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More than 500 visits.
That's visits to a one-stop pop-up site that has had warm showers and now haircuts, too.
All free.
Sound too good to be true?
Not in one of Connecticut's largest cities.
The services are for people who are experiencing homelessness, and the idea is not just to supply a clean shower, but also to offer respect to those who need to use the facility.
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker noted the mobile facility, parked recently right on the downtown Green of the Elm City, is using resources to "welcome and support anyone" and especially "individuals that are really struggling."
In Connecticut that includes many people. According to the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness there were 2,594 people experiencing homelessness on the cold night of Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021, when a point-in-time count was held. This was a 10.7 percent decline in homelessness from the count the year before, according to the coalition.
And while New Haven, Hartford and other Connecticut cities step up to the plate to assist state residents experiencing homelessness, the number of people in this situation remains a tragedy.
But there is something extra about the offer of a warm shower and a haircut and a true sense of community in how it's being done that other cities would do well to consider.
In New Haven, the city is partnering with Power in a Shower, 400 Barbers LLC, the Community Health Care Van and other providers, including government, nonprofits and churches donating their support.
Power in a Shower is a nonprofit and, according to its website, currently offers showers in New York City and New Haven (often at sites more private than a city Green).
"We're making a difference, one shower at a time," Millie Harris, who brought Power in a Shower to New Haven in March with her husband, Walter Harris, told The Courant.
In conjunction with that city's Office of Housing and Homelessness Services, health care kits, socks and T-shirts and hygiene items are also available to those who come for showers.
New Haven is using funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, in addition to budgeted funds and volunteers, to offer the one-stop pop-up services.
Given the kind of collaboration it took to get this kind of service off the ground, we would bet that officials and community and faith leaders in New Haven would be willing to share with other communities how they accomplished it.
That would be a good conversation to have.
As Elicker noted, it's important to treat everyone with dignity and respect and "the reality is that any one of us could be homeless."
* Guest editorial by the Hartford Courant, Connecticut.