Project WeHOPE staff oversee a mobile shower and laundry unit in San Jose, California on Oct. 15, 2021. (Daniel Wu/Peninsula Press)
Project WeHOPE staff member Alex Lawson cleans a shower stall in between showers in San Jose, California on Oct. 15, 2021. (Daniel Wu/Peninsula Press)
Disinfectant and boxes of fast food sit at the back of one of Project WeHOPE’s mobile shower and laundry units in San Jose, California on Oct. 15, 2021. (Daniel Wu/Peninsula Press)
Santa Clara County is scrambling to build shelters and distribute housing vouchers with new resources from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan. But for East Palo Alto-based nonprofit Project WeHOPE, tackling homelessness starts with providing an even more basic service: a load of laundry and a hot shower.
Every day, WeHOPE’s ‘Dignity on Wheels’ teams drive specialized trailers with mobile shower and laundry units to locations across the South Bay to provide a critical service for people living on the streets. They say the showers are all the more important now, a year after COVID-19 closed the gyms, parks and restaurants that many people relied on for hygiene — and that they’re a huge first step for building the confidence and trust that can help connect people experiencing homelessness with case managers and further support.
Daniel Wu graduated from Stanford University in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in History. He has interned with the San Jose Mercury News and the Seattle Times and worked as a managing editor, graphic designer, news and sports reporter for The Stanford Daily. He’s interested in features and investigative reporting as well as multimedia journalism, and maybe doing them both together. Daniel grew up in Beijing, Shanghai and London and enjoys sports, cooking and making lots of playlists on Spotify.
