Welcome to the land of broken dreams said the San Francisco cabbie in an offhand remark to his fare, pointing to the many homeless they were passing on the streets.At first, fifty one year old Doniece Sandoval didn't take too much notice, she was used to seeing the many of San Francisco's three and a half thousand homeless on her city's streets. They were as commonplace as parking meters.
What wasn't commonplace was washing facilities for these folk. There was only seven.
Then as she was walking she heard a woman's plaintiff voice say what sounded like
'I'll never be clean'.
Suddenly this successful marketing and public relations entrepreneur had an idea
that changed her life.
She realised how terribly hard it would be for a street person to wash the grime of life from their bodies and retain some dignity by being clean.
And the idea of Lava Mae was born.
Lava Mae is Spanish, it means 'Wash Me'.
Doniece quit her job, raised $75,000 and set about converting some of the city's old Muni buses into mobile bathrooms. Each one would have two complete bathrooms with shower, toilet basin and changing room. The buses would be able to hook into the city's water supply by using fire hydrants at pre-determined locations.
This remarkable woman had a dream and
now it's a reality.
Free Showers For The Great Unwashed.
No red tape, no applications, no screenings,
no questionaires.
Just free hot showers.
Wouldn't it be great if other cities
cleaned up their acts...
