By: Nancy Carlson—
Muncie, IN—Riverside/Normal City Neighborhood Association (RNC), in partnership with Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, held an event called LAUNDRY LOVE this past weekend.
With a grant from Thrivent, the partners provided a $10 roll of quarters to the first 25 families who came into the White Spot Coin Laundromat, the only one in the neighborhood. Brian Schrieve, the White Spot’s owner, said “Clean clothes are like a new haircut. They make you feel good about yourself.”
Sixty percent of RNC’s population are renters, not home-owners. Many renters aren’t provided laundry equipment in their houses and apartment buildings, so they have to haul their dirty clothes to a laundromat and have the coins to operate the machines. This grant provided the funds for the church and the neighborhood association to greet their neighbors with a surprise roll of quarters.
Long-time White Spot employee Kim Louck knows many of the customers by name and greets them as they come in. “This event brings awareness to the needs of the neighborhood,” she said. Then she interrupted herself and said to an incoming customer, “Hi, Mary, I’ve been waiting for you.”
One of the volunteers got a surprise hug from a grateful recipient. A national movement, LAUNDRY LOVE operates in many cities, some programs monthly and some weekly. Muncie’s first LAUNDRY LOVE was a success, and the organizers from the church and the neighborhood want to do it again next year.
“Thrivent is generous. It makes me happy that there’s a big company out there that cares about people,” Louck said, as she folded someone’s towels.
