LavaMaeˣ celebrates 1,000+ members eight months after launching its community platform for people bringing mobile showers and care services to the street
When Lava Mae pivoted to LavaMaeˣ in January 2020, the organization prioritized training and program consulting to help people anywhere bring LavaMaeˣ programs to their communities. A major part of this initiative was to create a free community platform to help people download LavaMaeˣ toolkits, attend training events, troubleshoot issues, and share innovations.
In January 2021, the LavaMaeˣ Connect community platform was born, and in just over eight months the platform has reached over 1,000 members, reaching more than 422 cities in 24 countries!
“We’ve dreamed about having a community platform ever since we launched our first mobile hygiene toolkit in 2017 to provide a space for anyone wanting to bring mobile showers and other essential care services to the street.” Says Kris Kepler, CEO of LavaMaeˣ, “And to see how fast the platform has grown continues to show us the massive need for our training and mentorship services.
The impact of a worldwide support network
Since the platform has launched, LavaMaeˣ has hosted over 19 virtual events and workshops ranging from discussing COVID-19 protocols, Radical Hospitality, trailer maintenance, program budgeting, and much more.
"LavaMaeˣ's events are very informative and interactive.” Says one platform member, “The speakers are knowledgeable and I like that participants can ask questions. Thank you for making the sessions available for those who may want to go back to listen to it again."
On the platform, members also have access to LavaMaeˣ toolkits and resources, such as its Mobile Hygiene and Pop-Up Care Village toolkits, that help point the way for people wanting to bring mobile showers and other care services to the street. These toolkits, along with many other resources, have been downloaded over 6,000 times.
John Savidge of the Ladle Fellowship and LavaMaeˣ Connect member says,
“Our ministry, Ladle Fellowship of First Presbyterian, is approaching 40 years of serving the homeless. We provide meals, music (guest choir), mentoring, medical (street medicine), and more to many homeless and poor in downtown San Diego. The Pop-Up Care Village toolkit information provides me with the inspiration and motivation to move our ministry to the next level, the "Village" concept, several times a year. Thank you!”
LavaMaeˣ Connect is also an essential aspect of the LavaMaeˣ 1:1 Mentorship program where people are partnered with a LavaMaeˣ Program Consultant to receive personalized training and consulting as they work to launch their own mobile shower and Pop-Up Care Village programs, or how to build and deploy DIY handwashing stations.
In partnership with The Right To Shower, LavaMaeˣ also provides seed funding to qualified 501c3 organizations in its network to help launch their mobile shower program.
To date, LavaMaeˣ has helped accelerate the launch of 33 new programs in 38 communities serving nearly 16,000 people, allocating more than 16,000 hours of program consulting and $290,000 of seed funding.
How To Help
To learn more about LavaMaeˣ Connect, please click here. To learn more about and request 1:1 Mentorship, click here.
Want to support the LavaMaeˣ Connect platform and 1:1 Mentorship program? Please donate here!
