DK
CSC
ROADSIDEDIRTY KID COUCHSURFING COALITION
Ask the road family →NEW - NOMAD TRAIL

DKCSC · YOU HAVE PEOPLE HERE

Need help right now?

Food. A safe place to land. Somebody in your corner. Start with what you need—no address, donation, or polished story required.

Original Dirty Kid Couchsurfing Coalition artworkROAD FAMILY SINCE 2015
Download guides & maps

Leaving foster care or new to being on your own? Start here →

U.S. resources · DKCSC is a peer community, not an emergency service. Immediate danger? Call 911.

LET’S GET THROUGH TONIGHT

Nowhere to sleep?

Call 211 and tell them your town or nearest landmark. Ask for emergency shelter available tonight, a youth drop-in center, and help getting there.

Call 211 Find local 211 online ↗

Ask about space, age limits, ID, pets, and check-in times before you go. A referral does not guarantee a bed.

Not sure what to say?

“I have nowhere safe to sleep tonight. I am in ____. I need somewhere I can go now. Can you help me find a place and work out how to get there?”

No phone service? If you have Wi-Fi, try the youth chat below or your local 211 website. A staffed library or drop-in center may be able to help you make a call.

Immediate danger? Call 911. DKCSC is a peer community; the group is not monitored for emergencies.

NEW TO THIS? YOU DO NOT HAVE TO FIGURE IT OUT ALONE.

Leaving foster care. Suddenly outside.

Start with a person who can help you find your next step. The National Runaway Safeline supports young people who are homeless or at risk—not only people who have run away.

Free, 24/7 support. On their site, choose live chat if you cannot call.

What to ask for after foster care

“I recently left foster care and have nowhere safe to stay. Who handles housing and transition support for former foster youth here?”

If you have a former caseworker or agency contact, try them too. Ask what housing, aftercare, document replacement, and benefits help you may qualify for. Programs and eligibility vary by state.

If a place cannot help, ask: “Who can I contact next, and can you help connect me?”

ONE NEXT STEP IS ENOUGH

Who can I talk to?

No Facebook? The 211 and youth-support links above work independently of DKCSC. Immediate danger: 911.

KEEP EACH OTHER HERE

No judgment. More backup.

Using alone? Never Use Alone offers phone support. The operator asks where you are and can send emergency help if you stop responding.

Never Use Alone: 800-484-3731How the line works ↗

Carry naloxone.

NEXT Distro connects people with naloxone and harm-reduction supplies. Access and mailing options vary by location.

Find naloxone & supplies ↗

Someone unresponsive or not breathing normally? Call 911 now and follow the dispatcher’s instructions.

Find food, shelter & everyday help

U.S. RESOURCE DIRECTORY

Pick a need, then choose a starting point. These are national directories and community connections—not confirmed openings.

Local search opens Findhelp. No ZIP? Find your local 211 by city or region.

Contact providers for current hours & requirements

Found a dead link or changed service? Tell a DKCSC group admin ↗. Include the resource name and what changed.

SAVE THIS WHILE YOU HAVE WI-FI

Download guides & maps.

Tap a button to download the file. Keep it on your phone and open it even when the signal disappears.

MAP PDF · 1.1 MB · OFFLINE

U.S. aquifers

A national overview of major underground aquifers. This is not a map of drinking-water taps or tested springs.

↓ Download u.s. aquifers map

USGS · 2003 revision

MAP PDF · 3.0 MB · OFFLINE

U.S. national trails

A national overview of scenic and historic trails, with cities and major roads. Use a detailed local map for navigation.

↓ Download u.s. national trails map

NPS · 2024 edition

Maps do not confirm open shelter beds, safe drinking water, public access or current trail conditions. Check before you go.

Need a detailed local map or help saving files?

The maps above download directly and show the national picture. For street or trail navigation, save the specific area you need before traveling.

↓ Download the map-saving guide (PDF) · Choose a local USGS map ↗

Your browser may ask you to confirm the download. If an in-app browser opens the PDF, use its Share menu to save to Files. Open your saved file once with Wi-Fi and mobile data off to check it is there.

FIND YOUR NEXT STOP

Maps & nearby help

Enter a town and state, ZIP code, or nearby landmark. No home address needed.

Opens a Google Maps search, not a list of confirmed openings. Call before traveling; a pin does not mean a bed, food, or free service is available.

THE ROADSIDE WEATHER DESK

Weather where you are.

Check tonight’s low before you roll out your bed.

Search sends the place name to Open-Meteo. Location shares rounded coordinates with the weather services, only when you tap above.

Pick a place to get today's briefing.

For life outside.

Will your bag stay dry? How cold after dark? Check the wind, rain and warnings before you pick a spot.

Refreshes when you open the page and every 30 minutes while visible. No background alerts or notifications.

CHECK THE SKY.
CHECK YOUR HOMIES.

Choose your location for a fresh forecast.
No made-up weather. No guessing where you are.

Forecasts: Open-Meteo · Place names: GeoNames · U.S. alerts: National Weather Service. Forecast guidance isn't a guarantee of safe conditions.

JUNGLE UP.

Your people are out there.
Let's tighten the network.

Open the DKCSC group ↗

DIRTY KID COUCHSURFING COALITION · SINCE 2015

You got people.
Even out here.

Rail kids, hitchhikers, van folks, couch surfers. Been out forever or just landed outside? Pull up. We share what we know and help where we can.

Meet the road family ↓
Hand-painted Call Your Mom signCALL YOUR MOM.We can help make that first call.Community members gathered outdoors beside the waterYOU STILL BELONG.No address required.Members of the road family spending time together outdoorsLOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHER.A meal. A ride. A hand.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO IT ALONE

Find your people.

Need a ride, dry socks, a couch, or somebody to talk to? Say what you need. Got a meal, a lift, or room for a road dog? Put it out there. No polished story required.

Open the DKCSC group ↗

Connects through Facebook. Membership approval and group rules apply.

Look out for each other.

Post your town, not where you sleep. Work out details privately. Meet in public first when you can. You can say no, change your mind, or leave. Being in the group does not mean someone has been checked out.

MAKE A COMMUNITY POST

Put the word out.

Nothing is posted automatically. Your draft stays on this page and clears when you reload.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ACT FINE HERE

Rough stretch?

Lonely as hell?

You can be surrounded by people and still feel alone. Ask for company. Ask someone to sit with you. You do not need a crisis or a good story to reach out.

Get hold of the family →

Sick or hurting?

Sleeping outside while you are sick is hard enough. Ask for a ride to care, a clean place to rest, or somebody to help make the calls. You deserve care even when you are broke.

Find a health center ↗

Somebody hurt you?

It was not the price of being on the road. You deserve safety and care. You can ask for help without posting what happened. Tell a trusted person what you need, and keep control of what you share.

Sexual-assault support through RAINN ↗

Immediate danger, trouble breathing, or confusion after a head injury? Call 911 in the U.S. This page and the group are not monitored emergency services.

NOMAD TRAIL

Make miles. Find a feed. Look out for each other.
The DKCSC road game.

Play Nomad Trail ↗

CARE IS SOMETHING WE DO

Check on your homies.

01

Call Your Mom.

Want your mom to hear from you, but cannot make that call yourself? Maybe you are estranged. Maybe it has been so long you do not know where to start. Call Your Mom meets young adults on the road, at gatherings, and at festivals. We take your message and call your parent for you, with your permission.

Hand-painted Call Your Mom sign with the DKCSC road family

We also invite moms to Parents of Travelers of America, so they can find people who understand this life, too.

Ask an admin about Call Your Mom →
02

Nomad Rescue.

Broke down? Stranded? Need out of a bad spot? Tell the admins what town you are in and what would help. You do not owe the whole group the details.

Ask in the group or message an admin. Help depends on who is around and what they have. If someone is in immediate danger, get emergency help first.

Write a request or offer →

Immediate danger in the U.S.? Call 911. For local service referrals, 211.

03

Feed people. Waste less.

Split a pizza. Pass along dry socks. Save somebody a bowl. Nobody should have to earn dinner by pretending they are doing fine.

Find a feed in the resources, or post what you can share: food, a ride, gear, time. Ask before deciding what somebody needs.

Find food resources →Get involved in food recovery ↗

FOR THE MOMS AND PARENTS BACK HOME

Parents of Travelers of America

Your kid is out on the road. Maybe you talk all the time. Maybe you have not heard their voice in a while. Parents need people who understand, too.

Through Call Your Mom, we carry messages from young adults to their parents and invite moms to Parents of Travelers of America. It is a place for parents to connect with other parents of travelers.

A message does not have to fix everything at once. Sometimes it is the first step.

Ask DKCSC admins for an invitation ↗

Road knowledge

COMMUNITY & PRACTICAL GUIDES
Traveler community

Squat the Planet

A longtime gathering place for nomads, travelers, and DIY road knowledge. Site availability is currently unconfirmed.

Visit Squat the Planet
Food & survival wiki

Finding food while homeless

The food section of MeFi Wiki’s Homeless Survival Guide brings together links for food banks, food pantries, Food Not Bombs, and SNAP information.

Read the food guide

THE ROAD FAMILY

People, not problems.

Road family, shared meals, bus life.
Our people, our lives.

WHO WE ARE · WHY WE SHOW UP

For the ones the world
keeps turning away.

No life is disposable.
No address required to belong.

We are the Dirty Kid Couchsurfing Coalition. Founded in 2015 by Madre, DKCSC connects dirty kids, houseless folks, travelers, couchsurfers, and the people who care about them. We are a grassroots mutual-aid community: people sharing what they have so somebody else can make it through.

Our roots, our values & how we show up

We are here for the people nobody else seems to want. The ones told to move along. The ones whose whole lives fit in a backpack. The ones who have been written off, shut out, or forgotten. Your worth does not depend on an address, a paycheck, sobriety, or how neatly your life fits someone else's expectations. You are a person. You matter. You have something to give, even when you need help.

A little dirt. A little spirit. A lot of love.

Our kind of spirituality lives in a shared meal, a dog curled beside a bedroll, a song around a fire, and somebody asking whether you made it somewhere safe. There is something sacred in keeping each other alive. Call it spirit, solidarity, chosen family, or simply giving a damn. No belief system required. We belong to this Earth, and we can choose to look after one another.

Care is something we do.

A couch when someone can offer one. A ride, a warm meal, a useful resource, a listening ear. Harm reduction that meets people where they are. Someone to carry a message and call your parent when you cannot make that step alone. These ordinary acts are how a scattered community becomes a network.

Everyone has worth, and everyone deserves safety. Caring for people means respecting boundaries, taking harm seriously, and practicing accountability. Mutual aid depends on consent and trust.

In a throwaway society, we choose another way.

DKCSC is all about loving the invisible people in our society. We believe in a community where we are valued for who we are and not how much we have. We share what we have. No life is disposable, and everyone has something to give.

Our roots include the freegan philosophy: sharing resources, reducing waste, repairing and reusing what we can, and putting usable things back into people's hands. There is enough worth saving—in our belongings, our communities, and each other.

Call Your Mom.

Call Your Mom meets young adults on the road, at gatherings, and at festivals. We take messages and call parents for someone who cannot make that step alone: someone estranged, someone unsure what to say, someone who wants contact but needs a person to go first. You decide what we can share. We also call moms and invite them to Parents of Travelers of America. Reconnecting starts with what you are ready for, and it is always your choice.

Connection should always be your choice. Family can mean a parent, a trusted friend, or the people you have chosen. Nobody owes contact to someone who has hurt them.

We show up.

We connect people with couches, send care packages, share fresh socks and pizza, and help with gas, phone cards, and urgent motel stays when we have the resources. Nomad Rescue connects folks in a bad spot with people who can help. We also support traveling free-food kitchens and disaster relief.

This is what we do: people helping people with what we have. Need a hand, or have something to share? Put it in the DKCSC group or talk to an admin. What we can offer changes with the people and supplies available.

“WE BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF LOVE.”

“WE BELIEVE THAT EVEN ONE LIFE CHANGED CREATES RIPPLES. SAVING ONE LIFE IS WORTH IT.”

“WE BELIEVE WE CAN BUILD A NEW SOCIETY, ONE IN WHICH WE ARE ALL IMPORTANT, CONNECTED… CHERISHED.”

DKCSC

Now is the time to tighten the network.

We want fewer people falling through the gaps between towns, between services, between one person who cares and the next. That means staying in touch, sharing reliable information, checking on our people, and connecting what we can offer with what someone nearby needs. The vision is a homeless network reaching across the Earth, built with the people living it.

We may be scattered. We do not have to be alone.

Find your people in DKCSC ↗

ALWAYS PART OF THE FAMILY

We remember.

Our people. Loved, missed, and always part of this family. Their lives mattered. They still matter.

Critter Quinn

Singer, songwriter, artist. Remembered for her raw, soulful music and the love she gave.

Preacher

Remembered by the DKCSC road family.

Spacey Von Moonkill

Remembered by the DKCSC road family.

Dakota

Remembered with love by Lydia and the community.

“Kansas” Randy Lee Shaw

1975–2016. Traveler, teacher, and community-kitchen helper. “Lazy does not live here.”

“Dopey” Jeffrey Martin

1976–2016. Remembered for loving family, animals, music, and helping others.

Nicole Sisneros

Remembered for speaking up for people who could not speak up for themselves.

Heather Harrison

Remembered for laughter, courage, and her “fuck you, I love you” spirit.

Scott Ickes

A brother and mechanic who helped so many. Check on your homies.

Buttons

Never forgotten. Rest easy, kid.

Contact group admins about a tribute or correction ↗

Looking for someone?

Contact DKCSC group admins privately with the date, source, and current status of a missing-person report. Keep private contact details and exact sleeping spots out of public posts.

Reach the community ↗

BEFORE YOU HEAD OVER

One call can save a long walk.

Check hours, space, accessibility, pets, and entry requirements. A listing isn't a guaranteed bed or ride.

Call 211 ↗

TAKE CARE OF THE ROAD FAMILY

Support DKCSC.

Got a little extra? Help keep DKCSC going. Money may also go straight to folks on the road. You do not have to kick in to ask for help.

Cash App QR code for $DKMadre. Scan to support DKCSC.

Scan to support the road family.

Support DKCSC ↗

Cash App: $DKMadre

Choose your amount on Cash App.