Sue Andersen, our newly appointed STP Board member, is the President and CEO of Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria, and Arroyo Grande Community Hospital. She was appointed in July, 2018, and prior to that was a Service Area Chief Financial Officer for Dignity Health and Hospital CFO for Marian, French and hospitals in Southern California. She and her husband Steve live in Nipomo with their two grown children and their dog Max. They have lived on the Central Coast for the past 27 years.

Sue said, “The mission of our hospitals is to serve our communities and Shower the People fits right in with that. I was introduced to Gwen Watkins by a mutual friend who thought that I could be of help. At that time, STP was struggling to raise funds and didn’t have the shower unit yet.

It is so amazing to me to see the progress made in the last year and how far the organization has now gone with everyone’s help. Our hospitals are proud to be a small part of this through donations and helping with the towels.”

STP is pleased to have Sue join our Board of Directors. We look forward to working together to achieve our organizational goals. This collaboration is an important bridge to better the health and welfare of the guests we serve.

Shower Stats

Since our first showers at the end of October 2018 through the end of May 2019, STP has given 1001 showers!

The couple pictured here have been guests of Shower the People since we opened our doors in November 2018. They arrive early and are always appreciative and grateful to be able to shower. They have been living in their car for the past eight months after moving here from Lake Isabella.

He told me he had a job at a local restaurant as a dishwasher within 24 hours after arriving in the Five Cities. He said they are living in their vehicle because they are saving their money to buy a small place or a piece of land and he would not be able to do that if he was paying rent.

Last week they stopped to talk to me as I was giving them toiletries prior to their shower time. They told me that he had been able to stay employed because he was able to shower regularly and stay clean, a requirement for his job.

She proudly said, “He has been promoted from dishwasher to busser to line cook at the restaurant.”  She then added, “And I have been able to look clean and presentable enough to get a job with a local insurance company.” She gave me a hug and said, “This is because of the help you guys are providing us.”

They stopped by again this week and told me, “I just got promoted to Assistant Manager of that restaurant!” He then showed me the key to the restaurant, attached to his key ring. She beamed and gave him a quick kiss.

Rick Grether brings knowledge and experience to his position of Operations Manager for Shower the People. He was instrumental in the spec and design of the Mobile Shower Unit.

Having worked as a driver for Shower of Hope, SLO, and studying the trailer design for Showers of Blessing, Santa Barbara, Rick said he had a pretty good idea of what was needed for our Shower the People mobile unit. He said, “It is huge that we have the three showers with working toilets and sinks.” Rick spends his time managing, doing servicing and maintenance and training others in the use of the shower unit.

Rick was born and raised just east of Stockton, California in 1946 and attended Linden High School, graduating in 1964. That summer he obtained a Private Pilot’s license, and continued building flight licenses from then on, including Instructor Ratings, which he used during his college years.

He started college at San Diego State in 1964, but his education was interrupted by the Vietnam War. Assuming he’d be drafted, he enlisted for a six year commitment with the National Guard, thus avoided a tour of duty over seas.

Graduating from San Diego State in 1970, he then partnered with another pilot friend starting Spirit of Palo Alto Aviation, a flight school and air charter service in the San Francisco Bay area. In 1979 he was hired as a pilot by United Airlines and worked there until retiring (age 60 required) in 2006. The following year, 2007, he was hired by Boeing as a B777 and B787 flight instructor, retiring again in 2015.

He and his wife Claire were married in 1976 and raised 4 children in San Luis Obispo, being involved in all the usual child activities; baseball, soccer, 4H, church mission trips, etc.

In September of 2017 he was introduced to Becky Jorgensen of Showers of Hope, who needed a driver with a large truck that could pull her mobile showers trailer. That lasted until February of 2018 when he met Gwen Watkins who wanted to start Shower The People. The rest is history.

Rick is very positive about his volunteer work for Shower the People, He said, “I see expansion in the future which may eventually mean the need for another trailer.”

Shower Stats for January and February

We had a total of 302 guests with 50 of them being new to our program.
Approximately 40% of our guests have been women.