06.03.2022
Lava Mae Provides Mobile Showers For Homeless People
Lava Mae was founded on the belief that all people deserve to be treated with dignity. For unhoused individuals, having access to a hot shower is the first step in reigniting a feeling of dignity and fighting the vicious cycle of homelessness. In 2013, there were only 7 public shower facilities for the 3,500 people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco. These traditional bathrooms are not the most effective, since one of the biggest challenges for the homeless is protecting their belongings while they go to appointments, shower, or find food. Lava Mae started in 2013 in retired city buses that were retrofitted with two private bathroom stalls and connected to fire hydrants for water. The organization has since transitioned to repurposed trailers, which allow for three shower stalls. The mobile hygiene units move around San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles to provide services to neighborhoods most in need. By the time the trailer pulls up to its location, unhoused “guests” have already started a waitlist for the showers. Each guest receives shampoo, soap, socks, a towel, and 15 minutes of privacy. The most important part of mobile hygiene is not simply giving guests a shower–it is the way the unhoused guests are treated. Mobile hygiene is effective because guests are treated with care, respect, and dignity that leads to unlikely friendships and a strong community. This principle is called Radical Hospitality. The majority of guests are regulars–they return each week not only to shower, but also to spend their day in a safe, welcoming space.
Credit: BRIGHTVIBES
Credit: BRIGHTVIBES
Poverty deprives people of adequate education, health care and of life's most basic necessities- safe living conditions (including clean air and clean drinking water) and an adequate food supply. The developed (industrialized) countries today account for roughly 20 percent of the world's population but control about 80 percent of the world's wealth.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
