By age 17, Jeanne Albaugh had been molested, raped, sex-trafficked, and had seen her father shoot himself. The trauma caused by these events turned the now 61-year-old’s life upside down, not once but twice. Yet, Albaugh has refused to surrender.
After 10 years of homelessness, she started helping others. She created an organization called Showering Love that has provided more than 70,000 showers as well as support services to homeless people over the last eight years. This organization also provides food and hygienic products.
Albaugh is now economically stable.
“I remember when I was homeless and didn’t have dignity in the form of a shower,” she said. “Now I’m happy to help others like I wish I could be helped.”
Penny Leonard volunteers for Albaugh. The retired 65-year-old calls Showering Love’s founder an inspiration.
“I was so inspired with what Jeanne’s doing, and I always talk about it,” said Leonard. “Every time that I would donate or I would come here, she was so busy. It was just her. She didn’t have a lot of help. It was just her and the food.”
Albaugh was born and raised in Davie and attended Hollywood Hills High School.
When she was nine, her parents were fighting and her father accidentally shot himself in the head while trying to stop her mother from driving away.
Her mother was initially blamed for the shooting and went to jail. She was found innocent only after he regained consciousness and told the detectives it wasn’t her fault. In the meantime, Albaugh stayed with her grandparents.
At 15, she was raped by a man who had just been released from prison after serving a 20-year sentence.
At 16, she met her first husband and eventually started raising children in a comfortable home, even driving a Porsche. She also became a celebrated professional rodeo barrel racer, ranked ninth in the nation at the time. But her life took a devastating turn in 1993, when a slip on a wet restaurant floor broke her back and ended her rodeo career.
After the accident, the Florida native was prescribed painkillers to manage the physical agony, but found that they also helped her forget the emotional pain. This led to an addiction that unraveled her life.
“I got addicted and, for the first time in my life, I didn’t have to be me anymore,” Albaugh said. “I really became the queen of the masquerade.”
Struggling with depression and dependency, she lost custody of her four sons and spiraled into homelessness. Desperate and disconnected from her family, she tried to end her life multiple times, feeling there was no way back.
A pivotal moment came in 2011, when she received a letter from one of her sons. It revealed she was now a grandmother to two boys but also carried a surprising message: Her son had given up on maintaining a relationship with her. He was tired of checking the obituaries to see if he might find her name there.
“He just didn’t know where I was or how much trouble I was in,” she said. “And that really was that pivotal moment for me, where I said, ‘I’m not going out like this, no.’ That brought me to my knees, and I started working on my relationships with my children, with the perpetrators and the rapists, and eventually I came to have peace with them.”
With determination, she addressed her struggles one by one, but the hardships she endured as a homeless person lingered in her mind, particularly the lack of access to basic hygiene. This inspired a life-changing vision.
One day, while she was volunteering for a different organization, Albaugh joined a group that was unloading tractor-trailers filled with non-perishables and giving them to those in need.
“At the end of the day, we went to take a group picture and I envisioned taking a tractor-trailer putting showers on one side, washers and dryers on the other, a food pantry, an ice maker, and blankets and I was going to go help those less fortunate.”
In 2016, Albaugh founded Showering Love, a nonprofit that turns buses into mobile shower and laundry facilities for the unhoused. ADA-compliant and equipped with showers, washers, dryers, hygiene kits, and even barbershop stations, these buses bring dignity to people wherever they are — under bridges, in encampments, or at shelters.
“The best thing about our buses is that we’re completely self contained. We don’t hook up to anything, we pull up, open up, and welcome our guests” Albaugh stated.
When people arrive, they get signed in, given a ticket, and asked their sizes. Every guest receives a hot shower, clothes, and compassionate care. They also pick up what the people working at Showering Love call a blessing bag.
“It comes with soap, toothbrush, toothpaste. We got deodorant, and shaving cream with a razor,” said Tiffany Turner, the manager on one of the buses. “We have socks, clean wash rags, and clean towels that we set the bathroom up with.”
“Each guest gets a brand new outfit every time they shower, from head to toe,” explained Albaugh.
The buses visit multiple locations in South Florida at least four times a week, as it follows a schedule posted on the organization’s website.
Many of the homeless they’ve helped are very appreciative of the service.
Kenneth Brown, 59, follows the buses to many of the places they go.
“They are good, good people, good clientele,” he stated. “I want to say since last year, probably about two years I’ve been doing it.”
Showering Love has also given a platform to folks like Matty Taylor, who has experienced the effects of homelessness firsthand and wants to make a difference in her community.
“I used to shower on these buses,” Taylor said. “Now I actually got hired to work. I’ve known the owner for almost eight years.”
Donna Ventura is another contributor to Showering Love’s positive impact. She is part of a team that makes about 100 sandwiches a week.
“I met Jeanne at the church, she was there with the bus,” said Ventura. “I asked her a few questions about how everything worked, then I got in touch with her some months later and asked her if she was interested in giving out sandwiches to the people that come to the showers.”
Now remarried and surrounded by her four sons and 14 grandchildren, Albaugh reflects on her journey with gratitude. Her work continues to inspire others, offering hope and dignity to those who need it most.
In 2022, she gave a talk for TEDxYoungCirclePark, and discussed how each of her life experiences led her to where she is today.
“I truly do believe that I had to live on both sides of the spectrum so I could find my purpose.”
