Erika Parkinson, a behavioral interventionist at Culpeper’s Sycamore Park Elementary School, describes the Loads of Love Laundry program started there this fall. Parkinson helped make a homey space where families can do laundry and choose from donated clothes and shoes.
Fallon Grimsley, a behavioral interventionist at Sycamore Park Elementary, shows how donations are organized in the Loads of Love Laundry Center set up for displaced families who don’t have access to a washer and a dryer.
With a $10,000 grant awarded by the Washington Football Team’s charity foundation, Sycamore Park Elementary School Principal Derek McWilliams purchased this washer and dryer to provide a laundry service for students in need.
Sycamore Park Principal Derek McWilliams shows a visitor the Loads of Love Laundry Center set up at the school this fall with a $10,000 grant from the Washington Football Team’s charity foundation.
Sycamore Park Elementary School is near the Culpeper County school system’s administrative offices on Radio Lane.
Donated winter wear is available for families in need at Sycamore Park Elementary’s Loads of Love Laundry Center.
Children who need to try on donated clothes may do so in Sycamore Park Elementary School’s Loads of Love Laundry Center.
Bailey’s Cookies Bar donated these treats for a walk-through of the Laundry Center, but the event was cancelled due to a snowstorm.
Most of us take for granted the ability to do our own laundry, with a washer and dryer easily accessible to keep clothes clean and tidy.
But for parents struggling to earn enough to provide children with basic necessities, clean clothes can be an unaffordable luxury.
A new program at Culpeper County’s Sycamore Park Elementary School addresses this issue directly, helping local families who are displaced or otherwise struggling to provide clean clothes for their kids.
Sycamore Park Principal Derek McWilliams won a $10,000 grant to start the Loads of Love Laundry Center at the school.
“While this doesn’t take care of all the concerns for these families, us being able to help provide clean clothes is one less thing for the families to worry about,” McWilliams said of the effort.
The Loads of Love Laundry Center Initiative is a program of the Washington Football Charitable Foundation. Its goal is to help eliminate a barrier to student achievement: having clean clothes. Studies have shown that school attendance improves when a child is able to wear clean clothes, according to the initiative’s website.
Operating in schools across Northern Virginia, the District of Columbia and Maryland, the program was started with a $25,000 donation in 2017 by Washington Football long snapper Nick Sundberg.
At Sycamore Park, McWilliams said he worked with Russell Houck, Culpeper schools’ executive director of student services, and Assistant Principal Angie Fiscus to determine who would qualify for the laundry service. They identified about 20 students.
“We have a lot of families that would benefit from the service, but we knew the number of displaced families was a manageable number to start with,” McWilliams said.
Families who are homeless, or through lost or reduced income are in temporary housing, are facing problems much bigger than getting the laundry done, McWilliams said.
“They have so many hardships,” he said. “This is just one small thing we can do to help.”
Sycamore Park behavioral interventionists Erika Parkinson and Fallon Grimsley were tasked with finding a place for the center and preparing it for use. A former storage room with an outside door was identified as a suitable space.
“A lot of staff helped move all kinds of things out of there—desks, books, chairs, you name it,” Grimsley said. “We cleaned it, painted it, tried to make it homey.”
Parkinson attended Sycamore Park herself as a child, and graduated from Culpeper County High in 2004.
“I’m grateful and feel very lucky to be a part of this program and amazing opportunity to provide support to the children and families in our community,” Parkinson said.
In the midst of an unusual COVID-19 school year, given the school division’s hybrid schedule of in-person and online classes, the two specialists created a vision for the place and set out to realize it.
“Piece by piece, little by little, we made it loving and homey,” Grimsley said. “We wanted it to be a comfy space they could feel good in.”
After opening the center in October, they have continued to build on their vision and make constant improvements.
The cost of plumbing, electrical work, supplies and appliances took most of the grant. Besides laundry facilities, the duo decided to invite donations and make a place where children and families can “shop” for items they need, suc as a winter coat, mittens or socks.
“When we have a family in need, you build a relationship with them, and they might ask if we have any food, or other things,” Grimsley said. “Blankets, that’s another thing. ‘It’s getting cold at night, do you have a blanket?’ ”
Grimsley said she has helped some of the families on her own time by looking for giveaway or inexpensive furniture in online sales, for example.
“Recently, we had a family that was living in a motel move into an apartment,” she said. “I know how hard it is to get started—this single mom, it took everything she had just to get the apartment.”
That family’s Sycamore Park student told Grimsley her mom and brother were sleeping on a mattress on the floor.
“We were able to get them a bed and dresser—and we took over a big container of food, too,” Grimsley said.
Grimsley, who has worked at the elementary school for seven years, has a degree in social work and a passion for helping others.
“I haven’t always been as blessed as I am now,” she said. “When it was me and my kids starting over, I got to where I am today because of help from others.”
After nine years of supporting children behaviorally in a public school, Parkinson said she loves to see the joy in a child’s eyes, and the relief and gratitude of parents to provide support through Loads of Love.
“It may seem like a small task, but it can be an enormous burden, both in finances and time, for those who don’t have easy access to washers and dryers,” Parkinson said. “I love focusing on the good, the positive, helping students identify and utilize their own strengths to empower them.”
ejennings@starexponent.com 540/317-2986
December 25, 2020 at 09:45AM
https://starexponent.com/news/culpeper-schools-loads-of-love-laundry-helps-families-endure-tough-times/article_ed1a8b5d-f0a5-5148-96df-c8dce3097ac0.html
Culpeper school's Loads of Love Laundry helps families endure tough times - starexponent.com
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