Episode 3: LavaMaeX

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LavaMaeˣ mobile showers, Pop-Up Care Villages, 1:1 Mentorship training, and DIY handwashing stations

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“Two paychecks and a crisis away from, being unhoused”

In this episode, we feature the voices of Doniece Sandoval founder and Kris Kepler Chief Program & Strategy Officer of LavaMaeˣ. I first met Doniece back in 2014 when she was launching Lava Mae (now LavaMaeˣ) through her innovative idea of converting old Muni Buses into mobile showers and toilets on wheels along with other essential care services to the street with Radical Hospitality®—LavaMaeˣ's philosophy of bringing extraordinary care to people experiencing homelessness. To find out more about the origins of LavaMaeˣ please listen to Episode Two in my three-part series titled Homeless in San Francisco. LavaMaeˣ is the latest iteration of Doniece’s original vision where the organization now focuses on teaching people around the world to bring mobile showers and other essential care services to the street.

Doniece Sandoval

Doniece is the founder of LavaMaeˣ, a nonprofit that teaches people anywhere how to bring mobile showers and essential care services to the street. Driven by a fierce belief that everyone has the right to be clean, she launched LavaMaeˣ (then Lava Mae) in 2013 by converting a public transportation bus to mobile showers and toilets on wheels after learning about the appalling lack of access to hygiene available to people experiencing homelessness. Her work has created a ripple effect, touching the lives of over 33,000 Californians and inspiring 270 similar programs around the globe. Doniece credits LavaMaeˣ’s international visibility to its focus on dignity and Radical Hospitality®. A 2019 Social Entrepreneurs in Residence at Stanford Fellow (SEERS), 2019 Jefferson Award, 2018 Global Good Fund Fellow, 2017 CNN Hero, and 2016 KIND People Award recipient. She is, however, most proud of the moniker given to her by her daughter who calls her a Superhero.

Kris Kepler

Kris Kepler, who took over from Sandoval as CEO, has guided LavaMaeˣ through our pivot from a focus on providing mobile care services to a focus on teaching others to deliver LavaMaeˣ–designed programs—while leading the team in building and executing a consulting platform during the pandemic. Kepler came to LavaMaeˣ with 20 years of user experience design expertise, and she is particularly passionate and informed about applying a user-centered mindset to developing products and services for the unhoused, as well as fostering cross-sector collaboration to solve issues affecting unhoused people and partnering with cities to galvanize action around hygiene and homelessness

LavaMaeˣ

LavaMaeˣ teaches people around the world to bring mobile showers and other essential care services to the street, where our unhoused neighbors need them most. The San Francisco Bay Area–based nonprofit is changing the way the world sees and serves people experiencing homelessness: its Radical Hospitality® approach—meeting people wherever they are with extraordinary care—helps restore dignity, rekindle optimism and fuel a sense of opportunity. Recognizing that the most sustainable solutions come from the communities where the challenges exist, LavaMaeˣ accelerates local responses to homelessness with do-it-yourself online resources, in-depth training, ongoing advising and strategic partnerships.

LavaMaeˣ evolved from Lava Mae (a play on “wash me” in Spanish), which pioneered mobile shower and essential care services. In response to the massive global need for street-based services, Lava Mae became LavaMaeˣ in January 2020 and shifted its focus to training others to provide Radical Hospitality®, while keeping its finger on the pulse of the street. LavaMaeˣ ’s impact goal is to help people and organizations launch and sustain programs that serve 100,000 unhoused people around the globe by 2024. Since setting this goal in Jan 2020, LavaMaeˣ and its network have served more than 14,000 guests with showers and care services.To learn more about LavaMaeˣ, please visit lavamaex.org

Donation / Volunteer:

To get involved and support LavaMaeˣ and its mission to change the way the world sees and serves our unhoused neighbors, click here to make a donation, volunteer, give hygiene essentials, and more!

Videos

To find out more about LavaMaeˣ, Radical Hospitality®, and DIY Handwashing stations please watch the videos below:

The DIY Hand Washing stations.

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