Welcome to Blossoms
The locked doors of the pandemic magnified the daily vulnerabilities and dangers that women living on the streets face. With services shut down and no public indoor spaces to find, there was not even a temporary reprieve from the usual susceptibilities to violence, sexual exploitation, unexpected pregnancies, and barriers to feminine hygiene that come with homelessness. For a woman, life on the streets offers no glamor or beauty. Surviving outside amongst the elements takes grit, strength, and a special kind of resilient spirit that many of the unhoused women in Wheeling possess. Food, shelter, and clothing are understood to be essentials, but there are many other aspects of womanhood that deserve similar attention. Women desire to feel pampered and a bit spoiled every once in a while, and no woman should ever be denied the opportunity to feel beautiful. When it became evident that these unsheltered women needed a safe space in which to retire after a grueling week on the street, former pipefitter and Laughlin Chapel volunteer Joe Kochy took immediate action. Blossoms, a day-spa solely for women, was born.
Blossoms takes place every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Laughlin Memorial Chapel in East Wheeling. Set in a gymnasium, the space may seem a little odd at first. Linoleum floors and basketball hoops are not typically seen alongside a rainbow of nail polish colors and shower curtains, but the regulars at Blossoms aren’t preoccupied with the contradictory setting. To the eight to ten women who attend Blossoms weekly, the physical surroundings are simply a vessel for positive female energy and relaxation to bloom as the outside world hurries on.
Each week, the women are offered an array of beauty services ranging from nail painting to hair cuts and showers. A lunch is provided by a different caterer or volunteer each week. Youth Services System (YSS) provides the toiletries and Street MOMs provide the shower curtains and linens, but the women that come provide each other with a bond that is more important than any makeover.
“We talk about it all week,” said Chrissy Butler, a member of the Blossoms crew, “and a lot of us look forward to it.” Chrissy recently obtained housing, but at the time of this interview, she was living underneath the 18th Street overpass across from the chapel.
Another regular at Blossoms is Wheeling local, Dylon Jeffers. Dylon is known by almost everyone in the community by her loving aura and confident attitude. She shared that she would love to see more folks from the community come to the program.
“The key to the success of this program is staying sober,” Dylon said. Dylon herself has been victim to the roughness of the streets, and having a small support bubble at Blossoms helps make the bad days a little less painful.
The volunteers at Blossoms run a Facebook page where the women can share uplifting quotes about their struggles and photos of their time at the spa. Co-creator Joe Kochy, the only male typically seen at Blossoms, lends his support behind the scenes while the women focus on spa time. With the help of community partners, his vision of a brighter future for the unhoused women of Wheeling took off and has flourished into more than what he imagined.
“I can't say enough about Laughlin Chapel being kind enough to take a chance and open the doors when everybody was shutting down and closing the doors,” said Joe Kochy, “they opened the doors, opened their hearts, and gave us a chance to do this ministry.” He stopped at nothing to perfect a reasonable solution for these unhoused women when most people were becoming content with hearing no.
In addition to Blossoms, there are only a few programs in Wheeling that provide women-only services. In 2019, the Wheeling Salvation Army stopped providing space for women and children, returning to its ‘male-only’ focus. This left a huge hole in social services provided to homeless women in the city: there are currently no year-round, low-barrier shelters for women. Low-barrier shelters do not require any type of ID or specific qualifications, and without one in Wheeling, many women are left on streets. For some women, Blossoms remains the only indoor place of rest they get in a week’s time.
While the local YWCA requires women to meet certain criteria to qualify for services, they are among the handful of organizations that are making positive waves within the community. The YWCA provides long-term housing, gives individuals a place to stay if they are victims of domestic abuse, aids in producing IDs, and much more. When asked about the work done at Blossoms, Lori Jones, the executive director, had nothing but good things to say. “If we as women could continue [feeling beautiful] for more than a day, it would make all the difference in the world in the decisions that we make,” she said. The friendships that formed at Blossoms have become a priority amongst the women that attend. This program started as a hopeful three month idea, and they are now approaching one year of feminine unity.