Washing machines and dryers rattle as the smell of detergent emanates from the machines. Smiling volunteers move to help clients load their laundry around the laundromat.
For Barbara Drommond, watching the sense of community as volunteers help families wash their clothes is what love means.
Laundry Love is a national initiative dedicated to washing the clothes and bedding of low income families. The initiative was first launched in Norman in 2019. That same year, Drommond volunteered at her first event after seeing a call for volunteers on social media.
Drommond felt so passionate about the organization’s mission that by 2020, she stepped into a leadership role. Drommond now serves as the Sox of Love Norman team leader, running events in the city like Laundry Love.
Norman resident during the Sooner Wash free laundry event on Oct. 21.
“It's a labor of love, for real, it is a labor of love. … I love the organization,” Drommond said. “I believe in what we're doing, and I love that we're continuing to grow.”
Laundry Love is a part of Sox of Love, an international nonprofit organization, which was established by Tamara Nelson in 2016. At the time, Nelson worked for the state taking new business owners into the Oklahoma City metropolitan area to find places to house their businesses.
While touring these abandoned buildings, Nelson noticed many people experiencing homelessness camping out in these buildings. One day, Nelson sat down with one of these people and asked him, “If I were to run to Walmart right now and buy you something, what would it be?” He said he would ask for socks. After some research, Nelson learned that socks are the greatest need for people experiencing homelessness as their main form of transportation is walking.
Nelson brought together her friends and family to donate socks. She partnered with the Homeless Alliance, allowing Sox of Love to grow and serve communities overseas in Africa and South America.
As the organization grew, Nelson spoke with a woman who revealed that, while she was grateful for the provided socks, she would have to throw them away after a week or so because she could not afford to wash them.
Norman residents during the Sooner Wash free laundry event on Oct. 21.
This conversation led Nelson to partner with Laundry Love.
When Drommond started in 2019, Laundry Love had only three locations in Oklahoma and has since grown to 12. They have also grown to accommodate other needs such as pet food pantries and disaster response.
Becky Best has been coming to Laundry Love events for about three years. She is on disability and does not have a washer and dryer at her house. Best comes all the way down from the west side of Norman to the east just so she can do her laundry at Sooner Wash during events.
“It’s a really great place to have people come in and help them out a lot. They don’t know how blessed they are for having these people come into their lives,” Best said.
Best said it’s a great place that serves the community without a cost.
“This is the only laundry place that does that for people, so these guys ain’t greedy. They aren’t saying, 'Okay, well, you got to pay money to do your laundry,' like other people do,” Best said. “This is the best one.”
Drommond said Laundry Love is dedicated to helping people in every aspect of their life.
“We really try to meet as many needs as we can in the community that we can identify, or we try to bring in partners that can do that with us,” Drommond said.
Since its conception, attendants of Laundry Love have helped expand the service into other nonprofits.
Lisa Gerard founded Little Read Wagon, a nonprofit that provides free books to children, after volunteering at a Laundry Love event in Norman. Gerard noticed children who attended the free laundry events with their parents often had nothing to pass the time with, so Gerard began bringing free books for them to read.
Gerard officially founded her organization in 2020 to offer free children’s book wagons and host reading events.
Today, Little Read Wagon is present at every Laundry Love event at Sooner Wash in Norman.
Gerard said she has gotten to know the families and children that attend these events. She has regulars who she will even set aside books for if she knows they will enjoy them.
“You really develop a relationship and a community with the people here because the same people come to this (event) every month, so you get to know them and what they like and what books they are interested in, so it really develops a reading culture,” Gerard said.
Phyllis Michaud, a counselor at Norman North High School, came to volunteer with her friend Brenda Wilkins, a co-leader for Laundry Love Norman. She was passing out breakfast food for guests.
Michaud said she has volunteered with many organizations, but Laundry Love’s unique beauty comes from the fact that it is a practical service for everyone that helps restore dignity.
“Clean clothes help people feel good,” Michaud said. “I just think this is a great service.”
Drommond said she has seen people who started as guests come back as volunteers or donors.
“That always makes me happy that people want to give back after we've helped them. They want to continue to bless,” Drommond said. “That's always really nice because that is that sense of community that we're trying to build.”
Drommond said she’s grateful to see the impact of Laundry Love events on people’s lives.
“We have some guests that have literally been coming for four years. When they first started coming, they were addicted or homeless or experiencing a major health issue, and I've gotten to see them, through the four years, come out to the other side, and now they are housed or they're cured or they have sobriety,” Drommond said. “That is always so amazing for me because they will say ‘Laundry Love helped me to get here.’”
This story was edited by Taylor Jones, Peggy Dodd and Ismael Lele. Grace Rhodes copy edited this story.
