Basic hygiene is something a lot of us take for granted.

But for those without stable housing, even a hot shower can be hard to come by.

To fill that need in Lexington, Lighthouse Ministries is opening a new shower facility downtown.

Because everyone deserves a clean start.

So our facilities are individuals experiencing homelessness who are not residing in an emergency shelter.

Our limited By adding the service, the lighthouse offers individuals the ability to pursue housing, employment and other opportunities with dignity and respect.

When COVID hit, there was one place in town that did showers and they closed down, and I had a feeling that they probably were not going to open back up.

I was noticing people with the same clothes on for like two and three months and a lot of mentally ill people.

And, you know, I kept hoping that somebody else would do it.

I tell people I was playing that game of it like you're it.

I could never catch anybody.

And then God said, You're it.

You know, they don't like being dirty, but they don't have anywhere to go because they're rejected, because they're dirty and they have dirty clothes on.

And so people automatically, you know, put a hand out.

They don't want you around them.

I think there's dignity in being clean instead of going in somewhere dirty.

People reject people when they're not when they don't look like us.

So that's it.

Just for their own self-esteem.

You know, I can't even tell you how many drug addicts I've talked to that went two weeks without a shower because they didn't have anywhere to go.

Mental health, that's number one.

Blue Grass Community Health is going to be here.

We have drug and alcohol.

We also have a podiatrist that's going to be upstairs.

That is going to be awesome.

That is my favorite thing so far because I know people are embarrassed of their feet.

One of the things we're going to do is we're going to get like this software where we can connect with other organizations and sending referrals and stuff for people.

We're going to go, we're gonna have a case manager and they're going to work with people.

We're going to sit down and we're going to find out what is it that you need.

It's going to make people feel better about themselves.

On top of showers, podiatry and mental health care, Clean Start will also provide haircuts.

The facility is expected to open at the end of June.