The Merrimack Valley Dream Center Brings Mobile Showers to Haverhill and Lawrence, MA

July 13, 2022

Merrimack Valley Dream Center brings essential hygiene and care services to Haverhill and Lawrence, MA

Backstory

Julio Meran experienced homelessness and struggled with substance abuse for many years until he was able to get help, find housing, and go back to school. This experience inspired him to start his own organization to help the people in his hometown and founded the Merrimack Valley Dream Center in 2017. A few years later, and with a strong belief that hygiene is a human right, Julio decided to add mobile showers to the organization’s programming and joined the LavaMaeˣ 1:1 Mentorship program in February 2021.

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How LavaMaeˣ Helped

Over the course of the next 1.5 years, Julio and his team worked with LavaMaeˣ Program Consultant Javier de León on starting their mobile hygiene service. Julio attended many training events on our community platform and utilized our mobile hygiene toolkit, and operations manual to speed up the process. Additionally, Julio was able to visit our mobile shower service in Los Angeles for in-person training and see first-hand how to model his program. Julio’s dedication, and ability to reach many milestones, resulted in LavaMaeˣ funding his program $10,000 and they provided their first showers July 2022.

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Service Model

The Merrimack Valley Dream delivers showers with its two-stall trailer four days a week in downtown Haverhill, MA, and every Saturday in Lawrence MA. In the future, the organization plans to purchase a second unit that will include a washer and dryer.

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About Merrimack Valley Dream Center

Our mission is to spark lasting transformation in those in the Merrimack Valley who need hope, freedom, and purpose by providing sustainable outreach programs and by partnering with other organizations. Our vision is to see broken lives transformed.

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How to Help

To learn more about the Merrimack Valley Dream Center and to get involved, visit them online.

To support LavaMaeˣ and bring more mobile shower programs to the street, you can donate here.

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Start Your Own Mobile Hygiene Program

Just getting started? Join our Connect platform and download our Mobile Hygiene toolkit, attend community events, and meet other like-minded service providers across the globe to see what it takes to get started.

Already committed to starting your own mobile hygiene program? Learn about our 1:1 Mentorship program to get personalized consulting and training.