22 August 1 • 2019
jn
N
early five years ago, Sue
Goldsmith and her fami-
ly attended Mitzvah Day at
St. Peter’
s Episcopal Church in the
Corktown neighborhood of Detroit. It
was here that Goldsmith met Janet Ray
and the two bonded over a shared pas-
sion for community service.
Ray took Goldsmith and her family
on a tour of the church that included
a room that had a dingy shower in the
corner.
According to Goldsmith, this decrepit
shower was the spark that led her and
Ray, along with volunteers from all dif-
ferent backgrounds, to begin the Corner
Shower and Laundry, an independent
nonprofit service dedicated to provid-
ing shower and laundry services to
Corktown’
s homeless.
“That shower kind of lingered in my
mind,
” Goldsmith said. “I got in touch
with [Ray] and we decided it seemed
like an important thing to do. As far as
my Jewish values are concerned, it is
very important to me to give back to the
community and take care of others.
”
Goldsmith and her family belong to
Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township
but refer to St. Peter’
s as “their church,
”
according to an article in the Episcopal
News Service by David Paulsen.
The board of the Corner Shower and
Laundry includes volunteers from all dif-
ferent religious and ethnic backgrounds.
“Working with people who have such
different backgrounds is interesting and
it’
s fun,
” Goldsmith said. “I have learned
a lot about other religions and cultures.
It’
s a very diverse group and everyone is
playing nice.
”
The process of creating the Corner
Shower and Laundry has been a long
one, far longer than either Ray or
Goldsmith expected. They have been
working toward their goal for nearly five
years.
Despite the long and often frustrating
process, the team has persisted and plans
to open the facility later this year.
“It seemed like a relatively easy thing
to do at the time,
” said Goldsmith, who
also works part time as a bookkeep-
er at her family business, Joe’
s Army
Navy, and as a freelance floral designer.
“Meeting the homeless people we would
be serving and seeing how eager they
are for the shower and laundry to be
complete has kept us going. They are
as kind as can be and are just down on
their luck.
”
The main goal of the Corner Shower
and Laundry, according to Goldsmith,
is to provide a service almost everyone
takes for granted and make it available
to people who don’
t have access to these
services.
“You know how you feel when you get
out of the shower; you feel refreshed and
rejuvenated,
” she said. “This isn’
t going
to change their world and it’
s not going
to change their lives overnight, but it’
s an
opportunity for them to feel human and
that’
s why I think it’
s important.
” ■
Helping the Homeless
West Bloomfi
eld resident is helping bring showers
and laundry to the homeless.
jews d
in
the
CSL Board members stand
at the shower stalls: Arthur
Gabhart, David Pernick, Sue
Goldsmith and Janet Ray.
COURTESY OF SUE GOLDSMITH
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