A closer look
The Christian-based charity provides people who are homeless with a space to clean themselves twice per month via mobile showers set up at the Bammel Church of Christ’s Manna Food Pantry in Spring. Qualls said Hearts of Rescue also provides its visitors with:
- A new pair of underwear, a T-shirt, socks and a pair of shorts or sweatpants
- Hygiene items such as deodorant, bug repellant and feminine hygiene products
- A hot meal, coffee, water and Gatorade while they wait to use the showers
- Haircuts and shaves through partnerships with local barbers
- Rides to and from the shower events
Qualls said some of the people she has served were experiencing homelessness due to reasons such as mental or physical health crises, trauma from the loss of loved ones or time in jail. She said these things—as well as a lack of access to showers—make it hard for people to find employment.
“You don't know how close you are to being one of them,” Qualls said. “People tend to think that all [people without housing] are drug addicts, that they want to be there, and they have chosen this life.”
The approach
Hearts of Rescue volunteers also pray with the people who attend the showering events, and the organization has a sign-up sheet for people who would like to attend church with someone.
“We've had some [people experiencing homelessness] that have come there and say that they just want to go to church, but they don't go to church because people frown on them ... when they walk in because of the way they look,” Qualls said.
The inspiration
Hearts of Rescue was founded in 2011, and originally provided items to homeless shelters. The coronavirus pandemic forced the organization’s volunteers to stop working in 2020, and Qualls said she began looking for a new direction for Hearts of Rescue.
“Through a lot of prayer and meditation, God gave me the directive of cleaning his people,” Qualls said.
Qualls searched for a way to achieve her goal before finding partners such as Church Project, Bammel Church of Christ and Amazing Spaces, which provide the mobile showers, space to host the events and warehouse storage, respectively.
Going forward
One day, Qualls said she hopes to host the Hearts of Rescue shower events every weekend and to be able to serve more people in need throughout the Greater Houston area. The organization would need a donated three-bay shower and more hygiene item drives with local companies.
“My vision is for us to be able to go ... under the bridges in Downtown Houston where there is an abundance of people that would die to have a shower, but [with] us having a two-shower trailer that we have to borrow, we couldn't handle the capacity,” Qualls said.
