
Engineer Converts Van into Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless - pmoriarty
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Apple-Engineer-Converts-Used-Van-Into-Mobile-Laundromat-Offers-Free-Loads-to-Homeless-416489533.html
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alphonsegaston
I think it's great that he's doing this, but I can't help but think how these
kind of stories follow this weird American pattern of social problems being
the hobby of the wealthy and/or an opportunity for cleverness. Why are we so
fond of these narratives?

~~~
cyberferret
I think perhaps it is because many people in 'modern' societies are starting
to rediscover their humanitarian side after a long time of being blinded by
years of consumerism and trying to find enlightenment via a career or 'keeping
up with the Joneses'?!?

What a lot of people don't realise is that things like this are actually quite
commonplace in so called 'third world' areas like Asia and the sub-continent.

Where they were once viewed as sign of a society less well off and endeavours
that won't really lead to a difference, I'd like to think that people are
starting to realise that improvement of humanity, rather than the building of
bank accounts and stock portfolios, may actually be the purpose of existence.

Addendum: Less well off people tend to do this all the time (see my other post
in this thread), but because of their 'low' social status, they tend to be
invisible to the casual observer who have their eyes conditioned to look
upwards only.

Therefore, if someone considered well off, and a 'good role model' does it, it
tends to get more notice.

~~~
alphonsegaston
When I was reading this, the first thing I thought was that it sounded like
something from a developing country. I then wondered how long it was gonna be
before we're all doing our laundry like this because of housing costs. But I
like your more optimistic take.

~~~
cyberferret
I think your point is valid too. It seems that a lot more people today, given
the current political climate in a lot of countries, plus the widening gap
between the upper and lower classes of society, are beginning to realise that
quite a sizeable percentage of the population is only one or two paychecks
away from being homeless.

Perhaps there is an awakening along the lines of "There but for the grace of
[insert deity here] go I..."

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Animats
Santa Monica, CA has a facility called SWASHLOCK.[1] It offers showers,
laundry machines, and lockers for homeless people. But the usage level for the
laundry machine is low.

[1] [https://www.opcc.net/?nd=shwashlock](https://www.opcc.net/?nd=shwashlock)

~~~
jdavis703
Is anybody doing anything similar in the SF Bay Area?

~~~
izak30
Check out Lavamae. While you're there send them some money.
[http://lavamae.org/](http://lavamae.org/)

~~~
everybodyknows
No financial info apparent on the site, and the FAQ is a link to PDF -- yields
"Decompression error" on Android. I'd be wary.

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angry_octet
[http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-01/orange-sky-laundry-
sea...](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-01/orange-sky-laundry-search-for-
australians-making-a-difference/7557536)

~~~
cyberferret
Just came in here to post about the same guys. A good friend of mine was up
for Young Australian of the Year last year against them. He didn't win it, but
I am glad that these two guys won...

Similarly, we have a local Sikh taxi driver in our home town who spends his
spare time cooking and feeding homeless people around our city. [0] It's
people like these who should be held up as role models for our communities,
not meaningless 'celebrities'.

[0] - [http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-31/sikh-taxi-driver-
feeds...](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-31/sikh-taxi-driver-feeds-darwin-
needy/6358572)

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etjossem
Acts of charity like this have always struck me as creating an uncomfortable
power dynamic. When sticking around to hear a religious presentation is the
price of admission, it's not a pure form of generosity; it's transactional.
Ron Powers even mentions the captive audience situation outright, near the end
of the video.

"If you have something like their clothes, you've got them for an hour, two
hours ... we might as well have a conversation."

I don't really see a need to glorify this in the local news. He's just a man
who has found a way to buy time to proselytize. To me, the fact that he exists
is a symptom that our existing social safety nets are insufficient to set
folks up with clean clothes, let alone get them into housing.

Taxes to fund direct cash transfers and housing subsidies do not make for
heartwarming stories. They are boring as hell, but they get the job done with
no strings attached, and that's the best outcome we as a society could wish
for.

~~~
golergka
I think it's kind of ironic that you mention how his charity isn't 100%
altruistic, but then juxtapose it with "social safety nets" \- by which, I
assume, you mean tax-funded welfare, which is forced on people by government
and has nothing altruistic about it on any level.

~~~
etjossem
Actual altruism is very rare. The level at which it exists in the United
States is nowhere near sufficient to solve this country's homelessness
problem. By all means, write inspiring news stories about pure generosity when
it appears, but this is not one of those times. This is a man who looks at our
collective unwillingness to help our most needy and sees a religious
opportunity.

Some voters support safety nets out of a sense of altruism. Others do it for
selfish reasons; they simply don't enjoy living next to homeless people. Still
more - like myself - see housing as a fundamental human right we are not
properly addressing. The motive by which people join this cause doesn't matter
to me, as long as the result fulfills our citizens' basic needs and asks
nothing in return from them. If a majority of the country agrees with me that
poverty is a serious problem, then we'll all chip in to solve it.

I'm willing to do my bit - are you?

~~~
golergka
> Some voters support safety nets out of a sense of altruism.

It cannot be called altruism. People you're referring to aren't giving their
resources out of free will - they support government taking other people's
resources, under threat of violence (which the government has monopoly on) and
redistributing it to others.

> housing as a fundamental human right

How can a product of someone else's labour can be a human right?

~~~
literallycancer
>How can a product of someone else's labour can be a human right?

Quite easily. Access to clean water isn't free, nor is safety or freedom (of
religion, to own property, whatever). Enough people agree that these are a
human right, so they are financed by the collective, regardless of how much
the recipient contributed by paying taxes.

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luctor_ad_astra
He is a beautiful soul to want to put a somewhat passive belief system into
usable practice. All you need is (loads of) love.

------
burntrelish1273
In the SF Bay Area (Silicon Valley), there was already another a free mobile
laundry (with shower) service. [0]

It's good that multiple nonprofits offer overlapping/similar services,
especially in an affluent area which can easily afford to provide basic
dignity to those in need.

0: [http://www.dignityonwheels.org/locations-and-
schedule/](http://www.dignityonwheels.org/locations-and-schedule/)

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supercoder
"Loads of Love" is the same name the mobile sperm bank startup in our area is
using.

~~~
koolba
Finally a startup can have a byline of " _Made for love in <city>_" and
actually mean it!

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ada1981
Cool idea. It would be awesome to couple it with something proven to move the
needle on underlying trauma during the hour wash / dry cycle vs. a ministry
(like NARM Therapy or similar), but it's a great idea and well executed and I
love folks doing what they can to help.

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sergiotapia
Does he say how much it cost him upfront and how much it costs him monthly to
do this? Really inspiring!

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padiyar83
Nice, thats awesome. This is really using his knowledge for the betterment of
the society. Too cool !

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ucaetano
Would be pretty cool to add another van with showers operating next to it, so
they can shower and get fresh clean clothes in one go, without having to go to
a fixed place they might not trust.

~~~
nkzednan
In San Francisco, there is a non profit (Lava Mae) that turned buses into
mobile showers.

[http://www.businessinsider.com/lava-mae-turning-buses-
into-b...](http://www.businessinsider.com/lava-mae-turning-buses-into-
bathrooms-and-showers-for-san-francisco-homeless-2016-6/#-6)

[http://lavamae.org/](http://lavamae.org/)

It looks like the laundromat van is in Santa Cruz. But would be cool if they
teamed up.

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kordless
I have a homeless friend who lives in a van. He's in the Bay. He cleans around
where he lives, keeping the area tidy. I'm sure he'd love to know more about
stuff like this.

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averagewall
While it's a great thing he's doing, it looks like his main purpose is to
convert people to his religion. Well, if that's what it takes to motivate
someone to help others, then so be it.

~~~
dvt
He literally says that his goal is not conversions and that he's doing it
because he realized _he_ wasn't putting _his faith_ into action. Further, even
if he _was_ trying to convert people, what's so bad about that?

"Hi, let me help you and by the way here's what I believe and why I'm doing
what I'm doing." \-- no idea why that kind of train of thought can rationally
be looked down upon. I've always failed to see why atheists view proselytizing
as "bad" \-- it's the same thing as lobbying for any other kind of position.

~~~
alkonaut
If someone drove around in a van and offered conversation to homeless people
with a christian angle - that would be great. It's also great if someone
offers laundry service. Talking to people is great. Talking about religion
must be on their terms, otherwise it's preaching or being a missionary - which
isn't.

What disturbs me is the idea of people have to feel even a little pressure to
participate in his prayers or religious conversation just to get their clothes
washed.

It's _exactly_ what missionaries in Africa do: build schools and hospitals and
inform about christianity.

If you are serious about charity then don't preach. Even if being charitable
is part of acting out your own faith, separate the two.

I think this guy has a heart of gold and like so many others (like the
missionaries in Africa) he doesn't see that there is a conflict in what hd is
doing.

~~~
dvt
> If you are serious about charity then don't preach. Even if being charitable
> is part of acting out your own faith, separate the two.

I don't really follow. If they are being charitable _because_ of their faith,
why separate the two? It's an integral part of their identity and why they do
what they do.

~~~
alkonaut
> I don't really follow. If they are being charitable because of their faith,
> why separate the two?

Let me rephrase it: if being a christian requires you to be a good samaritan -
by all means be a good samaritan. Charity is a good thing. But if you want to
come across as doing someone a favor altruistically - don't preach.

~~~
dvt
Let me offer a thought experiment. You're moving and need some help. Some dude
on the street freely offers to help you and carries much of your stuff. What a
nice guy. Once all is well and done and you're moved into your new place, he
turns towards you and says "hey by the way, you seem like a nice guy and I'm a
part of the local chess club, we're always looking for new members -- care to
hear more?"

I just don't see how his invitation to join the chess club detracts from his
good deed. Even if (for whatever reason) he helps people move _solely to get a
chance to ask them to join chess club_ , I still have a hard time finding
fault.

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grandDesigns
Many people who think he is doing a great thing would immediately change their
mind if I told you that he was proselytizing for Allah.

What if he just wanted to talk to them about Amway for a while? would you be
OK with that?

What if he was talking Scientology?

What if he was talking Malboro?

If you are being honest with yourself, you have to agree he is merely running
a business. They give him their time, he gets God points.

~~~
paulddraper
Amway and Malboro are for-profit businesses. The others aren't.

------
glandium
Not to diminish what the guy is doing, but why does it matter that he's an
Apple Engineer? They /could/ mention it in the article, but why does it have
to be in the title? In fact, that's pretty much a pattern these days. "Google
Engineer did this". "Apple Engineer did that". You'll never read
"$random_company engineer did that", but "Dude did that" or at best "Sofware
engineer did that". What is it with the cult of big names? Really? That the
guy works there has very little to do with what he did (which is awesome).

~~~
npunt
This is NBC Bay Area, a news source for regular folks. News provides
information in terms their audience can recognize and understand, and most
regular folks don't know what engineers really do. It matters quite a bit that
he's an engineer at one of the world's most well respected brands, because its
not just some regular engineer, but one that is good enough to work at a
company people hold in high regard.

'Important person takes time off to work on things of true importance' is
another way to think of it - that's a strong story to tell, so they lead with
it.

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betafive
>offers free loads to homeless

...hot?

