Laundry Love of Central Oklahoma offers help and support in laundromats
Every Saturday, a group of volunteers visit local laundromats with bags full of quarters to offer customers a welcome refreshment.
The coins become symbols of hope and community when distributed by volunteers from Laundry Love of Central Oklahoma.
Initiated by the nonprofit Sox of Love, Laundry Love sets up branches in various coin-operated laundromats in the Oklahoma City area to give customers up to $10 for their help with laundry. Sox of Love founder Tamara Nelson of Oklahoma City said people usually find out Laundry Love dates and locations by visiting the nonprofit’s website. It also posts flyers in laundromats in cities like Oklahoma City, Norman, Shawnee and El Reno. Volunteers also led Laundry Love trips to storm-stricken areas like Sulphur in the spring.
On a recent Saturday, Nelson, 47, and a group of volunteers had signed up about 20 people and families seeking help with Laundry Love within the first 30 minutes of opening the doors at Doug’s Coin-Op Laundry, 5817 NW 50. Nelson and volunteers like Barbara Drummond of Norman dropped quarters into the slots of the washing machines for Laundry Love participants, getting to know each person and family.
“We want people to tell us their story, even though they don’t have to,” Nelson said. “We don’t want people to feel like a number. We’ve found that some people need help and others are lonely and looking for community.”
The volunteers gathered at Doug’s Coin-Op Laundry offered free lunch through Sox of Love, free pet food from the Pet Food Pantry of Central Oklahoma, free books from Little Read Wagon, personal care products and, of course, new socks for people of all ages.
People often do not have access to laundry facilities. Laundry Love was created to help
Nelson said she launched the Laundry Love initiative in 2018 after hearing from Sox of Love recipients that washing their clothes was often a burden, with some homeless people telling her they did not have regular access to laundry facilities.
When Laundry Love began, Nelson learned that participants – including grandparents raising grandchildren, older adults and those with disabilities – sometimes have to choose between doing their laundry at a coin-operated machine or paying for groceries and medicine.
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Many, she said, do not have the convenient option of doing their laundry privately at home or going to a relative or friend’s house to put a few loads in the washing machine.
Nelson said she has come to realize the reality that the lack of access is not necessarily a homeless problem, but primarily a poverty problem. Nelson said some children are missing school because their parents decide it is better not to send the youth to school than to send them there in dirty clothes.
“It’s a shortage problem,” she said. “People need help.”
“When you wear clean clothes, you feel like you are somebody”
Drummond agreed.
She said she is the leader of Laundry Love’s volunteer team in Norman and the initiative’s outings visit an average of about 70 families each time. Drummond said she finds it “heartbreaking” that people, especially those on fixed incomes, are faced with difficult decisions they shouldn’t have to make.
“They ask, ‘Do I buy my medicine or do I wash my sheets this week?'” Drummond said. “They’re counting on us.”
At Laundry Love’s recent outing to Doug’s Coin-Op Laundry, several people said they were grateful for the help.
Loreta Martin said she appreciated the Laundry Love lunch and the way the volunteers spread joy and hope.
“I think it’s a wonderful thing because people can wash their clothes and I’m so glad that this is coming to my community,” she said. “When you have clean clothes, you feel like you’re somebody.”
Wesley Richard also expressed his gratitude for the love that gave him a free load of laundry.
“I think it’s great and it’s definitely a help,” he said.
“It means less stress in the day to day when you can take care of certain necessities and then also get lunch and other things like the dog food. It’s really a blessing because you never know what someone is going through and what they need.”
Overcoming challenges
Nelson, who works as an economic development specialist for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, spread the word through a Facebook post when she realized there was a need for Laundry Love. She founded Sox of Love in 2016 to provide free socks to community members.
An unexpected challenge arose when some laundromat owners were hesitant to allow volunteers into their premises to offer help, but Nelson said several owners eventually gave their OK.
Nelson said she and nine other people quickly raised $500 to host Laundry Love of Central Oklahoma’s first outing in August 2018.
“We love them through this process,” Nelson said of Laundry Love recipients. “They are seen, they are heard and they are loved because a lot of people feel forgotten.”
She and Drummond said the current economic difficulties are challenging Laundry Love and the people they serve. Nelson said she attributes these problems to the impact of the COVID pandemic and inflation.
She said 100% of Laundry Love’s proceeds go toward the laundry drive, but donations are down 30% this year.
Drummond said funding was indeed tight and that she believes this is simply a sign of the times.
Nelson said Sox of Love and Laundry Love volunteers are committed to helping through financial ups and downs.
“Many people think it’s a rip-off that we come and help them pay for laundry,” she said.
“They’re just shocked that we’re not accomplishing anything other than my goal, and I hope they know they’re worthy – worthy of dignity, worthy of love.”
How you can help
Sox of Love/Laundry Love of Central Oklahoma is hosting a laundry supply drive through August 5, including laundry pods, dryer sheets and new socks and underwear for men, women, babies, boys, girls and teens to be distributed during the nonprofit’s back-to-school giveaways and other upcoming activities. Cash donations are also accepted. For more information and drop-off locations, visit www.soxoflove.org or visit the Sox of Love Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SoxofLove/.
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