In its brief existence, Iola’s Humanity House has already gone a long way toward improving the material circumstances of the area’s neediest residents.
Beginning in September the organization, led by Georgia Masterson and Tracy Keagle, will make these residents’ lives easier still by sponsoring a program that will allow them to do their laundry for free.
Laundry Love is a nationwide initiative begun in 2011 in Vancouver, Wash. Its guiding purpose, according to its website, is to “help wash the clothes and bedding of individuals and/or families living in poverty.”
The success of Laundry Love, according to its creators, depends on the quality of participation of the communities that implement it and the vigor of the groups — like Humanity House — who administer the program at the local level.
Humanity House, which is partnering with Soap and Suds owner Don Leapheart, will stage a fundraiser at the Allen County Farmers Market on Thursday, the proceeds of which will jumpstart the Laundry Love sessions. After that, efforts will be sustained by donation jars placed at area businesses and non-profits.
According to Masterson, a Humanity House volunteer will be on hand at Soap and Suds (116 E. Jackson) Thursdays from 1 to 3 p.m. and Tuesday evenings from 6 to 8. If a resident cannot make the scheduled sessions, they can request another time by calling Masterson at the offices of Thrive Allen County (620-365-8128).
Those in need are only in charge of schlepping their clothes to the site. After that, Humanity House will provide the quarters for the machines and the detergent. Individual patrons are limited to two loads per visit; families to five.
“We see a lot of people who need help paying their utility bills,” said Masterson. “When you get your utilities cut off, you lose your air conditioning, you can’t run a fan to keep cool, and you can’t run your washer and dryer,” assuming you own those appliances.
“There are a lot of people who have to make the choice of paying their utility bill or using their money for food,” said Keagle. “It’s a horrible choice to have to make. Especially if you’re elderly or have small children. And there’s a stigma. You know, you’re standing downwind from someone and you’re like ‘Why don’t they just take a shower or wash their clothes?’ But people don’t understand — it’s not that easy.”
For Keagle and Masterson, Humanity House’s projects — which include a public garden, which has, to date, handed out 5,135.5 pounds of free produce — are opportunities for the wider community to become acquainted with the lives of those who in most realms of polite society remain invisible.
“Our mission,” said Keagle, “if that’s what you want to call it, is ‘empowering people through acts of kindness.’ It empowers the person who receives the act as well as the person who does the act. And it’s catching. If you do something for someone and you get that feeling of doing good for another person, it changes you. And the more times you do that, it starts to really — and it’s not the sort of change that hits and then quickly goes away — it actually physically and mentally changes who you are. Our town is so giving anyway; I’ve said it would be great if 75 percent of our town thought that way, then the other 25 percent would just fall in line because they’d be afraid to say differently. Then what would happen is they would start to act according to that pressure, and once they started doing that and got the benefits of it, it would be a natural thing. I mean, what if our whole town became one of these towns that welcomed all of its people?”
For questions or to contribute a donation, contact Georgia Masterson at Thrive, 620-365-8128. The first Laundry Love session will be held at Soap and Suds on Sept. 1 from 1 to 3 pm.
