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Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

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Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#61

Post by skeeter2020 »

ramphastidae wrote: post #7
kwhitefoot wrote: post #5

Good for him. It must be a great boon to homeless people to have clean clothes; I know that I would feel very dispirited if I could not wear clean clothes on top of the already horrible situation of being homeless. But how come there are so many homeless people in the richest country in the world?

For the same reason there is little to no universal health care, welfare, retirement, workers rights, or higher education system — the US values short-term profit over basic humanity.

Yet countries that borrow multiples of their entire GDP and shift this burden onto future generations are growing for the long term? It's a little more complicated than you lay it out.

No workers rights, despite the same unions as other countries, legal protections and regulations? No higher education, despite the greatest concentration of attractive universities in the entire world? Do you actually believe your statement or was it made to ellict the emotional response I had?

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#62

Post by sandworm101 »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #56
sandworm101 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would have to know more about the situation. Providing a laundry service is good, but is a mobile service better than putting those resources into a fixed site? And, because this is private charity, how much of a tax deduction is this guy taking? Is he deducting the cost of the vehicle? If he is taking deductions then this activity is being effectively subsidized by taxpayers. That money might be better spent more…

It's doubtful that this one guy is a registered charity. As a private individual you can't just claim your expenses and actions as a deduction. It's also kind of sad that your first thought when you see someone who decided to do something in his own way help your big concern is he's "inefficiently using tax deductions for his personal project". Maybe you should examine your own contributions?

>> "Powers started the program, which he dubbed Loads of Love, last year after seeing a YouTube video about Orange Sky Laundry."

The California "Loads of Love" charity which this person seems to have founded http://www.loadsoflovesb.org/

How to make donations: https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/MakeDonation.aspx

Their FAQ re Tax: https://networkforgood.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/1150073...

"Network for Good issues tax receipts at the time of donations."

So ya, this is does seem to be a registered charity and donations are tax deductible.

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#63

Post by devoutsalsa »

bittercynic wrote: post #43
jimkleiber wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've often wondered, don't the people who are homeless have family who are not homeless? And if so, why isn't their family taking care of them?

There's degrees of homelessness. At first you're sleeping on a friend's couch or something. By the time someone is actually living on the street or in a shelter they have burned those relationships. Source: have had a friend slide into homelessness. It was horrible for all friends and family, and probably worst of all for the one becoming homeless.

Honestly, I decided to go straight to homelessness because I didn't want to strain my personal relationships any further. I tried talking to friends about needing a place to stay. But being in San Francisco, everyone's house was tiny & expensive. They simply didn't have a place for me. I talked with my parents about moving home, and they would have let me stay there, but they also said they weren't thrilled at the idea of having a broke, depressed adult dependent living in their house & asking for money/food/everything. I would have gone home if I REALLY had to, but I managed to get myself to stability before needing to do that.

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#64

Post by willcipriano »

MrMcDowall wrote: post #40
willcipriano wrote: post #14

I'd be quite interested how he meets the power requirements, is he using electric dryers? I feel like a vans alternator has no hope of running 1 let alone 2 of them. Also what does the freshwater/wastewater system looks like?

In the video below, he mentions they are gas powered driers.

Ahh my ad blocker got rid of the video. Thank you.

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#65

Post by dakna »

sandworm101 wrote: post #62
skeeter2020 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's doubtful that this one guy is a registered charity. As a private individual you can't just claim your expenses and actions as a deduction. It's also kind of sad that your first thought when you see someone who decided to do something in his own way help your big concern is he's "inefficiently using tax deductions for his personal project". Maybe you should examine your own contributions?

>> "Powers started the program, which he dubbed Loads of Love, last year after seeing a YouTube video about Orange Sky Laundry." The California "Loads of Love" charity which this person seems to have founded http://www.loadsoflovesb.org/ How to make donations: https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/MakeDonation.aspx Their FAQ re Tax: https://networkforgood.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/1150073... "Network for Good i…

There is a strong sentiment in the US against paying more taxes in general to level the playing field a bit and help people in need, it's usually labeled as socialism. And now it's not even ok to use the incentives put in place for people who want to give extra money? Registering as a charity is the only way to make donations tax deductible, taking that away would basically reduce the donation and their effectiveness by the average tax rate of people with money to give, and they are usually not in the 12% bracket.

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#66

Post by triceratops »

mdip wrote: post #53
pwgentleman wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most problems seem pretty simple until one actively tries to solve them. One thing that _is_ actually simple is simply criticizing. I would argue that a lot more good has been done by individuals that decided to "do something about it" that big government initiatives.

> I would argue that a lot more good has been done by individuals that decided to "do something about it" that big government initiatives. You couldn't be more right. "It's amazing to me in a country as rich as ours", "In a city with the wealth of San Francisco", etc... Check your calendar. How many of us did something, last year, anything (beyond voting/picketing/"complaining") that directly helped this problem? Hel…

> how many of us gave even $100 to an organization helping the homeless?

I did.

> How many of us even did the basic research to find a suitable organization to donate to (rather than just tossing that money at a charity run like a big government initiative)?

You may sneer at "big government". But the advantage of having an efficient government that does good work is people can simply throw their money at it and assume that things will be taken care of. By making everyone do research, it increases the barrier to help for a lot of people . Not everyone has the time or knows what to look for in a good charitable org.

Imagine if government health inspectors didn't exist and you had to rely on Yelp reviews and word of mouth to decide if a restaurant was clean enough to eat at.

> Your donation is tax deductible.

Only if you itemize taxes. Most renters do not. And it's a deduction to taxable income, not a tax credit.

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#67

Post by devoutsalsa »

dakna wrote: post #65
sandworm101 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> "Powers started the program, which he dubbed Loads of Love, last year after seeing a YouTube video about Orange Sky Laundry." The California "Loads of Love" charity which this person seems to have founded http://www.loadsoflovesb.org/ How to make donations: https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/MakeDonation.aspx Their FAQ re Tax: https://networkforgood.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/1150073... "Network for Good i…

There is a strong sentiment in the US against paying more taxes in general to level the playing field a bit and help people in need, it's usually labeled as socialism. And now it's not even ok to use the incentives put in place for people who want to give extra money? Registering as a charity is the only way to make donations tax deductible, taking that away would basically reduce the donation and their effectiveness…

At this point I'm not a fan of higher taxes because the cost of living is going through the roof. If we had good healthcare not attached to employment, a modest cost of living, and effective social programs, I'd be happy to pay more in taxes.

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#68

Post by closeparen »

mdip wrote: post #53
pwgentleman wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most problems seem pretty simple until one actively tries to solve them. One thing that _is_ actually simple is simply criticizing. I would argue that a lot more good has been done by individuals that decided to "do something about it" that big government initiatives.

> I would argue that a lot more good has been done by individuals that decided to "do something about it" that big government initiatives. You couldn't be more right. "It's amazing to me in a country as rich as ours", "In a city with the wealth of San Francisco", etc... Check your calendar. How many of us did something, last year, anything (beyond voting/picketing/"complaining") that directly helped this problem? Hel…

I gave $12,000 to affordable-housing nonprofits last year. If just 5 other people did the same every year, we could almost sustain one tent [0].

The costs involved here are a bottomless pit. That donation made me feel good, but if it helped even one person, it was only for a couple of months.

Housing in San Francisco is a zero sum game. Unless attitudes towards development and density can be changed, the only way to house 10,000 people is to outbid 10,000 others. It is hard for a charity to win that game.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/S-F-pays-61-000-a-...

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#69

Post by klyrs »

jimkleiber wrote: post #39
TimedToasts wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans will take care of their family and their community. This generally does not extend to a random homeless person.

I've often wondered, don't the people who are homeless have family who are not homeless? And if so, why isn't their family taking care of them?

There's a lot of homelessness in queer youth because they've been disowned by their families.

People in poverty have difficulty accessing health care, and birth control goes along with that. Depending where you live, there might be a holy war being waged on free birth control. If your parents are homeless, you might be put in a foster home until you're old enough to be a homeless adult.

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#70

Post by devoutsalsa »

klyrs wrote: post #69
jimkleiber wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've often wondered, don't the people who are homeless have family who are not homeless? And if so, why isn't their family taking care of them?

There's a lot of homelessness in queer youth because they've been disowned by their families. People in poverty have difficulty accessing health care, and birth control goes along with that. Depending where you live, there might be a holy war being waged on free birth control. If your parents are homeless, you might be put in a foster home until you're old enough to be a homeless adult.

I enjoyed watching Pose, which touches on this topic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pose_(TV_series)

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