Pueblo mobile shower program helps city's unhoused gain a 'renewed sense of dignity'
Various Pueblo agencies came together Wednesday to celebrate a program that has helped more than 11,000 unhoused Puebloans receive a shower.
Pueblo Cooperative Care Center’s mobile shower program came out of winter storage for the 2024 season earlier this year and has since effectuated around 4,000 showers. During that span, the program surpassed 11,000 showers given since its inception, a milestone that the nonprofit and other Pueblo organizations celebrated at a ribbon cutting at Mineral Palace Park.
“The impact is tremendous,” Corry Higbee, executive director of Pueblo Cooperative Care Center, said of the program. “It gives them a renewed sense of dignity and opportunity to enjoy what the rest of the world just takes for granted and that’s good quality hygiene.”
The program was founded in 2020 by Joe and Linda Musso because of “their compassion and desire to make a difference for those who are homeless,” Higbee said. It hit a few snags during the pandemic before really taking off in the years thereafter.
This year, Pueblo Cooperative Care Center plans to offer showers to Pueblo’s homeless every Wednesday at Mineral Palace Park. On Mondays, the mobile shower unit will be at Plaza Verde Park on the East Side.
The nonprofit will also bring the unit to special events through its partnership with Pueblo Community Soup Kitchen and other organizations. In previous years, it’s been brought to the North Side, Ray Aguilera Park (formerly Bessemer Park) and some areas out in the county.
Between 70 to 80 unhoused people take showers on days when the unit is available.
“It really gives them dignity,” said Noah Commerford, president and CEO of the Pueblo Latino Chamber of Commerce. “It really is kind of step one of empowering them to turn their life around.”
The Greater Pueblo and Pueblo West chambers of commerce joined the Latino Chamber at Wednesday’s event. Mayor Heather Graham and Pueblo County Commissioners Daneya Esgar and Zach Swearingen were also present.
Higbee estimates that nearly 12,000 people have received a shower through the program, which has between 15 to 20 volunteers, some of whom drive the unit around Pueblo or distribute hygiene items and clothing.
The unit has multiple showers that are timed to help preserve its water storage capacity and serve more people. Higbee believes that if the team had immediate access to a drain, even more people could access a shower when the program is offered.
“The perception of homelessness is traditionally dirty, drug-addicted, alcohol-abused (people),” Higbee said. “In reality, it’s many day-to-day people who just need a hand up. We’ve seen entire families with children who are experiencing homelessness. It gives them a real opportunity to improve their quality of life.”
Discussions to expand the program have come up in recent years. A mobile laundry facility to join the unit was one option, but it was shelved because of a lack of funding, Higbee said. The team has also talked about acquiring an even larger shower unit, though funding is also an issue there.
A collection of grants, donations and funds from the city have helped Pueblo Cooperative Care Center sustain operations of the program, Higbee said. But he intensely credited the Mussos, who “adamantly pursued” the project during its development in 2019.
“What they did in bringing the program to our center is greater than anything we’ve accomplished,” Higbee said. “Without that initial vision, this wouldn’t have happened. They have literally changed the lives of thousands of people in the course of the development and ongoing use of the program. Not many people can say they have impacted that many lives.”
Chieftain reporter Josué Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @josuepwrites. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: How a mobile shower program is helping thousands of Pueblo's unhoused
