We first found out about the Mobile Shower Bus in March last year when it was featured in The Age. It is such an inspiring project that provides the most basic and essential of services to our homeless that we just had to share what they were about and how they are helping our society.

No one wants to be homeless

So many people misunderstand the homeless. Our very own Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton described homeless encampments outside Flinders Street Station as “disgusting” and a “very ugly sight”, and said the people living there were trying to exploit extra visitors coming to Melbourne for the Australian Open, in this article published by The Age yesterday. Chief Commissioner Ashton goes on to say that “there’s no reason people should be sleeping on the street, there are no reasons people should be homeless,” and that “there’s more than enough beds and accommodation for people to access.”

Having spoken to so many homeless people, not one of them wanted to be homeless. Most of them became homeless as a result of family circumstance or bad choices or decisions. So many of them want to get back on their feet and have a permanent roof over their heads. But for most of them, the reality of having a permanent roof over their heads are so far out of reach.

One Voice

Back in December 2015, One Voice, whose vision is to restore dignity and hope for our homeless and whose mission is to provide practical human services and opportunities for a better future, launched a mobile shower bus in Melbourne to provide hot showers to countless of the homeless in our society. The first bus was generously donated by Ventura and entirely refurbished to accommodate a changing area, two shower cubicles, and water tanks large enough to provide forty hot showers a day to our homeless.

One Voice, a social enterprise that injects 100% of their profits back into our vision to help young Australians achieve their dreams, has since launched a mobile shower bus in Sydney, a mobile shower trailer in Werribee (Victoria), and mobile shower vans which travel around the Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney to provide showers to our homeless. How amazing is that?!?!?! In a short span of a little over a year, they have managed to accomplish so, so much. They really put me to shame!

To fund the bus, One Voice sells products like bottled water (which you can order online here) and gets funding from philanthropic trusts and corporate sponsors like Aldi. I knew I shopped at Aldi for a reason!

The mobile shower buses and trailers currently operate in the following areas at the following times:

Source: One Voice

We hope that one day, we would be in a position to make such a great social impact and change as One Voice has. Better yet, we hope to be able to inspire and produce graduates who are able to make such great social changes that is greatly needed in our society!

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