Blue trailer delivers to the homeless: Hot showers, clean clothes, hope

The Oroville-based Haven of Hope on Wheels now has five trailer units
by Yucheng Tang | Posted December 2, 2024

photo by Karen Laslo
Earl Lewis, who runs on-site operations at the shower-and-laundry unit Haven of Hope on Wheels, discussed his work in a recent November interview.

“135?” someone calls out from in front of the blue trailer.

“Here,” says a man in a green jacket and blue jeans, who then takes charge of his freshly-packed laundry bag labelled “135.”

The man puts the bag in his arm and walks toward the shopping cart filled with his other belongings.

Suddenly, he lowers his head and leans toward the plastic bag, smelling his freshly washed and dried clothes as if he was smelling the fragrance of flowers. Then, he smiles, illuminated by warm sunlight.

He had taken a hot shower and received his laundered clothes at the truck-trailer “Haven of Hope on Wheels.” The Haven is a mobile hygiene unit that offers shower and laundry services to vulnerable individuals in need, most of whom are homeless. read more

Huber: Take time to do cannabis sales carefully

Chico council hopeful visited pot-selling Colorado city
by ChicoSol staff | Posted August 22, 2018

Scott Huber, a candidate in the Nov. 6 Chico City Council election, visited Boulder, Colo., in early August to find out first-hand how cannabis dispensary sales have gone there. ChicoSol News Director Dave Waddell explored with Huber in this Q & A what he learned and how it might apply to Chico and Oroville.

In 2016, California voters backed state Proposition 64 that allowed cities, beginning in 2018, to authorize the sale and taxation of recreational marijuana.

video by Guillermo Mash

ChicoSol: Tell us a little about the city you visited.

Huber: My wife and I flew to Boulder, Colo., specifically to learn how that city has managed the conversion to a cannabis-legal community. We chose to visit Boulder because of its superficial similarities to Chico. Boulder is a lot like Chico, and it isn’t. With a population of 108,000 to Chico’s 96,000 it’s slightly larger, but feels twice as big. The boulevards are wider, the buildings are larger, the lawns are greener and the affluence is palpable. read more