“When the U.S. offers aid to third-world countries, the first things
we bring are clean water and tools for basic hygiene,” says Ronni
Gilboa, program manager for the Urban Rest Stop. “Meanwhile, here in
the U.S., you need a home, or at least a gym membership, to guarantee
such necessities. We’re such a rich country, but our distribution
policy sucks. How do you level the playing field?”
For the Urban Rest Stop, the answer is obvious: Offer fully stocked
bathrooms, showers, and laundry facilities to any and all homeless and
low-income citizens who need them, free of charge, seven days a week.
Founded in March 2000 as a project of the Low Income Housing Institute,
the Urban Rest Stop has been doing just that for over seven years,
providing an oasis of civilization to more than 20,000 individuals, and
earning the coveted attention of Noise for the Needy, the Seattle-based
nonprofit organization that produces a week-long music festival to
benefit a different do-gooding local organization each year.
The selection of Urban Rest Stop as Noise for the Needy’s 2008
recipient was “a no-brainer,” says Rich Green, cofounder of NFTN and
purchaser of this one-page story in this year’s Strangercrombie
auction. Green says the proposal was “met with immediate approval” by
the Noise for the Needy board, every member of which was already
familiar with Urban Rest Stop.
For those of you who aren’t, here are the basics: The Urban Rest
Stop is located at 1924 Ninth Avenue, just around the corner from the
Greyhound bus station, in the nameless neighborhood hovering between
downtown, South Lake Union, and Capitol Hill. Hours of operation are
5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on weekdays, and 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on
weekends. Among the available amenities: five individual shower rooms
(each of which is rigged with a shower, sink, and toilet, and one of
which is accessible to folks with disabilities); a full-size laundry
room packed floor-to-ceiling with washers and dryers (free, of course,
with complimentary laundry soap provided); a station stocked with body
soap and shampoo, shaving cream and razors, toothbrushes and toothpaste
(all complimentary); and, last but not least, a rack of clean coveralls
for clients to don while doing their laundry.
“Often our clients are washing the only clothes they have,” says
Gilboa, a 20-year nonprofit veteran who last year oversaw the Rest
Stop’s expansion to almost twice its original size—a move that
doubled the washer-dryer capacity, doubled the space of the laundry’s
waiting room, and, most importantly to Gilboa, provided room for coed
facilities. “When we first opened, services were only available to men,” Gilboa
tells me. “In Seattle, services are typically age and sex segregated,
but with the addition of our facilities for women, we’ve become the
only hygiene facility in Seattle that families can use together.”
About those families: A majority of the Urban Rest Stop’s clients
are the working poor, with a full 60 percent of the
clientele
composed of people with jobs but no homes. “There’s this bogus theory
that if people get hungry and dirty enough, they’ll get a job,” says
Gilboa. “But how can you get a job if you’re not clean?” The needs of
the employed and those seeking employment are also behind the Rest
Stop’s extended weekday hours, which span from early morning to
mid-evening, guaranteeing regular access to laundry and personal
hygiene for those folks either working or seeking jobs. “If we want
people clean and healthy, if we want a healthy community, we need to do
this,” says Gilboa of the Rest Stop’s commitment to regular, open, and
free public-hygiene services. “It’s in our own self-interest.”
To gain access to the Urban Rest Stop, all one needs to do is show
up. Clients fill out forms asking for their names, birth dates, and a
small handful of other facts (sample question: “Where did you sleep
last night?”), but the overarching goal of Urban Rest Stop is maximum
accessibility, and the facts on the forms aren’t double-checked against
ID. “Lots of people sign in under names that probably aren’t their
own,” says Gilboa. “We’ve had Bill Gates, Queen Christina, Frank
Zappa… It’s fine to be Frank Zappa; all we ask is that you
stay Frank Zappa, to help us keep our records straight.” (A
less-whimsical fact glommed from Rest Stop questionnaires: 25 percent
of clients are military veterans.) Appointments to use laundry services
are made by phone on a daily basis—the sign-up list opens at 5:30
a.m. and typically fills up in an hour—while shower appointments
are made in person each day.
In the sprit of maximum accessibility, the sole disqualifier for
Urban Rest Stop’s services is behavior. “The basic ground rule: Don’t
be a jerk,” says Gilboa. “No violence, no threats, no buying or
selling. If someone shows up intoxicated, we send ’em away till they
sober up. Urban Rest Stop is not safe for drunks—hot water and
intoxicated people don’t mix. Beyond that, everybody who needs us is
welcome—regardless of age, race, gender, or physical ability.”
Unlike a number of local organizations helping the homeless, Urban Rest
Stop is unaffiliated with any church or agenda beyond personal hygiene.
“We’re not pushing anything,” says Gilboa. “You don’t have to pray
before you pee.”
When Gilboa gives me a tour, I note the Rest Stop’s facilities are
cleaner than most gyms’, and Gilboa confirms the place is kept
rigorously clean. “A lot of our clients aren’t getting enough sleep,
aren’t getting enough to eat, are totally stressed out, all of which
adds up to compromised immune systems,” says
Gilboa. “This place
only works if it’s clean.” The ongoing health concerns of clients is
the driving force behind the Rest Stop’s next move: a collaboration
with Harborview, whose nurses are expected to begin onsite health care
and preventive medicine at Urban Rest Stop by late February, offering
services from first aid to prenatal care.
Now perhaps you’re wondering, how can I help? Lucky for
you, there are a thousand painless ways to help Urban Rest Stop keep on
keeping on. First and foremost, there’s this year’s Noise for the Needy
festival, which will be lighting up clubs around town the second week
in June with an array of beloved local and national acts (full list of
this year’s acts is coming soon); just by attending, you’ll be putting
money toward the Rest Stop’s mission of free and easy cleanliness for
all. Beyond that, the Rest Stop is always hungry for donated books and
magazines (“There’s a lot of waiting-around time with laundry and
showers,” says Gilboa), and big boxes of Costco laundry soap are
perennially welcome. On an artsier tip, Urban Rest Stop would love to
borrow the services of a kindhearted videographer, to help spruce up
the URS information video—interested videographers can reach the
Rest Stop’s offices at 332-0113. 
For more information on the Urban Rest Stop, call 332-0110 or visit
www.lihi.org/urbanreststop.html.
For more information on Noise for the Needy, visit www.noisefortheneedy.org.
