and Margaret Smith have been building Clean Start Outreach since July.
Some parts went smoothly. Many of the relationships developed with churches and sponsors were easy conversations to pick up again.
Other things were a little more difficult. Clean Start Outreach needed to build a new mobile unit.
“We just got the new one up and built as soon as we could, and we’re excited to be back out and running,” Daniel said.
On top of Clean Start Outreach’s hard launch Oct. 23, the nonprofit is hosting a benefit two days later in an attempt to raise funds and develop new community partnerships.
Along with a desire for more funding sponsors, Daniel said she hopes the nonprofit’s launch this weekend brings in more volunteers to help run the operation.
The benefits are not exclusive to the homeless neighbor being helped. Daniel views Clean Start Outreach as a conduit to help change perspectives aimed at those experiencing homelessness.
Daniel noted that starting a nonprofit was not easy. However, the support from church partners, many of whom worked with the previous organization, made it easier.
Where can you find the Clean Start Outreach mobile unit
Community Crossroads, 1516 Hemphill St.
Broadway Baptist Church, 305 W. Broadway Ave.
First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth, 800 W. 5th St.
First United Methodist Church of Arlington, 313 N. Center St.
The goal, Daniel said, is to have the trailer with shower and laundry services at one of the locations three times a week.
The churches “not only said yes, you can continue to have your trailers, but some of the organizations even helped to pitch in towards the purchase of the new trailer,” Daniel said.
For Stell, now the operations manager for Clean Start Outreach, the friendships developed with his neighbors gave him and others at the nonprofit the unique perspective that the work needed to continue.
“We told them we were going to be there and they have developed trust in us,” Stell said. “It’s something that we know some of the people in Tarrant County need.”
Ismael M. Belkoura is the nonprofit editor for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from North Texas Community Foundation. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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