October 20, 2022

October 2022 Aragon Cares: Lava Mae

One issue that can get overlooked for the homeless is access to proper sanitation, especially with a limited supply of public restrooms and showers.

With the pandemic, public health has grown into an important topic, but one population that tends to be overlooked is those facing homelessness. Next City’s Op-Ed writer, Sophie House states, “Equally difficult, but less discussed, is the mandate to wash your hands frequently if you have no regular access to running water.”

One of the local organizations in the Bay Area (and Los Angeles) that is helping to target this issue is Lava Mae. Their mission is to change the way people perceive and serve those experiencing homelessness.

For this month’s Aragon Cares, we are excited to support Lava Mae and provide supplies for the homeless.

Lava Mae

Lava Mae is a nonprofit organization providing services for San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles.

They provide basic hygiene services through their mobile showers using retrofitted buses and hosting Pop-Up Care villages, which include showers, case management, healthcare, clothing, haircuts, and more.

The organization was launched in 2014 by Doniece Sandoval, who had witnessed the hardships of housing and homelessness in San Francisco, where she was surprised to learn that only 16 public shower stalls were available for 7,000 unhoused.

All this motivated the start of Lava Mae as Sandoval took old buses and envisioned turning them into mobile showers and toilets.

The organization’s approach has been led by their philosophy of Radical Hospitality®, which is “meeting people wherever they are with extraordinary care—[helping to] restore dignity, rekindle optimism and fuel a sense of opportunity.”

How We Helped

Lava Mae provides many options to give back and since our team was working remote this month, we donated through their online wishlist.

The wishlist option is set for two areas, the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. It requests items that will go into hygiene kits – toothpaste, hand sanitizer, t-shirts, underwear, deodorant, combs, and more!

These essential hygiene items will go directly to their doorstep to be made into hygiene kits for the homeless.

How You Can Help

If you are looking for ways to help support their mission, there are many different avenues to help.

If you are remote, you can make a monetary donation or donate through their online wishlist like we did! Another online option is going through their community partners to shop and support them at the same time.

If you are looking for an in-person activity, you can host a fundraiser or a hygiene drive to create hygiene kits that will go directly to the homeless.

If you are interested in working directly with Lava Mae , you can become a volunteer and help out with their mobile showers and Pop-Up Villages.

One of the aspects Lava Mae emphasizes is teaching. If you’re looking for ways to get further involved, they provide a guide explaining how to create your own service – such as starting your own mobile showers and other street-based services.