KSL - 'Most basic of dignities': Utah's first mobile shower unit for unsheltered population hits the road

Published: July 13, 2024

SALT LAKE CITY — The sun is high and hot, with no promise of going down for another eight hours as a freshly painted camper is carefully backed along the curb at Liberty Park.

Scattered across the park, beneath the towering sycamore trees, are groups of people experiencing homelessness, seeking refuge from the sun's rays. Shortly after the camper's arrival, volunteers quickly get to work setting up under the limited shade. Tables are placed, chairs popped open, coolers are filled with water and ice pops, a grill is turned on, along with a speaker that begins to play upbeat music.

A woman who is currently unhoused arrives on her bike. She greets the volunteers, retrieves water from the cooler and informs them she'll be back for a shower after she spreads word to everyone else. Not long after she disappears down the path, people begin to arrive.

"Do you want a shower?" Renee Shaw calls out, a white towel tucked under one arm as the other holds the camper door open.

Alabama Liberty, an unsheltered woman, is the first to shower. Shaw ushers her inside and sets her up with shampoo, conditioner, soap and a set of towels. Liberty's shower is the first in the mobile unit. She emerges with a smile and wet hair, and a visible sense of relief.

Shaw is the founder of the nonprofit Open Mind Foundation, which operates services for the unsheltered population like the mobile shower, dubbed "Showers of Hope." The renovated camper, which features two shower stalls with hot and cold water, is the first mobile shower in Salt Lake City. Tuesday's stops at Liberty Park and a homeless encampment near Victory Road were a collaboration with Nomad Alliance, another nonprofit that also advocates for Utah's homeless population.

"This has been a big goal of ours. In talking to the population, we can't do much to build affordable housing now, but what we can do is make life easier for the people that are out here, and that includes the most basic of dignities — which is a shower," said Kseniya Kniazeva, founder of Nomad Alliance.

Shaw began her program after her friend Debbie Thelin became homeless during the pandemic in Salt Lake City and had to travel out of state to survive the winter. After months of being unable to pay her rent, Thelin's landlord gave her notice and an agreement that, if she left, it wouldn't negatively affect her credit.

"I had nowhere to go; I didn't know what to do. I had even asked a couple of friends to stay in their garages, and it just wasn't feasible. I wound up realizing that my car was my reality, and I had my cat with me, and the only way I was going to survive a winter in the car was going to be in southern California," said Thelin.

Leaving behind everything she knew, including her parent's graves, was "really difficult," said Thelin. She had also just lost her father to suicide and described that year of her life as "shattering."

"I was in a lot of shock experiencing one thing after another that was preventing me from being able to get back up and forward," said Thelin. "That definitely has been difficult leaving the only place I knew. I honestly didn't know how I survived because I felt I knew the ins and outs of Utah and that would be where I'd be able to get assistance being a resident. But that just wasn't feasible with the cold winters and with how they treat the homeless."

Link to Article: https://www.ksl.com/article/51064686/most-basic-of-dignities-utahs-first-mobile-shower-unit-for-unsheltered-population-hits-the-road