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Community Corner

Hope, Love and Suds

On the first Saturday of every month, Current picks up the tab for people doing laundry at the Big Wash Coin Laundromat in Sulphur Springs.

Signs reading, "TODAY your laundry done for FREE," tend to slow the passing traffic to a crawl in front of the Big Wash Coin Laundromat on Waters Avenue in Sulphur Springs.

Passersby rightfully beg the question: What’s the catch?

But there are no requirements, qualifiers or forms to fill out.

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Jason Sowell is the president and founder of Current, the community service organization which operates the Laundry Love Project once a month in Sulphur Springs. Sowell brought the idea to Tampa two years ago after visiting friends in California who operated a similar project for the homeless.

“I saw the need for it here,” said Sowell.  “Anybody that goes to a Laundromat, especially in a low income area, can use the help.”

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Shortly after 10 a.m. on the first Saturday of the month, cars begin to trickle into the parking lot. Volunteers armed with smiles approach the cars. They exchange names, ask how many loads the drivers need to wash and offer coffee and donuts.

The monthly event typically draws a large crowd of first-time and repeat visitors. Visitors need only bring their laundry. Current provides the quarters and supplies.

First-time visitor Lee B. said that recently laundry has become a struggle with his budget.

“This is great, it saves me some money," he said. “It’s a recession right now, so every dollar helps.”

“People come and expect to have a terrible day of doing laundry but we get to make their day better,” volunteer Chelsea Quinn said. “Laundry is really a luxury. … People come here and they tell us that they haven’t done their laundry in three months because they haven’t been able to afford it.”

Though Current is rooted in the Christian faith they don’t use the Laundry Love Project to preach, but to spread hope.

“The reason that we do what we do is because we want people to know that God loves them and that there is hope," Quinn said. "Hopefully, we can be an example of that by meeting a need that they have.”

Volunteers are not expected to be of a particular faith to volunteer; the only requirement is that they enjoy helping other people.

“For me it’s not faith-based at all …  it’s just a people thing,” Quinn said.

No matter their background, the members of Current just want to leave the community with hope.

“My hope is that through this experience it will give them the hope and access to other resources to work in some other areas of their life,” Sowell said.

At least one person was inspired by the surprise of free laundry.

“This brings out the good in people,” Lee B. said. “It makes you want to do good too.”

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