OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. — ChenMed, a national senior healthcare organization, recently sponsored the “Lighter Loads” initiative with the support of the LaundryCares Foundation. The one-day program on Nov. 20 featured free-laundry events hosted by 14 Laundromat owners throughout the country.
Participating stores included:
- My Sunny Day Laundry, Miami, Florida;
- Melba’s Wash World, New Orleans;
- Coin Laundry, New Orleans;
- Laundry Land locations in Richmond, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, and Chesapeake, Va.;
- Three of The Laundry Café locations in Philadelphia;
- Laundromat at Westgate in Orlando, Florida; and
- Linton Blvd. Laundry in Palm Beach, Florida.
More than 40,000 pounds of laundry were washed in serving 361 families. Some locations offered gift bags and presented story times. In one store, children’s author Patrice Morgan Domino read aloud to children of participating families.
Also during this multi-store, multi-community event, more than a thousand books were distributed to families to take home and add to their personal libraries to foster early childhood literacy.
Participating locations followed local and national health guidelines in taking measures to monitor and ensure safety, LaundryCares says, including maintaining social distancing, wearing protective equipment that included face coverings and gloves, and maintaining a clean, disinfected environment.
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