On November 12, the LaundryCares Foundation will host a free laundry day event from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Local Laundry in Phoenix.

These events provide free laundry services and cleaning products to underserved communities across the country, as well as free food and fun activities for children and adults to enjoy. Laundry owners, distributors, manufacturer’s representatives and local community leaders will participate as volunteers for this upcoming event.

As part of the free laundry day, a new Family Read, Play & Learn space will be installed at Local Laundry. These learning and play kits provide comfortable seating, quality books, toys and other materials chosen specifically to help parents engage in literacy-rich interactions with their children during laundry time. Similar learning spaces have been launched in laundromats across the nation through the Laundry Literacy Coalition – a partnership between LaundryCares and Too Small to Fail, an initiative of the Clinton Foundation.

Millions of families in underserved communities visit laundromats each week to fulfill the basic need of having clean clothes. For many of these families, meeting this need can often be a challenge. With this in mind, Local Laundry, LaundryCares and Too Small to Fail are excited and honored to offer a day of free laundry services for residents of the neighborhood, who may bring an unlimited amount of laundry to the event and will receive free laundry products to help clean their clothes.

While the laundry is being washed and dried, Too Small to Fail and the National Center for Families Learning – along with Read On Arizona, the Arizona Department of Education, Southwest Human Development, Unite For Literacy, Make Way for Books, Read On Phoenix, First Things First, the Phoenix Public Library, Stand for Children and Valley of the Sun United Way – will lead fun literacy activities, including story time and singing. In addition, to help foster a love for reading, each child in attendance will be given free books and other early literacy resources developed by Too Small to Fail. These organizations also will host a community fair, providing families with information and access to local health, child care and education-related resources.

Moreover, representatives of the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes will be on hand to give away items and interact with the kids.

“We’re ecstatic that the owners at Local Laundry, Nada and Steve, are hosting this free laundry day,” said Dan Naumann, executive vice president of the LaundryCares Foundation. “We’re especially looking forward to witnessing the reactions of their customers to their new Family Read, Play & Learn space.”

“Families spend an average of two and half hours during each visit to the laundromat,” explained Jane Park Woo, director of Too Small to Fail. “We have worked to help turn laundry time into meaningful opportunities to engage families in literacy-rich activities. We are thrilled to bring the Family, Read, Play & Learn space to children and their caregivers in the Phoenix area.”