Community Corner
Mobile Shower For Homeless Coming To Marin County
The Downtown Streets Team program operates in several cities in Northern California.
MARIN COUNTY, CA -- The non-profit Downtown Streets Team will celebrate the first and only mobile shower and restroom service for homeless and low-income residents in Marin County with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Novato on Wednesday morning.
The nonprofit's Marin Mobile Care project has been providing showers and restroom service in San Rafael and Novato for about three weeks.
Since Feb. 26, nearly two dozen people have been served but the nonprofit aims to provide more than 300 showers a week to in-need individuals and families, DST project manager Karen Strolia said.
Find out what's happening in Mill Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Two trailers housing six showers that include some that comply with the American Disability Act are stationed at the Marin Community Clinics in Novato on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and at two clinics in San Rafael on Tuesday and Thursday.
The $175,000 Marin Mobile Care shower program expects to expand in the coming months to reach the entire county, including Sausalito, Marin City and Point Reyes.
Find out what's happening in Mill Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
There are 1,117 identified homeless people in Marin County and 708 of them are unsheltered, according to the Downtown Streets Team.
San Rafael Mayor Gary Phillips, Novato Mayor Josh Fryday, and other county and local elected officials will participate in the ribbon-cutting ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at 816 State Access Road in Novato.
"This is about much more than showers," Phillips said in a statement. "Marin Mobile Care is an outreach platform for getting people into our broader system of care where we are having significant success housing
our most vulnerable community members."
"Novatans are a compassionate people, and we are fortunate to partner with social service providers like the Downtown Streets Team to channel compassion into action," Fryday said. "We won't be able to solve this
issue overnight, but we are headed in the right direction."
The Downtown Streets Team program operates in several cities in Northern California, including San Jose, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Hayward, San Francisco, Sacramento and Santa Cruz.
--Bay City News/Photo via Shutterstock
