It was all part of a program called Laundry Love, which provides free detergent and use of washers and dryers to those who may be struggling financially. However, the volunteers do not actually handle the laundry; each individual or family washes and dries their own clothes, so that they can maintain the dignity of doing their laundry for themselves.
That’s how the program works, according to one of the volunteers helping out that afternoon— Darin McWatters, pastor of teaching and mission at Arbor Road Church in Long Beach.
“The program itself was started by a guy in Ventura who had come into contact with a homeless gentleman, and, just in the course of conversation, was asking the guy, ‘How can I help you? What’s the best way to be a good friend to you and a good neighbor?’ and the guy said, ‘Well, the hardest thing is I just need clean clothes. I can’t do job interviews. I can’t go and meet people.'”
McWatters explained that not having clean clothes results in a lower self-esteem. “You have this lower sense of dignity about who you are, without [clean] clothes,” he said.
McWatters said the originator of the program did indeed help the homeless man but then determined that there are probably more people who are in need of clean clothing. So he founded the nonprofit Laundry Love.
According to the organization’s website, every single Laundry Love effort, or Laundry Love spin-off and/or partnership around the country, is attached to that homeless man, who allegedly said, “If I had clean clothes, I think people would treat me like a human being.”
“His desire for worth and welcome is found in us all,” reads a statement on Laundry Love’s website. “We all yearn to be treated as human beings. We never thought that this simple conversation 12-plus years ago would spark an idea that continues to influence and care for tens of thousands of people every month. The creative and collective energy used to sustain, expand and share Laundry Love with you reminds us that every human being has tremendous worth, value and possibility.”
McWatters said he heard about the program when his friend began offering free laundry assistance in Santa Ana.
“So, when I took the job at the church here in Long Beach, I was trying to figure out, ‘What are some ways we can be good neighbors and really care about our city?'” McWatters said.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”400px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Screen-Shot-2015-08-28-at-1.41.41-PM.png” align=”center” lightbox=”on” caption=”Sticky notes with names written on them are affixed to washers at Coin Laundry, 1321 Carson St. Once a month, at the laundromat, volunteers from Arbor Road Church provide quarters, detergent and laundry sheets for those who are struggling financially.” captionposition=”center”] After undertaking a chaplaincy at the sheriff’s department and acting as referee for the American Youth Soccer Organization, he began wondering how he could get the church’s congregation involved. “Anything I could think of to, not only get involved myself, but to try to get the people in our church thinking beyond just having the church be a club of people who believe the same thing and to start thinking about church as being valuable in the community.”
McWatters said he and volunteers from the church found a laundromat in Norwalk and began providing the service there. But they really wanted to make an impact closer to home.
“We’re driving to Norwalk, and we’re helping people out in that community, and we build all these friendships, but then we’d only see those people, like, once a month,” McWatters said. “Then we’re coming back to Long Beach, you know?”
McWatters and his team then found a facility in Lakewood that welcomed the service. Then he met Jesse Rodriguez, who owns the laundromat in Long Beach, at the corner of Orange Avenue and Carson Street.
“So, I came in one day and told Jesse, the owner, ‘Here’s what I’d like to do: we’d like to take over the laundromat for four hours on a Thursday night. We’ll pay for everybody’s laundry. We’ll bring soap and dryer sheets and all that stuff and just try and bless the community,'” McWatters explained. “And he was stoked about the idea, so we kind of forged the partnership, and this is actually our twelfth month.”
McWatters said he sometimes sees the beneficiaries of Laundry Love at grocery stores and restaurants, and some of them have made their way to the church.
“It feels more like we’re connected to the city where we actually live,” he said, “which was the goal all along.”
Adrian Howze is one of the individuals who takes advantage of the free laundry service.
“I think it’s amazing because you never know how many people out there don’t have the finances to be able to wash their clothes on a regular basis,” she said. “This program helps out a whole lot with that. I’ve been coming here since it started, so I’m really happy with it.”
She said she found out about it by seeing a poster in the window of the facility.
Stephanie Momary, communications director for Arbor Road Church, said her organization spreads word about the program primarily through those posters, as well as flyers they distribute in apartment complexes.
“In all of the locations that we’re in, we have posters up that basically give a brief description of what goes on, and then the dates are up, so people know when to come,” Momary said. “But our hope is actually that the people who are coming will tell their neighbors and tell their family members, and, a lot of times, that’s what we end up seeing happen. We’ll have somebody come one week, and then the next month, they’ll bring their mother-in-law, or they’ll bring their neighbor who they know their machine just broke. And so we’re just kind of getting the neighborhood, and their neighborhood, to come and be a part of what we’re doing.”
She estimates that more than 50 households receive help from the program each month.
Coin Laundry owner Rodriguez said he makes his facility available for Laundry Love because it’s a way to be a part of the community he serves.
However, he said he initially proceeded cautiously, going into a few other laundromats that had opened their doors to the program, just to make sure the customers seemed comfortable with it. He was pleased with what he saw and chose to be part of it.
“You buy a business obviously to be able to make a living, but I think the older you get, the more you realize that it’s not just about the money but it’s about the people,” Rodriguez said. “Therefore, any opportunity to give back, or to partner with, precisely, a church such as Darin’s and co-op on something like this, where we give back to the community, I’m all for it.”
Howze’s mother, Mary Bellow, was also in the laundromat last Thursday. She said that it was after taking advantage of the free service that she joined the church’s congregation and now also takes advantage of Arbor Road’s daycare center for her grandson, whom, she says, loves the program.
“They make you feel welcome,” Bellow said. “They make you feel like it’s a family.”
Those interested in donating to the program may bring quarters, cash or a check to Arbor Road Church, 5336 Arbor Rd., or make an electronic donation at Arborroad.com under the “Give” heading.
