Direct Care – Access to Self-Care Products and Services

The first step to restoring and maintaining dignity for those suffering from housing insecurity.

Direct Care is often our guests’ initial connection to WLP. Our Direct Care team welcomes guests to our daytime community, developing caring relationships while providing support and supplies for daily and urgent needs, including feminine hygiene products and emergency clothing.

They facilitate onsite laundry and showers and manage our “post office,” through which WLP provides our address for guests to safely receive and store their mail and vital documents. Safe hygiene facilities are out of reach for many of our unhoused guests, especially rough sleepers, who took 3,553 showers and had 2,827 loads of laundry washed by our Direct Care team in FY23. 

We strive to restore a sense of dignity to our guests by greeting them with unconditional respect, offering immediate support, and providing them with:

  • a delicious meal

  • a hot shower

  • laundry services

  • mail services

We provide personal care items that are difficult to obtain and store such as:

  • sunscreen

  • water bottles

  • lotion

  • sanitary napkins and tampons

  • soap and shampoo

  • toothpaste and toothbrushes

We offer emergency seasonal clothing, ponchos, new winter coats, hats, gloves, and scarves, as well as a variety of other useful items and household appliances that are donated to the shelter.

As new guests arrive, WLP’s Direct Care staff build trusting relationships and collaborate with Advocacy and Wellness teams to meet their urgent needs and facilitate goal-oriented involvement in our programming.

Our community area––already a hub of Healthy Meals action––is surrounded by rooms filled with Wellness initiatives (e.g., SNAP workshops, Meditation, Smoking Cessation Group meetings). Skilled Direct Care staff oversee this plethora of activities and connect guests to opportunities, avoiding long waits and increasing optimism with each small success.

Through it all, we have remained committed to serving each guest without requiring the often-intimidating disclosure of personal information. While our work is done through a clinical lens, we always meet women where they are and treat them with dignity and respect.

Get Involved

Toiletries, birthday gifts, and emergency and seasonal clothing are always needed by our guests.