Suds, faith found at laundromats
Over the long months that Victoria Mitchell lived in her car with her infant daughter, there was one bright spot in her life: doing laundry.
Every month, Mitchell would trek to a local laundromat and take advantage of Laundry Love, a growing, faith-driven movement that helps those who are homeless or financially struggling by washing their dirty clothes for free.
Amid the comforting routine of fluffing and folding, volunteers befriend their patrons and often find ways to help that go beyond free soap and quarters.
Mitchell, for example, now has a job and a place to live after the Laundry Love volunteers pooled their money to help her family rent a starter apartment. They also have watched her daughter Jessica grow from a newborn to a curly-haired toddler.
“You’re not just checking a box to give a donation. You’re spending the whole evening with these people and getting your hands dirty and it’s intimate – you’re doing people’s laundry,” said LuzAnna Figueroa, who volunteers at the group’s chapter in Huntington Beach, Calif.
Richard Flory, a religion expert from the University of Southern California who has studied Laundry Love extensively, said Mitchell is only one example of how the organization can impact people profoundly through something as simple as washing clothes.
“It’s an opportunity for people to live out their faith in a concrete way, in a frankly elegantly simple model where you do something that’s necessary for people who don’t have the means to do it for themselves,” Flory said.
The movement began about 10 years ago with a small Christian church in Ventura, Calif., and since has spread to more than 100 locations throughout the country and to people from all faiths.
At NorthRock Church in Thornton, up to 10 volunteers spend two hours on the last Saturday of each month at Huron Laundry, feeding about $300 in donated quarters into machines and getting to know the neighborhood, where many residents live in apartment complexes and mobile home parks that don’t have in-house washing facilities, said church member Tiffany Mares.
“What we noticed is that it’s so expensive (for these families) to do laundry at a laundromat, families are having to make decisions about whether to do laundry or to have enough food for the month,” said Mares, who helped organize the Laundry Love program at her Foursquare Church north of Denver four years ago. “When we were able to take care of the laundry portion, we could save families $40 to $50 so they had money in their budget to do other things. It’s one less difficult decision they have to make.”
The program, Mares said, led to conversations that highlighted other community needs the church then began working to address, including English language classes and school supplies for children.
“It’s been a really great way to get to know our neighbors and to connect them to different resources and partners in the community,” said Mares, who estimates the program assists up to 40 people – individuals and family groups – each month. “We kind of see it as we’re meeting a physical need but at the same time we’re able to build relationships that mean we don’t just see them once a month.”
Christian Kassoff started the Huntington Beach chapter of Laundry Love two years ago with his wife, Shannon. On a recent warm summer night, Kassoff glanced around the laundromat and smiled at the dozens of people who depend on him and the other volunteers for clean laundry each month.
Kassoff, his arms laced with tattoos, recalled a time in his life just more than 10 years ago when he was in a similar situation to many of those who come – addicted to heroin and living in his car. At his lowest point, he said, he started attending services at his local Episcopal church.
His newfound faith, he said, saved his life and motivated him to help others in need.
“I’m not wealthy but I have the gift of time and a heart for it, so this fits,” Kassoff said.
Flory said that’s why the movement has taken off – the simplicity and necessity of washing clothes. The Huntington Beach chapter began as an Episcopal outreach, but now welcomes volunteers of any faith, including members of a local mosque who started showing up recently.
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The Gazette’s Stephanie Earls contributed to this story
In this Aug. 13, 2014, photo, Jose Cortez, 4, sits in a laundry basket while waiting for his mother to finish their laundry during a Laundry Love event in Huntington Beach, Calif. Laundry Love is a growing faith-driven movement that helps people change their lives by letting them change into clean clothes. The organization partners with local laundromats and helps those who are homeless or struggling financially by doing their laundry for free. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
REPLACES CAPTION – In this Aug. 13, 2014, photo, Homeless woman Jeanne Strickler, left, hugs her friends outside a laundromat before doing their laundry for free during a Laundry Love event on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014, in Huntington Beach, Calif. Laundry Love is a growing faith-driven movement that helps people change their lives by letting them change into clean clothes. The organization partners with local laundromats and helps those who are homeless or struggling financially by doing their laundry for free. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Aug. 13, 2014, photo, Justin Gavin, 21, who is homeless, leans against a dryer while getting his laundry done for free during a Laundry Love event in Huntington Beach, Calif. Laundry Love is a growing faith-driven movement that helps people change their lives by letting them change into clean clothes. The organization aims to give back in a simple yet innovative way by partnering with local laundromats and helping those who are homeless or struggling financially by doing their laundry for free. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Aug. 13, 2014, photo, people stand next to their baskets full of their clothes outside a laundromat while waiting for the start of a Laundry Love event to do their laundry for free in Huntington Beach, Calif. Laundry Love is a growing faith-driven movement that helps people change their lives by letting them change into clean clothes. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Aug. 13, 2014, photo, a woman walks past a chalk art drawn by a homeless woman outside a laundromat during a Laundry Love event in Huntington Beach, Calif. Laundry Love is a growing faith-driven movement that helps people change their lives by letting them change into clean clothes. The organization partners with local laundromats and helps those who are homeless or struggling financially by doing their laundry for free. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Aug. 13, 2014 photo, people get their laundry done for free during a Laundry Love event in Huntington Beach, Calif. Laundry Love is a growing faith-driven movement that helps people change their lives by letting them change into clean clothes. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Aug. 13, 2014 photo, a man carries a trash bag full of his clothes after getting his laundry done during a Laundry Love event in Huntington Beach, Calif. The organization partners with local laundromats and helps those who are homeless or struggling financially by doing their laundry for free. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Aug. 13, 2014, photo, Patricia Baskin, who is homeless and sleeps in her RV in a local Wal-Mart parking lot, sifts through her clothes while standing next to a huge pile of laundry before the start of a Laundry Love event in Huntington Beach, Calif. Laundry Love is a growing faith-driven movement that helps people change their lives by letting them change into clean clothes. The organization partners with local laundromats and helps those who are homeless or struggling financially by doing their laundry for free. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Aug. 13, 2014, photo, people sift through donated food before doing their laundry for free at a laundromat during a Laundry Love event in Huntington Beach, Calif. Laundry Love is a growing faith-driven movement that helps people change their lives by letting them change into clean clothes. The organization partners with local laundromats and helps those who are homeless or struggling financially by doing their laundry for free. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Aug. 13, 2014, photo, Vicki Bennett, a 50-year-old homeless woman who lives in her van, eats her dinner while waiting to do her laundry outside a laundromat during a Laundry Love event in Huntington Beach, Calif. Laundry Love is a growing faith-driven movement that helps people change their lives by letting them change into clean clothes. The organization partners with local laundromats and helps those who are homeless or struggling financially by doing their laundry for free. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)