Third Avenue Charitable Organization Director Lorena Galligan outside of the organization’s shower trailer. (Photo by James Miller/Times of San Diego)

More than 100 people gathered in the courtyard behind First Lutheran Church in Cortez Hill this week for coffee and breakfast sandwiches provided by the Third Avenue Charitable Organization.

In addition to providing food on weekdays, the organization gives out clothes, charges devices and holds mail for 1,400 people without addresses.

Every other Wednesday, though, there’s something extra: showers, offered out of a silver two-stall trailer.

Lorena Galligan, TACO’s director, said she hopes to offer showers to clients every Wednesday, but the organization has been short on volunteers.

About 24 people are able to shower each day the organization brings out the trailer.

She said that for about three months TACO — which is separate from the church’s ministry —has used the trailer, a gift from Think Dignity, another homeless service provider.

It’s clear to Galligan – homeless people feel better about themselves when they are clean.

“You’re already unsheltered,” she said. “People are already making judgments about you because you’re on the street.”

Marine veteran Rafael Peralta, 59, said he has showered in TACO’s trailer and at a shelter run by Father Joe’s.

According to Peralta, the showers are transformative for people like him.

“Look at the happiness when they come out,” Peralta said. “They leave knowing that at least TACO was able to provide a shower.”

Each person entering the trailer receives a towel, hygiene kit and fresh clothes. They are given 15 minutes in a stall, which is sanitized after each use.

One of the stalls in the Third Avenue Charitable Organization’s shower trailer. (Photo by James Miller/Times of San Diego)

Galligan increasingly has met seniors at TACO meals who are experiencing homelessness for the first time, often living in their cars after their apartment buildings are sold and remodeled.

She’s found that seniors rarely want to tell their relatives they’ve become homeless. Galligan encourages them to reach out, but they often decline.

“They’re like, ‘No, all good, I’m living in my car, I’ll save money,’” she said. “And I’m just like ‘Yeah, but that’s really hard.’”

Paul Engels, a retired nurse who has volunteered distributing food at TACO for the past five years, said the number of homeless at the organization’s Wednesday breakfasts grow to around 150 people towards the end of each month, as people run out of Social Security and EBT credits.

A communal Friday meal in the Third Avenue Charitable Organization’s courtyard. (Courtesy of Lorena Galligan)

Engels said that the organization’s Monday dinners and Friday breakfasts draw the largest crowds — up to 250 people at the end of the month.

The meals are communal and they’re a way for Engels to serve his community.

“The city and the church have done so much for me,” Engels said. “It’s just a way for me to give back some of what I get from my environment.”