COMMUNITY PROFILE CREDIT: PAULA BARD HYGIENE AND HEALTH The Dignity Project: Outreach to the Most Vulnerable and Threatened. BY PAULA BARD CLEANLINESS ASSURES US BASIC DIGNITY and allows for participation in the world. Could showers and clean clothes also empower the journey away from homelessness and poverty? Could showers and clean clothes encourage those struggling to feel human and remind them that they matter? For Jennifer Kloeppel and Kellen Berrigan, founders of the Dignity Project, the answer is a resounding yes. Floating above a cityscape splashed with fuchsia and blue mountains, the sign on their open shower and laundry trailer boldly declares “Showers For All.” Kloeppel and Berrigan intend, as their mission statement says, to “restore dignity and hope.” The Showers For All mobile trailer is capable of providing 60 loads of laundry and 60 showers per day in sparkling white bathrooms to anyone who shows up and requests one. They aim to build relationships and, in their words, “meet people where they are.” Kloeppel and Berrigan learn names and share stories while offering the much-appreciated free shower and laundry service. Hygiene is inextricably linked to health. According to Kloeppel, living in dirty clothes can lead to skin conditions 8 DENVER VOICE June 2021 and insect infestations. During menstrual cycles, women unable to keep clean are at risk of infection and toxic shock syndrom, which can be deadly. Job seeking is impossible when hygiene cannot be maintained and puts one at a steep disadvantage when competing with other applicants. Regular showers and laundry can also mean fewer missed school days for children. Overall, as Kloeppel explained, “personal hygiene means feeling valued.” Berrigan and Kloeppel crossed paths while working at St. Andrew Methodist Church in Highlands Ranch. Berrigan was doing audiovisual support and Kloeppel is an outreach and worship director. “We started talking at work and realized that we had a similar passion for making this happen,” said Kloeppel. “We just started dreaming about how we could create this nonprofit and what it would look like to build a combination shower and laundry trailer because the need is here all the time.” They jump-started the project with an online fundraiser. This provided the resources to build out the trailer, According to Kloeppel, “Everything after that has come CREDIT: PAULA BARD
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