With its sky blue hue and playful design, this former N-Judah Muni bus is one shower on wheels that’s hard to miss. According to the nonprofit organization Lava Mae, there are only eight public places in the city for San Francisco’s 3,000 to 5,000 homeless to shower. Now, the Mission District’s most destitute can stay clean with the showers coming to them.

The Lava Mae bus, decked out with two spacious showering facilities each equipped with a toilet and sink, offers 15-minutes showers every Saturday morning on Capp Street near 16th Street. “It’s kind of like Christmas for the homeless,” said Billy Crawford, a new Lava Mae user who has been on the streets for a year.  The organization hopes to repurpose three more buses as mobile showers and reach more members of the homeless community.

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8 Comments

  1. Wow! How great! Never heard of this NPO or service…no real downside here. What great humanitarians!

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  2. This is great news of a positive social initiative. Thanks for reporting it!

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  3. What a point less article. Leslie why don’t you take a shower and tell us about the experience first hand. This article is like reading about a restaurant review without sampling the food. Maybe you should call last dibs for next Saturday. RICARDO

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    1. Ricardo, you sound very bitter for reasons that are not evident. How could you possibly object to a resource for the homeless to bathe? And especially when it doesn’t cost you a dime?

      I’m going to guess that Leslie has taken showers before and knows what they are like. It’s not like choosing between Japanese, Mexican, Italian or Thai food, you know? A shower is a shower.

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