KAPAA — Aeden Betts of the Kapaa High School Key Club said he was promoted Wednesday night during the All Saints’ Episcopal Chuch and Preschool Laundry Love at the Kapaa Laundromat.
“This is the fourth time I’ve come to help,” Betts said. “But this is the first time I get to put the clothes in the washer, move the clothes from the washer to the dryer, and help fold. Up until now, all they had me do was fold clothes.”
The Laundry Love program is one of the Key Club’s monthly service projects, and on Wednesday night Betts was joined by Leila Nelson and Haley Gokan.
“The Key Club is one of our regular volunteer groups,” said Geoff Shields, the Laundry Love coordinator for All Saints. “The students come early to help set up the Kapaa Laundromat for Laundry Love. They help with all phases of the operation. We’re trying to get more people in here to help.”
As the Laundry Love Kauai program enters its fourth year of servicing laundry on the first and third Wednesdays of the month, Shields said the program can use some help.
David Murray, senior warden at All Saints, said the church recently received a letter from an attorney, notifying them that a former member of the congregation has named the church as a major beneficiary in her will.
“Hallelujah!” Murray said. “We wrote her a letter of thanks to acknowledge her for her generous gift. We also said the generous gifts such as these enable the All Saints’ Church to fund its community outreach programs such as Laundry Love, and the communitywide Thanksgiving lunch.”
Murray said they received a response to this correspondence with a donation of $3,000 to Laundry Love.
“Hallelujah once again!” he said. “This donation will fund the Laundry Love program for three months, enabling us to do more than 500 loads of laundry for the homeless, the working poor, and other people struggling to make ends meet. The Laundry Love sessions for February, March and April are dedicated to this anonymous donor.”
The church Laundry Love ministry is the first and third Wednesdays of each month from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Kapaa Laundromat in the Kapaa Shopping Center.
Volunteers are called on to assist patrons with loading, transferring and folding their laundry while “talking story” and building relationships. Funds from the church outreach budget, private contributions and grant funding provide the resources that enable the free loads of laundry, detergent and dryer sheets.
“This Laundry Love is one of our club’s regular monthly events,” Betts said. “After attending this, I now know how important it is to be organized.”
The Rev. Ray Sheldon, church interim minister, was one of many manning the washers, armed with trays of quarters.
“I would not miss an event that is as good as this one,” Sheldon said.
Info: www.allsaintskauai.org/laundry-love.html.
