Showering the Community With Support

In the parking lot of the First United Methodist Church in Hyattsville, Md., on a pleasant April morning, one vehicle stood out among the usual cars and SUVs. One of the two doors on a small silver trailer, with the slogan “Serve humbly. Encourage faithfully. Renew dignity” emblazoned on the back, swung open, and a man stepped outside.

“The water is the perfect temperature,” he said, looking refreshed.

He’s among the regular participants at events hosted by the Neighborhood Well, a nonprofit that provides a mobile shower service to unhoused community members and others in need. Founded by University of Maryland alum Omolayo Adebayo ’11, the organization sets up at the church from 9 a.m.-noon every second and fourth Saturday of the month, weather permitting, to offer not only showers, but also food, clothes, toiletries and a welcoming environment.

“A lot of people cherish the quiet time that you have in the shower,” Adebayo said. “Just to see the transformation on their face is really nice, to know that they were able to get clean today and feel good today.”

She exhibited that giving spirit from a young age: When cleaning her room at her parents’ house recently, she found a craft she’d made in kindergarten that read, “When I become president, I want to …,” and she’d filled in the blank with “feed the homeless.” She participated frequently in the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree gift-giving program and volunteered at food pantries, activities she continued while studying history at UMD.

After graduating from the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law in 2014 and passing the bar exam the following year, she was looking for work and began to feel what she calls a “nudge from God” to serve others. So she started joining her mom, Camille Adebayo, and friend, Jazmin Beverly, in handing out toiletries to the unhoused community in the Washington, D.C., area each month. 

When that didn’t seem like quite enough, an idea hit her—surprisingly—in a dream: She saw a man with wet hair standing in front of a trailer, saying, “Thank you.” The next day, she started googling, “What is a mobile shower?”

That led Adebayo, now a full-time trademark lawyer, to Lava Mae, a nonprofit that ran a mobile shower service in California that she used as a blueprint. She, Camille and Beverly researched and canvassed around the DMV, gauging community needs and buy-in while fundraising for a trailer. In 2021, a grant from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development allowed them to meet their $50,000 goal to purchase the two-stall vehicle they use today.

“I’ve been very happy with what she’s been able to accomplish, the lives that she’s been able to touch and the diligence—the startup was a laborious process,” said Camille. “She really has a sincere heart in doing it.”

Each stall is completely private, with its own shower, toilet, sink, mirror and space to change. The Neighborhood Well provides each guest with a towel, washcloth, toiletries and change of clothes—with items the organization purchases or receives as donations—and volunteers clean the stalls after each shower. With word spread through flyers, social media and word of mouth, around two dozen people typically show up, showering in 15-minute increments. But many just come for the community, enjoying the provided food and company.

“They bring the essentials that you need. Everybody knows each other pretty much on a first-name (basis),” said one regular participant, who preferred to remain anonymous. “There’s a need, and they’ve got the supply for the need.”

As the Neighborhood Well CEO, Adebayo aims to expand her four-person team so it can branch out to other locations and maybe even become a “one-stop shop” for other resources.

“We want to have grooming services on site for somebody to cut people’s hair. We’ve been wanting to have medical screenings on site,” she said. “We’re still hoping for the big picture to really come to life.”