Top-up the buses’ one-stop-shop

AS the pandemic carries through spring, The SoupBus and One Humanity Shower Bus will continue to collaborate, servicing their clients of an evening on Armstrong Street South.

Providing food, shower facilities, supplies and clean clothes in one location, the not-for-profits require community support so they can help those most in need.

OHSB secretary, Danni Trezise said the Shower Bus is currently being serviced as it will be much busier this season than last.

“As it gets warmer, the number of people who want to have a shower will increase, because obviously when it’s freezing over winter, the numbers do drop off as people don’t want to come out of a warm place to get wet and be in the cold,” she said.

“We still need our usual toiletries, but coming into the warmer weather, it’s more about clothing. Whatever clothes our clients have, they cart around most of the time, so they’ll have lots of warm clothes, but not necessarily cooler stuff.

“We need t-shirts, shorts, thongs, and always underwear. That’s a big thing. Another thing we don’t have a lot of is little packets of sunscreen for when the weather gets really hot.”

If you are willing to donate items, it is worth contacting the groups to see what supplies are running low or what is most needed that week, whether it be food-handling gloves and long-life milk for The SoupBus, or shampoo and conditioner for the Shower Bus.

The SoupBus has said support from residents and local businesses ensures their survival. Last week, Domino’s Pizza Sebastopol donated around 40 pizzas to the volunteer kitchen.

The Rotary Club of Ballarat West recently gave $8000 to fund a double oven, cooktop, rangehood and fridge for the original SoupBus.

Two permanent SoupBus vehicles will soon be servicing Ballarat.

Contact can be made with OHSB and The SoupBus’ volunteers via Facebook messages at facebook.com/TheSoupBus and facebook.com/OneHumanityShowerBus.