COMMUNITY PROFILE CREDIT: PAULA BARD CREDIT: PAULA BARD from small donors, who have helped just keep it alive. We do a lot of talking to people and telling them why this is important — who benefits. People can recognize the need for it.” Both Kloeppel and Berrigan learned independently that access to showers and laundry was important to those experiencing homelessness. Kloeppel was student teaching in Los Angeles, working in Skid Row, where people would say to her, “I can find food and I can find a shelter if I need it, but I can’t find a laundry or shower.” On the other side of the world, Berrigan was in Australia, when he saw a little car towing around a trailer that had a washer and dryer, doing laundry for people. “Well, this is cool,” he thought. They both carried the seeds of the program when they met in Denver and launched the Dignity Project. “It’s a labor of love, so I get to do my real job, and then I get to do this passion project,” said Kloeppel, “and Kellen gets to do the same thing. We have incredible volunteers. It’s fun!” They both work as volunteers themselves, and they set the Dignity Project up as a nonprofit, so they have no paid staff. So far, the trailer alternates on Fridays and Saturdays the Capitol Hill between two safe outdoor spaces in neighborhood, and they’ve just added Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Amphitheater at Civic Center to their schedule. The Denver Public Library refers people that could use CREDIT: PAULA BARD the services. They have been working with Denver Parks and Recreation to add more parks to the schedule. “Denver Parks and Rec has actually been an incredible partner for us, and they’re working really hard to help us find spaces that will work in the city,” said Kloeppel. “I’m so grateful for them and the work that the team has done to help this happen in city parks.” Showers For All is not the only mobile laundry and shower service available. Denver-based Bayaud Industries also runs a fleet of laundry and shower trucks. Their first laundry truck was created as a result of a specific request from individuals in the unhoused community and was inaugurated back in 2016. According to Cindy Chapman, who oversees Bayaud’s mobile units, participants have said that being able to wear clean clothes can change their whole week. During the pandemic, the City of Denver contracted most of Bayaud’s fleet for the emergency shelters. But when summer warms up, their trucks will again roam throughout the city with their regular schedule published on the Bayaud website. This summer, they look forward to introducing their new combination laundry and shower truck. The attractive Showers For All trailer sits at Denver’s safe outdoor sites on Fridays and Saturdays, and Civic Center’s Amphitheater all day Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is staffed with welcoming volunteers who are busily doing laundry and cleaning while talking to folks. It’s a lively scene. Laundry and showers are free for anyone who just shows up. To see their current schedule, visit www.showersforall.org. ■ June 2021 DENVER VOICE 9
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