ROSWELL – As the cold-snaps of southeastern New Mexico’s winter roll on, Enrique Moreno patrols the streets of Roswell with his repurposed bus, looking for individuals in need of food and warmth. In the back, Trey Allen Hendrich, a community volunteer, keeps busy serving a variety of goods, including soaps, hot pockets, coffee and hot chocolate.
The bus belongs to Moreno’s Roswell Community Disaster Relief Services, an organization that uses a mobile outreach unit designed to meet people experiencing homelessness where they are at camps, in vehicles, along riverbeds and city sidewalks.
The effort comes amid high homelessness rates across the country. According to the latest numbers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2024 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, more than 770,000 people experienced homelessness on a single night in January 2024 — the highest number ever recorded in the annual count.
In New Mexico, the same report counted 4,631 people experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2024, a roughly 21% increase from 2023.
Carson Wells and Amanda Robinson are patrons as well as regular volunteers for the bus. As they live out of their car, they say that the service is essential for helping those unhoused in the community get some sense of comfort and support.
“There’s some things where you won’t be able to get, such as just basic toiletry items because they’re so damn expensive,” Wells said.
“Also, since we are homeless, we know a lot more of the nooks and crannies of the homeless population here,” Robinson said. “So we can help Enrique better serve those people as well. Because most of the time, you don’t see them just laying out there in the open, they’re going to be tucked in somewhere where they’re warm, you know, like us.”
For Enrique Moreno, those point-in-time statistics represent his neighbors. Roswell, like many mid-sized communities in New Mexico, has limited shelters and behavioral health resources. Moreno says much of the support network comes from nonprofits rather than government agencies.
“Nobody chooses to be homeless. There’s veterans, there’s seniors. They have behavioral health issues, which is the biggest problem in my mind,” he said. “You can tell there’s a lack of state or local [and city] services, because after 5:00 and on weekends, you can’t call anybody with the city.”
To purchase the bus, Moreno staged a four-and-a-half-day sit-in during winter in the parking lot of a local pizza restaurant, sleeping in his pickup truck until he raised $8,500 over the course of four days. People experiencing homelessness visited him during that time, offering practical advice on how to survive out of a vehicle.
“If you ever have the opportunity to do it, you’re going to see homelessness in a different light,” Moreno said of the experience.
When a recent cold front brought subzero temperatures to Roswell, Moreno said the Salvation Army was the only other organization with an active warming center available.
“So we determined, you know what, let’s set our buses up at the plaza,” he said. “Let people sleep in it. It wouldn’t be comfortable, but it would be better than being outside.”
On average, he estimates 13 to 20 people per night seek supplies, rides or warmth from the organization’s buses during extreme weather patrols.
The organization’s main function is as a mobile pantry and supply depot. Volunteers distribute blankets, coats, food, hygiene kits and water. During summer heat, they patrol with water and electrolyte packets. In winter, they coordinate rides to brick-and-mortar shelters when available.
The organization has also worked with the local police department in the past, responding to homeless encampments before trespassing citations are issued, offering assistance and relocation options.
“I’ve had officers call me and tell me, ‘Hey, we’re called out to this property (to trespass) a homeless person. Could you go ahead of us and offer them some help before we get there?’” Moreno said.
The bus provides immediate, flexible relief. But the model has limits. The warming buses aren’t designed to be slept in, they are simply not full-service shelters, and funding is sparse. The organization relies on small donations, Amazon wish lists and business sponsors to cover fuel, insurance and supplies, sometimes leading to a gap in services.
Moreno has advocated for a more coordinated system, a centralized hub where multiple nonprofits could operate under one roof, similar to the Community of Hope in Las Cruces, although such a concept has yet to gain much traction. He also supports the creation of a local crisis response team focused on behavioral health, as opposed to criminalizing homelessness through ordinances banning encampments and expansion of homeless shelters.
“The answer isn’t just ‘jail somebody’ because they’re talking to themselves in public,” Moreno said. “These people need other kinds of help.”
Jason, who asked to use only his first name, was one of the individuals who has been a frequent patron of the mobile shelter. Him and his wife were displaced after a fire took their home, and the mobile unit was one of the few places that offered relief.
“We were living in our car for a couple months,” Jason said. “It was pretty nice seeing humans being humans for once.”
Jason and his wife, who is disabled, slept outside a gas station for around six months. He now has a job, and the couple has moved into an RV, and he credited the mobile shelter as the service that helped him get back on his feet.
“Everything’s starting to finally fall, but these guys helped a lot,” Jason said. “I’m much happier when you’re able to get up, make a cup of coffee, take an actual shower after you slept in a bed all night. Ain’t nothing like it.”
That grassroots funding model allows flexibility but leaves little room for expansion or long-term planning. Moreno says the organization is stable for now but depends on continued volunteer support and civic engagement.
“If I have to ask for anything from the community, it’d be for their continued support,” he said.
As homelessness climbs nationally and in New Mexico, Roswell Community Disaster Relief Services offers a hyperlocal, mobile response. The bus cannot solve housing shortages or systemic gaps in mental health care, but it can offer warmth and essential supplies. For those on the streets of Roswell on a freezing night, the warming buses serve as a beacon of hope when the alternative means facing the bitter cold alone.