Friends at Suds Up Landromat in Worcester. Photo: The Rev. Meredyth Ward
Good, Clean Ministry The Rev. Meredyth Ward Urban Missioner for Worcester
H
ow do you hold a pizza-infused dance party in a laundromat? Pre-pandemic, that was easy. Laundry Love happened once a month, and we gathered 75 households for pizza, music (thanks to our amazing DJ), kid activities, and laundry. We passed out laundry detergent, held babies, and prayed together. That was a year ago. In March 2020, we held our last in-person Laundry Love for the foreseeable future. The governor had announced a major shut down for the following week, so we gathered phone numbers and
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email addresses so we could let our neighbors know if we would hold Laundry Love in April. (Remember when we thought this would be over in a few weeks?) We did laundry, prayed together, and started making plans with the staff and volunteers to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Laundry Love Worcester in July 2020. Needless to say, things look quite different now. We didn’t hold our 5th anniversary party, and we probably won’t hold our 6th anniversary party either, but Laundry Love continues, through the help of many people, parishes, and organizations. Detergent comes from a small UCC church in Worcester. Several different people and congregations make donations to Laundry Love. While we no longer offer pizza, we do have laundry bags (giant IKEA bags), courtesy of another gift, as well as masks made by members of St. Francis, Holden and Christ Church, Rochdale.
Every month, Walking Together volunteers and I pick things up to deliver to the laundromat. Now that we are socially distant, we give each family a $20 laundry card each month, which allows them to meet their basic laundry needs. At the end of each in-person Laundry Love, we prayed together, and asked God to bless those who gathered and help us all to remember the love shared among us. That is still our prayer. Laundry Love looks and feels different now, but the blessing of love given and received is still alive and active among us! ♦
