This week, the Third Avenue Charitable Organization hosted coffee and breakfast sandwiches for over 100 people in the courtyard outside First Lutheran Church on Cortez Hill.
On weekdays, the charity not only provides food but also distributes clothing, charges gadgets, and stores mail for 1,400 individuals without addresses.
However, there’s an added bonus every other Wednesday: showers, which are provided from a silver two-stall trailer.
The director of TACO, Lorena Galligan, stated that although the group has been lacking volunteers, she expects to provide showers to customers every Wednesday.
Every day, when the charity pulls out the trailer, about 24 people can have a shower.
According to her, the trailer, which was a donation from Think Dignity, another homeless service provider, has been in use for roughly three months by TACO, which is distinct from the church’s mission.
It’s evident to Galligan that homeless persons who are clean feel better about themselves.
She answered, “You’re already unsheltered.” Because you’re on the street, people are already judging you.
Rafael Peralta, 59, a Marine veteran, claimed to have had showers at a Father Joe’s shelter and in TACO’s trailer.
For folks like Peralta, the showers are a life-changing experience.
“Observe the joy when they emerge,” Peralta remarked. They depart with the knowledge that TACO was able to supply a shower at least.
Fresh clothes, a hygiene kit, and a towel are given to each person entering the trailer. They spend fifteen minutes in a stall that is cleaned after every usage.
At TACO lunches, Galligan has encountered more and more seniors who are homeless for the first time. These individuals frequently live in their cars after their apartment buildings are sold and renovated.
She has discovered that elderly people hardly ever want to inform their family members that they are homeless. Galligan urges them to get in touch, but they frequently refuse.”No, everything is fine, I’m living in my car, and I’ll save money,” she added. And I simply respond, “Yeah, but that’s really difficult.”
As people run out of Social Security and EBT credits, the number of homeless persons attending TACO’s Wednesday breakfasts rises to about 150 toward the end of each month, according to Paul Engels, a retired nurse who has helped to distribute food at the group for the past five years.
Up to 250 individuals attend the organization’s Friday breakfasts and Monday dinners at the end of the month, according to Engels.
Engels uses the shared meals as a means of giving back to his community.
Engels remarked, “The city and the church have done so much for me.” I simply use it as a means of returning some of the benefits I receive from my surroundings.
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