By EricaDeSpain | Photography by Arielle Stroman

Reed is an engineer on Redstone Arsenal during the week, but on the weekends he and his wife hit the road and travel all over Huntsville and the surrounding area fulfilling their passion to serve and help others in need. In this case, hauling around a shower trailer as part of a non-profit organization called ShowerUp, a volunteer operation that helps those that are experiencing homelessness by providing hot showers.

Reed was introduced to Nashville-based ShowerUp in 2019, and was in awe of how they used the shower trailers to serve the homeless population throughout Nashville. He knew that Huntsville had a substantial need for something like this as well.

"We drove a ShowerUp trailer down for a day and then began thinking about how we could bring this here to Huntsville permanently," says Reed, who oversaw the fundraising efforts and finally acquired a shower trailer of their own in May of 2020.

"This shower trailer has three private suites as well as a place to sit down, a mirror, sink, and a place to hang clothes," Reed explains. "It's like a nice hotel bathroom on wheels."

Reed says that he and his wife take the trailer to places where they know some of the homeless community may be and do their best to serve them. 

"Most people don't think about the showers they take, but a shower does so much for a person. It's giving hopeless people hope," says Reed. "Some of the people we serve will be in tears after they take their shower because they just can't remember the last time they had a warm shower," he continues. "That really keeps me going because I give up a lot of my time to do this. It's about helping people feel human again. That's why we do all of this. It doesn't feel good to be unclean, but we establish relationships with these folks, offer them a shower, and try to help them get on their feet."

He says that establishing relationships is a huge part of what ShowerUp believes in and that they love partnering with other people and groups that see the vision of ShowerUp.

"We operate on all volunteers," says Reed. "Everything we give out as well as all of our time is donated. My wife and I are taking the trailer out on our off days, so we're really hoping to grow our volunteer team so that the trailer can be taken out even more and serve more people more often."

When asked how the community can best get behind Reed and his wife and their efforts with ShowerUp, he says that securing more volunteers would be a dream come true. "We just need the people," he says. "We will teach you the ropes and give you all of the supplies."

Reed explains that when they park the ShowerUp trailer, they want to offer more than just a shower to those who are less fortunate. "We sometimes hand out donated clothing and food. We have a chiropractor that comes out once a month too."

He says that the possibilities are endless as far as what volunteers could do to make a difference in the lives of people who need it the most. "Even if you want to just bake some cookies and show up, that would be great."

Reed says that the ShowerUp events are open to anyone who'd like to attend. All of their events are listed online. "We'd encourage you to come out and see for yourself what we're up to, and then get involved if you can!"

To learn more about Shower Up in Huntsville and to contact Reed directly, please email him at TAYLOR@SHOWERUP.ORG. To view their calendar, visit ShowerUp.org.