ANDERSON — Amanda Gay loaded her and her boyfriend’s laundry into the washing machines at A & J laundry as she does every week or two.
The only difference this time was it wasn’t her quarters that started up the machine. Normally, Gay said, she pays about $20, $1.50 per washing machine and a quarter per eight minutes of dryer time.
“This is a blessing to help out the community,” she said. “With COVID going on and all, hours are cut, and you really don’t make a lot either.”
Gay and Barbara Bolin were among an anticipated 100 people expected to take advantage of the inaugural free laundry day sponsored by Rio King, the Y Not U Foundation and the Redwood Foundation.
Families were invited by way of social media to clean up to three loads of laundry. The event also included free detergent, bleach and fabric softener.
Gay, who is in between jobs, said three loads are enough to wash her clothing.
“As long as we got clean clothes, the blankets can wait another week,” she said.
Bolin, an unemployed single mom of three children ages 7, 8 and 12, said she does laundry weekly at a different coin-operated laundry. She typically spends $30 to $40 a week to wash five or six loads of the family’s clothing and linens.
As someone looking for a job, she said, it’s important to have clean clothes for interviews. Having clean clothing for the kids also is important.
“Even though they’re doing virtual (school), they still need clean clothes,” she said. “With everything that’s been going on, it’s really a huge help because no one wants to sit in dirty clothes.”
Though there are many types of resources, such as housing, food and textbook assistance available, laundry cleaning definitely was an overlooked need, Bolin said.
“I thought that was pretty awesome. I have never been to a laundromat before that’s done that for anybody,” she said. “I have always thought to myself with all the resources out there it would be nice if for once, for once, I would be able to do my laundry without worrying about finances. They have no idea how much this means to me, my friends, my family.”
Event organizer Rio King said the idea came about as he and Larry McClendon brainstormed about ways to help people during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially since people need to wash reusable masks.
“With COVID and germs, making sure everything is clean is extra important,” he said. “People are struggling right now with the pandemic. We’re here to help.”
McClendon said he believes the event was a great success and hopes to make it available monthly.
“We wanted to give it a test run,” he said. “We wanted to come up with something unique but something essential for people in their households.”
The Link LonkJanuary 21, 2021 at 07:00AM
https://www.heraldbulletin.com/news/free-laundry-cleaning-helps-those-in-need-during-the-pandemic/article_e242186a-5aa7-11eb-a6a1-13b6aeebb4c5.html
Free laundry cleaning helps those in need during the pandemic - The Herald Bulletin
https://news.google.com/search?q=Laundry&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
No comments:
Post a Comment