Disciple: Communion in the Laundromat

A simple question creates a sacred space through Laundry Love

By the Rev. James Franklin

“Can we pay for your laundry tonight?”

Favorite. Question. Ever. It elicits a response that is either an excited and often emotional “thank you” or a look of complete (and warranted) skepticism. We quickly have to follow up with “no strings attached” or something similar, to reassure we are not there to pull the all-too-familiar bait and switch.

Community is fostered in this no-strings-attached offering of love. People open up, they make prayer requests, and I’ve even had a neighbor pray for me, unaware I was having a particularly difficult week and in need of some extra prayers. Sometimes they’ll show up to a worship service, even though that is obviously not the goal.

[Image: Is it a sanctuary or a place to wash clothes? Through Laundry Love, this laundromat is both. Photo by the Rev. James Franklin]

Every third Tuesday of the month since the autumn of 2018, with the exception of a brief pause during the pandemic, something ineffable happens when we ask, “Can we pay for your laundry tonight?”

Sure, it’s simple enough to show up at a laundromat, pay for folks’ laundry, provide them pizza and pray. However, what exactly happens is difficult to describe. It is more than just clean clothes, bubbles, pizza and quarters. These mundane elements somehow, dare I say, transubstantiate a Tuesday night in a regular old laundromat into a sacramental space. In Hymn of the Universe, Teilhard de Chardin finds himself in the desert with no bread, wine, offering or even an altar, and he wants to partake in the Eucharist. He prays for God to receive this “all-embracing host which your whole creation, moved by your magnetism, offer you at this dawn of a new day.” He goes on to say the bread we offer is our toil and the wine is our suffering.

I know, I just compared showing up at a laundromat once a month to de Chardin’s mystical experience, but just go with it, okay? Laundromats, or any space for that matter, can seemingly be deserts, devoid of compassion. But they are sacred spaces, they can be incredibly unifying, and magic can happen. A simple question can transform a laundromat into a sanctuary and quarters and detergent into body and blood. So what exactly are we doing in this ministry?

WHAT IS LAUNDRY LOVE?

Since 2003, Laundry Love has been showing up in laundromats asking the question and transforming strangers into neighbors. Laundry Love is a national nonprofit with more than 30,000 locations across the United States that serve an estimated 100,000 people annually. The organization works with local groups from Kiwanis clubs to churches and partners with local laundromats to bring the dignity of clean clothes to low-income families and individuals. Laundry Love, as an organization, provides these partners and locations with training, free laundry detergent (through a partnership with Earth Breeze™), a facilitator support network and a searchable database where folks can find Laundry Love locations around the country.

Laundry is an oft-overlooked part of service-oriented nonprofits and ministries to those in low-income situations. For those of you who have spent time in laundromats, you’ll know that lately, especially with inflation, they are not cheap. A family of four using a laundromat twice a month can spend as much as $90. In conversation with our neighbors in Winston-Salem, it is heartbreaking to hear the laments of mothers who say their children are being bullied because their clothes are dirty. Or to hear one family share that this particular instance is their once-a-month trip, and how it often comes down to a choice of either gas and food or clean clothes. Often the latter loses, and clothes are washed in a sink by hand and hung to dry around the house.

I love one of Laundry Love’s slogans: “We brighten the lives of thousands of people through love, dignity, and detergent.” Laundry Love is living into our baptismal covenant, namely the question: “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?” Whether they know it or not, they answered, “I will, with God’s help!” When we ask folks if we can pay for their laundry, what we’re really doing is living into our baptismal covenant and living into Jesus’ greatest commandment of loving God, neighbor and self.

[Image: Volunteers from multiple Winston-Salem churches gather to spread the love at a local laundromat. Photo by the Rev. Mary Kroohs]

HOW TO START YOUR OWN LOCATION

Have you or your worshiping community been looking for a collaborative ministry with that synagogue next door or other parishes in your area? Consider this an invitation to begin a Laundry Love location in your city or town. Are you worried it’s a complicated or time-consuming process to start a location? Let me tell you how we got started. (Spoiler alert: It’s easy.)

It was February 2018 and a cold, rainy Tuesday. The restaurant’s crepe makers spewed sweetness that wafted in the air like a Parisian cafe. I wanted to collaborate with multiple parishes on a potential area-wide initiative, and so I asked the Rev. Ginny Wilder, rector of St. Anne’s, Winston-Salem, to meet. Before we even got through pleasantries I blurted out, “Have you ever heard of…”

“Laundry Love?” she finished my sentence.

My arm hair prickled, and I may have let out an expletive in surprise. That was the start of Laundry Love of Winston-Salem. I should note that Ginny and I had not previously exchanged emails or mentioned or even spoke to anyone else about Laundry Love. Ginny apparently agreed to the meeting because she, too, was planning on asking me if we would be interested in partnering and starting a Laundry Love location. Talk about divine convergence! Whether coincidence or the work of the Holy Spirit, the light came on at the same time.

We quickly roped in the Rev. Sara Ardrey-Graves, the Rev. Nancy Vaders and others at St. Paul’s, Winston-Salem, and the ministry began to take shape. We applied and registered with Laundry Love and easily became an official location. Aided by a Missionary Resource Support Team (MRST) seed grant of $3,000 and some curious volunteers from St. Paul’s, St. Anne’s and the Episcopal Student Fellowship at Wake Forest University, we showed up at Fresh Spin Laundry in northwest Winston-Salem, provided pizza, and asked unsuspecting clients of the laundromat that surprising and wonderful question, “Can we pay for your laundry tonight?”

Asking strangers if we can pay for their laundry is a beautiful question in the surprisingly sacramental space known as the laundromat. The need is great. Clean clothes bring dignity. What we’re doing is only a drop in the ocean of suffering that is out there. And yet, it is a eucharistic offering in the desert. We would love for you to experience the magic when you ask a total stranger if you can pay for their laundry. Because it is not just quarters and detergent, it is body and blood.

SHARE THE LAUNDRY LOVE

If you are interested in starting a location, please feel free to reach out to the Rev. James Franklin, the Rev. Ginny Wilder or the Rev. Nancy Vaders, or visit laundrylove.org. All that’s needed is a little start-up money (the $3,000 grant lasted more than two years), some volunteer commitment and a few hours per month.

The Rev. James Franklin is the young adult missioner for Winston-Salem.

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