Mobile shower for San Diego homeless now helping North Carolina hurricane victims

Gary Warth, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Nov 13, 2024

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

SAN DIEGO -- Davinder Singh, co-founder of the Duwara Consciousness Foundation, did not like seeing his nonprofit’s large mobile shower sitting dormant, and he wanted to put it to good use.

One 2,300-mile road trip later, he did just that.

Through a string of connections and coincidences that began with a trip to Burning Man two years ago, the trailer is now providing shower and laundry services to survivors of Hurricane Helene, which hit the East Coast Sept. 27.

Singh and a friend drove the 63-foot-long truck and trailer across six states to set up the shower in a rural area near Asheville, North Carolina, over four days, surviving a few mechanical problems and finding encouraging acts of kindness along the way.

Singh and his wife, Harisimran Khalsa, founded the Duwara Consciousness Foundation in 2017 with a mission to help homeless people. The foundation’s name means “gates to consciousness” in Sanskrit.

After operating a food truck and other projects, the nonprofit in 2019 bought a shower trailer equipped with seven stalls, including one compliant with the American With Disabilities Act, and with two washer/dryers.

“It’s a monstrosity of a vehicle, for sure,” Singh said, adding that he wanted a large shower trailer to serve the dense homeless population in downtown San Diego.

The trailer found a home in the parking lot of the National Alliance on Mental Illness clubhouse on 16th Street, an area known for many homeless encampments. The shower operated there from 2019 until early this year when NAMI acquired its own mobile shower.

Singh said he tried to find another organization that could host the shower, but there were always obstacles, such as its size or a lack of facilities or operators.

“We spoke to churches, we spoke to organizations, we put it out on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, on and on and so forth, to say, ‘Hey, listen, we’ve got this shower trailer, we want to help our community out,’” he said.

“So it was sitting around since March, and we’re trying to figure out where we could park it, and then Hurricane Helene came along.”

His connection to hurricane relief came with a trip to Burning Man two years ago. Singh said he went with a team from Vista-based Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap, and while at the event he met Amanda Krause and others from the North Carolina nonprofit Grassroots Aid Partnership (GAP), which partners with Dr. Bronner’s for events in their state.

Two years later, GAP was doing hurricane relief in North Carolina, and Singh called to ask how they were doing.

“They said, ‘Well, we’ve got big problems,’” Singh recalled. “”We don’t have fresh water.’”

Singh said he learned water to residents in one area was being diverted from a reservoir, but it was dark and murky and not fit for bathing, cleaning or drinking.

“They said, ‘We’ve got a lot of organizations across the country giving food, giving clothing, giving medical. What we don’t have is showers,’” Singh said. “So we said, “Listen, we’ve got a shower trailer sitting here.’”

Singh and his friend Mike Perez hit the road with the shower trailer. To make the ride smoother, air bags were installed in the truck’s back suspension at a cost of $4,000. Those blew out even before leaving California, and at one point the truck shook so badly the license plate and brake lights on the driver’s side of the truck fell off.

Singh chronicled the four-day journey on the Duwara Consciousness Foundation’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. They slept in a motel once but otherwise drove through the night.

They encountered acts of kindness along the way, including in Arizona when they noticed oil leaking from the axle. Singh said the staff at a small auto repair shop got right to work on the repair and charged half price for a repair after learning about their mission.

They also stopped at Northern Chemical Company in Arizona, a supporter of Duwara Consciousness Foundation, to pick up soap and laundry detergent being donated to the shower.

“This country’s absolutely fantastic,” said Singh, who became an American citizen after immigrating from England. “We had so many people helping, from the cleaning company to this random garage.”

They arrived in North Carolina on Oct. 18, their bodies beaten from the bumpy ride but overall in one piece. A group of retired Army Green Berets helped set up the shower and continue to volunteer in its operation.

In an interview from North Carolina, Amanda Krause of GAP said about 100 people are using the showers each day.

“We’re providing hundreds of showers and loads of laundry,” she said about the trailer, which is supplied fresh water by trucks.

Krause said the shower is set up in a rural area about an hour north of Asheville and next to the Tow River, which overflowed during the hurricane and flooded the general store.

“Laundry is a huge piece,” she said about how the mobile shower is helping residents. “People are really loving the washer and dryer.”

Singh said the shower trailer can remain in North Carolina for as long as it is needed, and he thanks all supporters and donors who have helped his nonprofit, which doesn’t accept grants or government funding.