Lava Mae converts retired transportation buses into showers and toilets on wheels for those experiencing homelessness. We deliver dignity - one mobile shower (and toilet) at a time.

We created Lava Mae to address the massive shortage of showers and toilets available to homeless individuals living in communities across this country. In San Francisco, for example, there were 16 shower stalls for the 3,500+ unsheltered men, women and children in this city.

Lava Mae is driven by three beliefs:
1) Everyone has the right to be clean.
2) Access to water and sanitation is a basic human right.
3) With hygiene comes dignity and with dignity, opportunity.

What we do is often called human services but we call it radical hospitality. We call those we serve our guests. We know their names, learn their stories and work hard to ensure that they leave feeling better than when they came to us.

Since our launch in June of 2014, we have touched the lives of 1,500 homeless San Franciscans. By the end of this year, we will scale from 1 bus, which at full capacity can offer 12,500 showers/year, to 4 buses, which ramps that total up to 50,000 showers/year.

In 2016, we will launch Lava Mae Global to respond to the 100s of requests from help from communities across the globe seeking to replicate our service.