The Laundry Project, a charitable organization based in Tampa, recently held a successful free laundry event at Wash-N-Dry laundromat in Des Moines, Iowa – paying for customers’ laundry loads and even painting a mural on one of the store’s exterior walls.
“Laundry, for a lot of people, if you have a washer and dryer, it’s something we take for granted; it’s just something that’s a normal everyday thing,” said Jason Sowell, president and founder of the Laundry Project. “For a lot of families, it’s more of a luxury for them. They don’t own a washer or dryer; they live in transitional housing of some kind. For several families, they’re choosing between buying groceries and washing their clothes – and food is always going to win that battle. So, as a result, many families go months, sometimes five or six months, without washing their clothes.”
In all, 364 loads of free laundry were processed for 32 families during this event hosted by Wash-N-Dry. In addition, those who came out were able to receive free health screenings and flu shots from a mobile clinic on site.
The Laundry Project regularly conducts such events at self-service laundries in underserved neighborhoods across the country. Also, as they did at Wash-N-Dry, members of the group will revitalize the exteriors of the host laundries as well.
