Rapper Lecrae helps install sinks so homeless Atlantans can wash hands

Grammy winner joined Love Beyond Walls to install hand-washing stations for Atlanta homeless community
Hip hop recording artist Lecrae, left, and Love Beyond Walls founder Terence Lester, right, sit on a truck bed filled with portable wash stations on Thursday, March 19, 2020 in College Park, Georgia. The wash stations were distributed by Lecrae and volunteers with Love Beyond Walls, a non-profit, throughout Atlanta in areas with a high density of homeless persons. (AP Photo/ Ron Harris)

Credit: Ron Harris

Credit: Ron Harris

Hip hop recording artist Lecrae, left, and Love Beyond Walls founder Terence Lester, right, sit on a truck bed filled with portable wash stations on Thursday, March 19, 2020 in College Park, Georgia. The wash stations were distributed by Lecrae and volunteers with Love Beyond Walls, a non-profit, throughout Atlanta in areas with a high density of homeless persons. (AP Photo/ Ron Harris)

A Grammy-winner partnered with an Atlanta-area 501(c)(3) organization to give back to the community amid coronavirus concerns.

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Channel 2 Action News reported Lecrae joined Love Beyond Walls, which aims to "restore dignity to the homeless and poor by providing a voice, visibility, shelter, community, and grooming and support services to achieve self-sufficiency," to install hand-washing stations throughout downtown Atlanta.

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Hand-washing is the biggest step people can take to prevent illness, including coronavirus, but the homeless community doesn’t always have that opportunity.

"When the pandemic hit, I thought, 'What is the homeless community doing about these warnings?'" Lecrae told the news station.

Lecrae, whose single, "Restoration," will be released Friday, put the message behind his music into action this week.

He told Channel 2 he and members of the organization, including executive director Terence Lester, met Thursday at 10 a.m. to assemble the portable sinks. They then installed them across the area.

Lester wanted to install 10 sinks, the station reported. Lecrae wanted to install 15. They started with one, which Lester had to start. The sinks use five gallons of water, contain a full soap dispenser, can be refilled and can be relocated.

"I wanted to continue doing the same stuff that I have been doing just in any city I've lived in and that's just being close to the disenfranchised and the marginalized communities," Lecrae told The Associated Press.

Grammy award-winning hip hop recording artist Lecrae assembles a portable wash station on Thursday, March 19, 2020 in College Park, Georgia. The wash stations were distributed by Lecrae and volunteers with Love Beyond Walls, a non-profit, throughout Atlanta in areas with a high density of homeless persons. (AP Photo/ Ron Harris)

Credit: Ron Harris

icon to expand image

Credit: Ron Harris

“We spent a good amount of time putting them around Hurt Park,” Lecrae told Channel 2.

The musician also said they gave out a lot of food -- " like a gazillion cheeseburgers,"  to people in the area, he told Channel 2 .

"You know, whether people like it or not, man we're out here doing our part to ensure that people have access to this basic necessity during this pandemic," Lester told the AP.

A volunteer worker assembles a portable wash station on Thursday, March 19, 2020 in College Park, Georgia. The wash stations were distributed by rapper Lecrae and volunteers with Love Beyond Walls throughout Atlanta in areas with a high density of homeless persons. (AP Photo/ Ron Harris)

Credit: Ron Harris

icon to expand image

Credit: Ron Harris

It's the latest community effort by Love Beyond Walls. Other service projects include mobile makeovers, which provides grooming to undeserved communities, Mobile Stay, which provides temporary shelter, and a free laundry room, among others.

This story was first reported by Channel 2 Action News.