Mary Susan Burnett-Miller was reading a laundromat magazine
while on vacation when she first learned about organizations
like Laundry Love. Years prior in Ventura, Calif., a group of
people asked a homeless man named T-Bone how they could serve
him. “If I had clean clothes I think people would treat me
like a human being,” T-Bone responded. Laundry Love, an
organization providing free laundry services to the poor, was
born.
After coming back from her vacation, Burnett-Miller, a
longtime parishioner of Church of the Nativity in Burke, knew
she had to start the ministry there. With the support of her
pastor, Father Robert Cilinski, and a template from Laundry
Love, she began to research laundromats that might host the
group. Only Blair Johnson and his son Charlie, co-owners of a
chain of Northern Virginia laundromats, answered her inquiry.
Blair was ecstatic to get her call, said Burnett-Miller, and
knew just the place: Laundry World in Falls Church, a
facility that serves many who could use the help.
Support came pouring in when Burnett-Miller announced the
group at the church’s ministry fair and at Sunday Masses.
“I thought we were going to get like 15 people signed up, but
we had 75,” said Sydney Grace Miller, Mary Susan’s daughter,
a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and
Technology in Alexandria. “When we had the detergent drive,
we ended up with over 100 bottles of detergent. We calculated
and (that’s) 7,000 loads,” she said. “We’re not going to need
detergent for a long time.”
As a bonus, the detergent bottles and dryer sheets, which are
stored in their basement, make the house smell great.
The next step was to advertise in the laundromat so that
customers would understand their mission. When volunteers
from Nativity arrived that first Saturday, the lines were out
the door, said Burnett-Miller. They set out coloring books
and toys for the children, a table of snacks like granola
bars and hot chocolate and then got to work on the laundry.
Men and women loaded their own clothes; then volunteers from
Nativity came by with several detergents from which they
could choose and swiped the money card that started the
machines. After their third laundry day Dec. 5, Nativity’s
Laundry Love had provided 1,145 free loads of laundry to the
community.
“We are so blessed to be able to help them in this small
way,” said Burnett-Miller.
In addition to helping them with their laundry, the group
hopes to be able to befriend the people they serve. On one
Saturday, a mother came in with two children and a baby. The
volunteers held the baby and played with the children to give
the mom a chance to fold her laundry.
“It’s nice to make their day a little easier,” said
Burnett-Miller.
The simplicity and impact of the project is what first
attracted Burnett-Miller to Laundry Love. The laundromat is a
safe, warm environment where whole families can come to
volunteer, she said. Her daughter added, “People mostly think
people need food (and) clothes, but they don’t think people
need clean laundry. If you think about the less fortunate
kids in school, they’re maybe embarrassed because their
clothes smell bad or their sheets are dirty,” said Miller.
“Also, (with Laundry Love) it’s not just donating to a random
cause; you actually get to come out here and help everybody
out.”
Amy Smith, an eighth-grader at Lake Braddock Secondary School
in Burke, first heard the announcement for Laundry Love at
Mass and immediately asked her mom if they could volunteer.
“I needed service hours for school and also it sounded like a
cool thing to do because I want to fix poverty and this
seemed like a good thing to do to help that,” she said. Her
mom, Diane, added, “I’m here because she wanted to be here.
It’s a lovely thing to be able to help these people.”
Volunteer and Nativity parishioner Barbara Olson also came
because her 13-year-old daughter asked to volunteer. “This
time of year, how can you not want to give back to the
community?” she said. “Clean clothes on your back does make a
difference.”
Di Mauro can be reached at [email protected] or on
Twitter
@zoeydimauro.
