Mobile Shower
Dignity on Wheels — hot showers, hygiene supplies, and human
connection, delivered where our neighbors already are with Radical Hospitality.
A shower is rarely just a shower.
For someone who hasn’t had access to hot water in weeks, the first
shower in months isn’t about hygiene. It’s about being seen as a
whole person again — about privacy, about warmth, about the small,
ordinary dignity that the rest of the world takes for granted.
That’s where relationship begins.
Hot water meets you where you are.
The Dignity on Wheels trailer is a fully equipped mobile shower unit. Four private shower stalls. Hot running water. Privacy. Towels, soap, shampoo, and clean clothing where we can provide it.
The trailer travels to encampments, partner shelters, libraries, and community locations across the St. Louis metropolitan area — bringing what’s scarce to where it’s needed most. Regular routes include the St. Louis County Library Rock Road and Natural Bridge branches; inExcelsis Outreach Center at Shaw and on-call visits respond to encampment needs and partner requests.
Every shower is free. Every visit is unconditional. We don’t ask about sobriety, faith, behavior, or background. We ask if you’d like a shower. The answer determines everything that follows.
For most of us, hygiene is a daily habit. For our neighbors on the streets, it’s a doorway back into community.
Modeled on a luxury hotel. Delivered to neighbors the world has stopped seeing.
Every Mobile Shower visit follows the same six steps — designed so that hygiene becomes a moment of welcome, not a transaction.
Show up. No appointment needed.
Dignity on Wheels welcomes anyone, anytime the trailer is on route. No paperwork, no eligibility check, no questions about how you got here.
CHECK IN
Check in at the reception kiosk.
New guests register quickly; returning guests are welcomed back by name. Once checked in, you’re added to the queue.
A freshly cleaned, private stall.
When it’s your turn, you’re directed to a freshly sanitized stall — one of four private spaces inside the trailer.
A basket made for you.
Each guest receives a neatly packed personal basket: razor, towel, washcloth, comb, deodorant, body lotion, and a daily bread. Shampoo, body wash, and conditioner dispensers are installed in every stall.
Fifteen minutes. Privacy. Hot water.
A companion leads you to your stall, shows you how to set the water temperature, and starts a 15-minute timer. At minute 10, a friendly knock reminds you there are five minutes left to finish.
Check out and a quick survey.
On your way out, a kiosk asks a few brief questions to help us serve you better next time. Used towels go in the laundry basket — picked up by a volunteer to wash before the next route — and your stall is immediately cleaned and sanitized for the next guest.
Every shower. Every stall. Every guest. The same care, the same dignity, every single time.
Finding the trailer near you
WHEN
Dignity on Wheels operates April 1 through November 15 each year. When the weather turns dangerous, the program transitions to Winter Safe Haven — the same team, following our neighbors’ needs through the seasons. During the season, routes run throughout the week at rotating locations, typically late morning into early afternoon. The confirmed schedule appears below.
WHERE
Mobile Shower travels to a rotating set of partner locations across the St. Louis metropolitan area — including St. LouisCounty Library branches, Veterans Community Project, MoNetwork, and community outreach sites. Routes also reachencampments directly, including the Pallet Yard community downtown. The current schedule appears below.
WHO YOU’LL MEET
Dawna Kenkel, our Community Outreach Manager, her team and or one of our trained Mobile Shower volunteers. The team rotates, but a familiar face is part of the team — we believe in seeing the same people repeatedly, not strangers each visit.
WHAT’S FREE
Everything. Showers, towels, soap, shampoo, hygiene supplies, clean clothing (when available), conversation. No fee, no contribution required, no service in exchange.
HOW TO REACH US
For shower schedule or to request a stop near your community: here4you@inexcelsislove.org or
(314) 887-7156.
Partner organizations can request service through our partnership form.
Request Mobile Shower at your location →
Dignity on Wheels runs April 1 through November 15. When the St. Louis weather turns dangerously cold, the same team transitions to Winter Safe Haven — moving families from hot showers in warm months to warm hotel rooms in freezing ones. Two programs, one team, one continuous commitment to our neighbors through every season.
Dignity on Wheels schedule
Routes confirmed for the weeks ahead. Sensitive outreach locations show only the general area to protect the privacy and safety of the neighbors we serve. To request Dignity on Wheels at your organization or community, use our partnership form.
Volunteer
Dignity on Wheels volunteer teams arrive 30 minutes before route start, help set up the trailer, support showers and conversation, and break down at the end. Training is provided. Minimum age and background check requirements apply.
Keep the trailer on the road
The shower is always free. It will never cost a guest a dollar, a form, or a question about how they ended up on the street. But keeping Dignity on Wheels on the road is not free. Fuel, propane to heat the water, insurance, the team that runs the day — a single route costs between $700-$1200 to put in motion. Every gift is what makes the next route possible. When you give monthly, you become the reason the trailer pulls up again next week — and the reason a guest steps into hot water and is met, simply, as a person.
Dignity on Wheels in 2025
Showers delivered last campaign.
Total showers delivered since program launch in 2024.
Birth certificates retrieved for Pallet Yard residents — pathways to IDs, jobs, and stability
Tornado relief supplies distributed: 110 hygiene kits and 104 towels/washcloths
Pallet Yard is a homeless encampment at Cass Avenue and N. 10th Street in downtown St. Louis. Working alongside residents there, our team has helped retrieve birth certificates — the foundational documents that unlock IDs, employment, healthcare, and housing applications. For neighbors without identification, this is often the first concrete step out of crisis.
This work is shared work
The Dignity on Wheels runs on the support of churches, businesses, libraries, and community organizations across St. Louis. Partners provide route locations, financial support, volunteer teams, and the in-kind supplies that fill the trailer each week.
Corporate or business
- Hand of Hope (Joyce Meyer Ministries)
- Craftsmen Industries, Inc.
- City of St. Louis Department of Health (Behavioral Health Bureau)
- Panera Bread
Faith community
- Concord Trinity United Methodist Church
- One Family Church
- Webster United Methodist Church
- Wellspring Family Church
- First Baptist Church of O’Fallon, IL
Civic or community group
- St. Louis County Library
- MoNetwork
- Veteran Community Project
- Urban League
Explore our other programs
Community Fellowship (ComFe)
Saturdays at 4265 Shaw — meals, supplies, ID help, community and the kind of welcome that takes time.
Winter Safe Haven
When exposure turns life-threatening, hotel partnerships keep families warm from November through March.
Discipleship
Spiritual and pastoral care, walked alongside — never required, always voluntary, offered in three settings.